Watching videos on YouTube, downloading songs, and recording TV shows, are a few of the many activities that everyone enjoys on the Internet. But, are people using this intellectual property fairly? Or, is use of such materials sometimes illegal? This is the reason Digital Rights Management (DRM) was created -- to limit and control the access people have to intellectual property. Many individuals believe this restriction violates the public’s right to fair uses.
As a group, we discussed the issue of DRM, and what we considered fair. We agreed that people and companies that create intellectual property should in fact have the right to, not only offer their work for sale, but also restrict its use. Since the technology created is essentially their “property,” they should be able to do whatever they please with it. In comparison, it is similar to the right people have to offer their house for sale. It is their right because they own it. Similar analogies would be true for anything one owns. Likewise, if the owners of intellectual property wished to sell or lease a technology, it should be their right as well. DRM prevents people from abusing online property, and ensures it is being sold and distributed in a fair and moral way.
Our group also talked about how we do not believe people should be able to develop, sell, buy, and use software/devices to try and remove these digital rights restrictions on intellectual property. If the material is someone else’s online property, it would be wrong to jailbreak the restrictions they have implemented. Instead of using and creating ways to crack the system, people should contact the owners of the work they wish to use, and explain their intentions of using it fairly. If that means paying for its use, then so be it.
Companies that sell movies and music have created DRM tools that cause the files to shut down, and become inactive, after a certain amount of time. As a group, we thought this type of practice to be problematic. If a company is selling you music/movies, and you have purchased it, then whatever you bought from them should now be your property. It would not be right for the companies to have the files they just sold to you self-destruct after a certain amount of time. We believe setting some sort of limitation and incorporating DRM tools is a good idea to prevent the abuse of online material, but not to that level.
In conclusion, our group felt that protecting intellectual property is a big deal. If the companies and people who put the time and effort into developing these technologies for us are not paid for their efforts, they will stop creating. It is then that our society loses out, and does not move forward. We have to be willing to reimburse them for their service and products.