Stan Beer
Thursday, 28 September 2006 08:37
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
After realizing that it can't implement a foolproof software-based digital rights management (DRM) system, Microsoft has lodged a lawsuit against the anonymous developers of FairUse4WM, a program which cracks Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM.
This lawsuit is a test case highlighting the
rights of consumers versus the rights of IT software and hardware
manufacturers.
Although some have likened the Microsoft versus FairUse4WM developer
lawsuit to the successful action against the original Napster some
years ago, the cases in fact bear no resemblance to each other.
Napster when it started was all about illegally sharing and
distributing music without paying for it. Breaking DRM codes is about
giving back to consumers fair use of the music they have paid for.
Many consumers quite justifiably believe that if they legally purchase
a music or video recording that they should be free to play it on
whatever device they choose. They take exception to companies like
Apple and Microsoft attempting to create closed systems designed to
lock music and video content consumers in to one particular hardware
and software platform.
There is nothing fair about Apple's FairPlay or Microsoft's
PlaysForSure DRM systems or the laws that back them. They force
consumers into making a choice about which site to download from and
what portable hardware they buy. Once they have downloaded their first
track, the user is locked in to a particular platform and the more
music they download, the more solid that lock becomes.
