Anyone remember how Sony pulled that rootkit stunt a year ago? The events have stired up some buzz around security and tech communities, but seemed to have quickly died out for the general public.

DRM – Digital Rights Management, is a type of technology that claims to protect against piracy of copyrighted content, but instead (and ironically, as the name implies) it Manages your Digital Rights. DRM is a minor inconvinience to the large-scale piracy operations, as ultimately if the content is played, the output can be easily captured and recorded, thus defeating any system put in place. Instead the end-user rights are severely compromised. I have personally came across DVDs that would not play on a computer without having some DRM software installed first, but even if I was to disreguard any sense of security and privacy, the decoder software was not even available for my OSX or Linux systems. I could not play a movie that I have actually paid for!

The DRM Awareness Day, scheduled to take place on October 3rd, is meant to educate about the DRM technologies and how they effect the end user. One of the goals is to enforce proper labeling of the DRM content – warning the buyer of the limited scope that media has, and that privacy and security might be violated.

“When the UK Government All Party Internet Group reported on DRM they made a number of recommendations. Number one was to call for Extensive Labeling of all DRM products. That was nice, but have you seen any warning labels on DRM products?”

To help with all of this, DefectiveByDesign.org is sending out FREE ‘Warning DRM’ stickers. Order your pack, and help out with the labeling and education!

– Tony

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