When Different DRM Schemes Collide
Everyone here is always asking me why I am so stuck on the topic of DRM and the iTMS. Well, it just so happens that today there is a good case in point of DRM interfering with a valuable resource of contemporary culture.
Jenny Levine,
The Shifted Librarian, has a problem that is shared by many librarians. Libraries want to provide audio ebooks for their patrons, but the current DRM schemes used by companies like Apple make distribution of audio ebooks highly problematic. In a previous post, Jenny mentions "the problems libraries face offering patron audio ebook downloads in WMA
format only, thereby leaving out the millions of iPod users." Jenny places the blame on Apple for refusing to accept WMA on the iPod and points to the iTunes Feedback form
where people could ask for Apple to change their stance. I, personally, think this is an issue with the WMA DRM that prevents copying the files to an iPod-compatible format.
According to a clause of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, libraries are exempt from the
do-not-circumnavigate-DRM rule that binds all the rest of us, essentially because libraries are a public service that could not operate without fair use, and DRM flies in the face of fair use.
So what's the problem?
Well, in order to purchase the tools necessary to legally circumnavigate the DRM, the library has to spend more money, so they have to apply for a grant. As Jenny puts it: "But what if we submitted a grant to actually do what Ben proposes? What would the implications be? Is it realistic? Would we still exist in a year or would the legal bills kill us? Would it ultimately open up circulation of digital files in libraries or end it forever? I'm not a fan of DRM,
but I also don't want to see libraries used for illegal copying (a whole other debate). Is there an open source type of DRM for these files? I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on TV, so I'd be interested to hear reactions from others on this." If there were no DRM on these files (WMA or iTMS), then the libraries wouldn't have to go to the trouble and expense of circumnavigating the DRM in order to convert the files to a neutral format like MP3, which would play on everyone's MP3 player of choice, and in turn they wouldn't be afraid of any negative legal repercussions.