Digital Rights Management (DRM)

A selection of recent articles discussing the issues surrounding Digital Rights Management and Digital Content

1. "Digital Rights Management," - Wikipedia   This article gives a thorough overview of DRM and related issues.


2. “Publishers’ Requirements for Digital Rights Management,” – Bolick, Robert. This webpage details publishers’ stance on the necessity of DRM, but also clarifies their positioning on how many DRM formats should be available and what consumers’ rights should be in regard to purchasing and using eBooks.  Although technically dense, this article does address many specific issues surrounding DRM.


3. “Digital Rights Management (DRM) & Libraries,” – American Library Association. This page gives another short overview of what DRM is, but more importantly outlines how this issue affects libraries.


4. List of DRM-free publishers.


5. Digital Rights Management - ALA Digital Content Working Group Tip Sheet  (July 2012)The Digital Content and Libraries Working Group (DCWG) of the American Library Association (ALA) is developing a series of informational Tip Sheets for the library community.


6. "Why DRM is like Airport Security," - Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog  (April 06, 2011) Offers opinions and insight into the DRM issues that accompany eBooks.  Gives some suggestions for change.


7. "Librarians Against DRM," - Defective By Design (03/31/2011) In 2008, the DRM Elimination Crew stood on the steps of the Boston Public Library (BPL) and demanded that they kick DRM Out. The DRM technology got into the BPL through a contract with the company OverDrive, who uses DRM (on most titles) to control how and when people can read ebooks. This setup essentially moves control of the library's digital collection into the hands of the publishers and intermediary companies like OverDrive.


8. Overview of DRM Position Papers. (2001) DRM position papers submitted by various technology industry heads during the 2001 W3C DRM workshp.