Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies attempt to control what you can and can't do with the media and hardware you've purchased.
- Bought an ebook from Amazon but can't read it on your ebook reader of choice? That's DRM.
- Bought a video game but can't play it today because the manufacturer's "authentication servers" are offline? That's DRM.
- Bought a smartphone but can't use the applications or the service provider you want on it? That's DRM.
- Bought a DVD or Blu-Ray but can't copy the video onto your portable media player? That's DRM.
Corporations claim that DRM is necessary to fight copyright infringement online and keep consumers safe from viruses. But there's no evidence that DRM helps fight either of those. Instead DRM helps big business stifle innovation and competition by making it easy to quash "unauthorized" uses of media and technology.
DRM has proliferated thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA), which sought to outlaw any attempt to bypass DRM.
Fans shouldn't be treated like criminals, and companies shouldn't get an automatic veto over user choice and innovation. EFF has led the effort to free the iPhone and other smartphones, is working to uncover and explain the restrictions around new hardware and software, has fought for the right to make copies of DVDs, and sued Sony-BMG for their "rootkit" CD copy-protection scheme. Learn more about our efforts through the links below.
EFF Related Content: DRM
Sony Nerfs Videogame Ownership
Playstation’s decision to kill physical game discs is the latest attack on our diminishing rights to access and engage with culture digitally. Rent-seeking corporations and negligent lawmakers share the blame–and they can do better. Gamers are right to sound the alarm, and we must take this moment to fight for...
Google's New Remote Attestation Scheme is As Bad As Its Old One
Google owes its existence to the open web, but today, its technological “innovations” have much to do with locking users into a “walled garden.” The latest of these is “reCAPTCHA Mobile Verification,” an experimental initiative that will let companies block users if they are running independent, "de-googled" versions of Android...
What Europe’s New Gig Work Law Means for Unions and Technology
At EFF, we believe that tech rights are worker’s rights. Since the pandemic, workers of all kinds have been subjected to increasingly invasive forms of bossware. These are the “algorithmic management” tools that surveil workers on and off the job, often running on devices that (nominally) belong...
Apple to Australians: You’re Too Stupid to Choose Your Own Apps
Let's Answer the Question: "Why is Printer Ink So Expensive?"