15 May 2010

Terms & Conditions - Cool Animated Film about Digital Rights Management


This is a very well put together animated short film about Digital Rights Management or DRM for short.  It was made by a group of students attending Vancouver Film School and outlines what publishers can do if they use DRM.

This is a term that is used when describing any technology that inhibits the use of digital content.  It involves direct modification of the file(s) and is used widely by such global brands as Sony, Microsoft, Apple and even Auntie (the BBC).

Amazon, for example was able to make two George Orwell books disappear from the files of Kindle users who had bought it from them. Without any irony whatsoever.

What does this mean for people who buy downloads?  You can’t share the book and you will most certainly not be able to keep the book forever.

It certainly does not seem like an enlightened move by publishers, particularly when it comes to reproducing and disseminating the work of long dead authors.

Take a look at the video and make up your own mind.

Tower Defence