Empirical Study Shows DRM Encourages Infringement

Hucko writes "Ars Technica has a story about a study by Cambridge law professor Patricia Akester that suggests (declares?) that DRM and its ilk does persuade citizens to infringe copyright and circumvent authors' protections. The name of the study is 'Technological accommodation of conflicts between freedom of expression and DRM: the first empirical assessment.'" The study itself is available for download (PDF); there's also a distillation here.

Comments

and the pirates win again

[DragonTHC]

ARRRRR!

seriously who didn't know this was the case?

someone has to crack that DRM just for the sake of cracking it.

Re:and the pirates win again

[Ogive17]

I wouldn't say I necessarily believe it. The majority of users probably have no idea what DRM is and are thus unaffected. Those that do know what DRM is will either buy the software anyway and deal with it, buy the software then download a cracked version, or forego paying entirely and just download the cracked version.

I'd be more likely believe the percentage of people who skip paying and just download the cracked version hasn't changed much over the years.

Give me a few years and a grand for $1,000,000 and I'll do a study that proves this. Just like there have been studies that have also shown that DRM lowers piracy... and this one that shows DRM increases piracy. Now we need a study that shows DRM doesn't affect piracy.

Re:and the pirates win again

[rodrigoandrade]

> The majority of users probably have no idea what DRM is and are thus unaffected.

They may not know what DRM is, but it surely affects them when they buy a DVD movie only to find out it doesn't play on whatever device it is they're trying to play it on. Even NASA fell in the DRM trap.

Re:and the pirates win again

[T Murphy]

seriously who didn't know this was the case?

(insert name of media corporation here)

Re:and the pirates win again

[DangerFace]

The majority of users probably have no idea what DRM is and are thus unaffected. Those that do know what DRM is will either buy the software anyway and deal with it, buy the software then download a cracked version, or forego paying entirely and just download the cracked version.

Then of course there are the majority of users that have been unable to get a game to work because of DRM, whether they knew it was there or not. And the people who don't have a music collection anymore because some servers got turned off, so now they just torrent. Or the people who can't get a DVD in their region, so just pirate it instead.

I agree, most people aren't like me - I buy what I can if it isn't DRMed to hell, mainly to make a point (albeit a tiny little one) to the companies that do it. But everyone I know has had problems with legit games, and when people learn that the only reason they're having those problems is because they wanted to reward a company for delivering a product, they'll stop. It's been years since I had a serious issue with installing or playing a pirated game. If the big companies started making ease of use more of a big deal than the pirates, there'd be a lot less 'piracy from necessity', as I like to call it.

Bottom line is, your standard pirate copy says 'Install, firewall, copy crack, play indefinitely' when to get the equivalent from even the standard very-little-DRM game means you need a magic CD that never gets scratched and never gets lost.

Re:and the pirates win again

[Asic Eng]

The majority of users are also affected when they have to sit through the "FBI warning" nonsense which are afflicted solely on legitimate buyers.

Re:and the pirates win again

[hairyfeet]

For a really goo example, see here. I myself have stopped buying games that I don't find a crack for first, thus making sure the games companies can only sell me games when they have dropped in price. Why? Because just as with the link I provided way too many times I have set there and watched that damned SecuROM screen pop up even though I HAVE the stupid %^%#^$$# disc in the drive!

Of course, now that I have switched to XP X64, cracking the games I paid good money for is no longer a simple desire not to have to keep the %^%#^$$# disc in the drive, that maybe works 50/50 for me anyway, but one of necessity. Because while the games play wonderfully in XP X64, their %^%#^$$# DRM doesn't work. So I HAVE to crack the %^%#^$$# game just so I can actually use what I fricking paid for. And just like the gamer I linked to(just look at the amount of game boxes surrounding him. That is a serious paying customer they are boning) their DRM for me just makes me jump through damned hoops so I can have the "privilege" of giving them money while the pirates laugh their asses off and don't have the hassle.

Is it any wonder more and more people pirate? It is because you are screwing your customers! And it is 2009 and I have big fat HDDs! I should NOT have to change %^%#^$$# discs when I want to play a game. if I wanted that I would have bought a Fricking PS2! And please don't mention Steam. As someone who had his $50 stolen by Valve over the HL:GoTY Edition I will never use that damned ripoff! Look up HL:GoTY Edition and ripoff and you will see Valve burned a LOT of folks. pretty much if you buy anything in a nice retail box from Valve they can rip you off and ANY time and refuse to give you what you paid for. No thanks!

Re:and the pirates win again

[stewbacca]

The majority of users probably have no idea what DRM is and are thus unaffected.

I believe the sentiment of the study is that BECAUSE people aren't aware of DRM, they still do things that are illegal, according to the DRM. I don't believe most people go out of their way to infringe--they just do by the nature of using their content in the context of the current laws.

Re:and the pirates win again

[drinkypoo]

That time belongs to me, not to them. Why should they be able to dictate what I watch? Just another reason to format-shift.

Re:and the pirates win again

[Firethorn]

Lacking cable and unwilling to pay for it, I'm currently watching airbender on DVD from netflix.

First there's the FBI warning. For like 30 seconds. Then there's no less than 6 segments of spongebob advertising that I can't skip to go to the menu to play the more interesting, slightly more adult anime.

If I'd downloaded it off the internet, it would have been free and advertising free.

What advantage does getting the legal copy give me again?

Re:and the pirates win again

[ShieldW0lf]

Or you can just stick the disc in the player, go make popcorn and when it's ready the movie has reached menu. What's so difficult about it?

I'm not talking about media you purchase, but media you rent.

Ripping it is faster, more convenient and removes the corporate propaganda. If I can't remove the propaganda, I won't watch it at all, and I won't let my kid watch it.

You would be surprised how jarring it is once you've freed yourself from it... like someone who grew up in the city going camping for a month in the wilderness, then coming home to realize that they've had people shouting in their ears their whole life and that they never realized how much their thinking had been muddled and their senses numbed by what was being done to them until they finally got free of it.

Once you actually experience it for yourself, you start to feel like someone who just realized they've been abused their whole life and didn't know.

Re:and the pirates win again

[ShieldW0lf]

I think you are putting way to much stock in how a few minutes of advertising can adversely affect your life. Just ignore them, fast forward, or hit the DVD Menu button and skip all that crap. Seriously the only way to avoid all of what you call "corporate propaganda" is to live in a cave, never buy anything and live a completely self-sufficient life, never have any contact with the outside world, never again read anything, listen to anything, or watch anything. Then you would truly be "free" of the corporate shackles. (As a bonus you could also realize that you've had people shouting in your ears their whole life and that you never realized how much your thinking had been muddled - in the silence of your cave.)

Ahh... now you're telling me it's impossible and/or impractical. Which is great, because it just so happens I already did it. As a matter of fact, I wrote a series of pieces for members of an eating disorder recovery group on how to avoid all the negative imagery and get healthier. It's on a private forum, so I'll just stick it in here.

--//--

How to avoid advertisements on the web:

If you're not using Firefox, you should be.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Once you've got Firefox, you should install tools to protect you from advertising. First one is Adblock Plus

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

This lets you block advertisements, and is configurable.

Next, if you want to block particular sites completely, you can use this tool, called BlockSite:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3145

After you've done all this, you can customize Google to remove certain items you don't want to see with the CustomizeGoogle add on.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/743

With this tool, you can remove advertisements, filter out sites you don't ever want to see in your search results, and remove google tracking. Which may screw up Muses website statistics tracking, but will prevent you from becoming a target for advertisements specifically related to eating disorders and dieting etc.

If you take the time to install and set up these tools, you will be amazed at the difference.

--//--

How to avoid advertisements in your mail:

First, install Thunderbird:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

This mail reader has a built in spam blocker that learns how to identify spam as you mark things as spam/not spam. This will go a long way towards keeping your mailbox advertisement free.

Once you've got that installed, you want to be using it to read your web based mail, like Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail, etc.

So you need to install the Webmail add on.

http://webmail.mozdev.org/

Once you've installed this, you'll be able to view your mail from all these websites without having to see their banners and other assorted crap.

After this is all done, you should set up folders for every piece of mail you expect to receive, and filters to automatically move them there. This will prefilter your pile, and your learning spam filters will also prefilter.

Between the two, you'll have an ever shrinking pile of messages that "might" be spam to wade through and mark as "is spam" or "is not spam".

--//--

How to avoid advertising in your multimedia:

Stop paying for cable television. Disconnect your service, and use the money you save to buy a DVD burner for backup, a video card for your computer that supports TV-Out, and a large external hard drive that you can use to carry files to and from your fr

Re:and the pirates win again

[nospam007]

"Even NASA fell in the DRM trap."

Orbiting people have their own problems.
Now we're in region 1. Now region 2, region 3, 4 5...

Re:and the pirates win again

[Chosen Reject]

How about this 'what if' scenario:

Imagine it is 1985 and /. is running an article about how the movie The Cotton Club can't be recorded from one VCR to another. You say,

It doesn't stop you from recording your decaying tape if you have a macrovision free VCR, and most of them are.

Runaway1956 posts:

Yeah, but what if they introduced encryption and then made it illegal to circumvent that encryption.

Now choose carefully. Do you:

A) stand up for yourself and say the media companies have gone too far
or
B) say "you can't just make up arbitrary realities"

Congratulations. You chose B. Welcome to the real world, where if you don't stand up for your rights at even the smallest infraction, those stepping on your rights will continue down that path until your reality is based on their arbitrary actions.

It's true!

[Drakkenmensch]

I never pirated any games until the day my storebought copy of Doom 3 flat out *refused* to work on my computer because the installer was convinced my setup meant I was going to make illegal copies of it. I got pissed off even more when movie DVDs started refusing to run in my laptop as well.

Re:It's true!

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I pirated a piece of software just a week ago: it's a very specialized database application on steels that refuses to work if it doesn't find the original CD in the drive. Very useful indeed to use on a CD-less notebook... And I paid the damn thing almost $500!

Needless to say, a NOP has found its way into the executable. For the next version, I'll pay the license, but I'll download the ISO from emule, which not only doesn't require the CD, but also doesn't require the activation key.

This is the strange world of software and movies: when you're honest, you're hassled. If you pirate, your life suddenly becomes a lot easier.

Re:It's true!

[mcvos]

This is the strange world of software and movies: when you're honest, you're hassled. If you pirate, your life suddenly becomes a lot easier.

That's exactly the problem with DRM. It only hurts paying customers. If you don't want to get hurt, you need to get the cracked version. They're driving honest customers away.

At last

[Shrike82]

Good to see someone has taken a scientific approach to this for once instead of hyperbole, exaggeration and assumption like we normally see (from both sides I might add).

Also, it's funny how DRM has become automatically negative. The reasons are obvious, but as I've said before many times, DRM can be a positive thing. I'll cite the much debated Steam argument again. Once I buy a game, DRM (positive DRM) allows me to redownload whenever I want, and to play it on any computer whenever and wherever I want. There are some advantages to DRM but of course they're over-shadowed by the many drawbacks and disadvantages from DRM's restrictive aspects.

And can we please not turn this into a "Steam sucks!" - "No YOU suck!" debate again? It was just an example.

Re:At last

[Merls the Sneaky]

What happens when steam goes bust? And don't give me the "we will patch authentication out if we go under" crap. If they are going under they will not be releasing patches to strip the authentication as noone will be getting paid to perfom such a job.

DRM is always evil.

Re:At last

[bumby]

How is this related to DRM? magnatune.com gives you the same service (download whatever you bought whenever you want, wherever you are) without DRM.

Re:At last

[silanea]

What happens when steam goes bust?

What has happened every time digital restrictions interfered with the desire to use some content: Someone will break the protection. In Steam's case this has already happened for many games.

Re:At last

[Culture20]

Too many DRM schemes (with companies that still operate) have already gone under and taken the protected files with them. Relying on the promises of a company instead of a contract is ridiculous. They're handing you sales fluff and you're eating it up. I would love to buy a lot of steam-only games, but _never_ will, because I want to play them X years from now.

BTW, you can't stop a "Steam sucks" thread in an anti-DRM post.

Re:At last

[ShieldW0lf]

Technology that restricts peoples access to knowledge and culture is evil. There is no justification for its existence that isn't derived from someones desire to create a hostile and unfriendly environment, then charge people for relief from the consequences of that environment. That is a fundamentally evil thing.

Re:At last

[smbell]

Apparently you just want DRM to mean whatever you want. DRM (Digital Rights Management) is by definition a restriction of use built into a digital item (file). The Magntune example has nothing to do with DRM. The only way you could possible stretch DRM into that space would be to claim that DRM includes any means of tracking anything you use, and would include anything that has an account you sign into (OMG Slashdot is using DRM on my posts!1!).

DMR specifically restricts (manages) what you can do (rights) with a (digital) file. It is not, and cannot, be a positive thing from a consumer perspective ever.

Hurry...

[Clipless]

The RIAA better discredit Dr. Akester before this gets pickup by a major news source.
Actually I take that back. Everybody knows that there is now room for science and research when it comes to lobbying!
What was I thinking?

DRM is pushing me towards piracy

[Andy Smith]

I stopped buying PC games about a year ago due to DRM technologies such as SecuROM and StarForce, because of the faults they can cause when burning CDs, which is an essential part of my job.

Last month I bought a new mid-spec laptop and went shopping for an "old" game that would run on it, and I settled on Civ4. After buying it, I discovered that it too uses SecuROM so I will not install it. Instead, I think it's morally (and legally?) acceptable to download a pirate copy without DRM.

A couple of weeks ago my girlfriend and I both bought The Sims 2. Neither copy worked! I've since discovered that the copy-protection on the DVD is known to cause installation errors, and one of the recommended workarounds is to install the disk imaging software Alcohol, and this indeed allowed us to install the game. Alcohol can of course be very useful for people who want to pirate games.

I feel like games publishers are pushing me towards pirating their products. I don't want DRM to harm my system, and if the only way I can play a purchased game is to pirate it then how long will it be before I skip the purchasing?

The conclusions of the study

[jonaskoelker]

Here are the conclusions of the study:

1) Although DRM has not impacted on many acts permitted by law,
      certain permitted acts are being adversely affected by the use of
      DRM;
2) This is in spite of the existence of technological solutions
      (enabling partitioning and authentication of users) to
      accommodate those permitted acts (privileged exceptions);
3) Beneficiaries of privileged exceptions who have been prevented
      from carrying out those permitted acts (because of the
      employment of DRM) have not used the complaints mechanism
      set out in UK law;
4) Article 6(4) of the Information Society Directive put an onus on
      content owners to accommodate privileged exceptions
      voluntarily. Voluntary measures have emerged in the publishing
      field, but not all content owners are ready to act unless they are
      told to do so by regulatory authorities.

My commentary:

1) As far as I can tell, DRM for the most part also hasn't had a noticeable impact on the uses not permitted by law. In other words: DRM only harms the customers, not the pirates.

2) As the record has shown in various court cases, the media companies are a bunch of assholes. Of course they're not going to care if little Ms. Teacher wants to (fairly!) use some copyrighted piece of work in hear lessons. They have "Power!! Unlimited POWAH!!!!"

3) What, there's a complaints mechanism? That would have been pretty good if people knew about it and used it.

4) Wait, what??? The DRM control freaks are supposed to voluntarily give up control? That sounds like a misunderstanding of human psychology. Also, quote The Matrix 2 (too bad they never made any sequels): "[Oracle] What do all men with power want? [Neo] ... [Oracle] More power".

Even BBC's Have Your Say has got the plot

[pzs]

We're accustomed on Slashdot to saying that the general public is not aware of the issues surrounding DRM and file sharing. However, this debate seems to suggest otherwise. I know the HYS debates are often full of ranting morons but it is still an audience of non-experts. Looking at the most recommended comments there seem to be quite a few people who know what's going on.

How much did this guy get paid to do this study?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

People prefer files that aren't troublesome to play and aren't tied to some publisher's good will, to files that are troublesome to play and tied to some publisher's good will. News at 11...

Interesting?

[cashman73]

Not to be a troll here or anything, but where's the correlationisnotcausation tag? ;-)

Headstrong.mp3

[PinkyDead]

My daughter wanted Ashley Tisdale's Headstrong on her iPod. (Please no comments - I'm ashamed enough as it is).

We can't get it from iTunes because we use Ubuntu.

We can't get the mp3 from Amazon.com because you have to be US resident.

We can't get it from Amazon.co.uk because you have to have a UK billing address.

We can't get it from Amazon.ie because that doesn't exist.

So I have a choice, buy the whole album on CD from Play.com or pirate it....

I'm getting a bit sick of this malarkey where I'm told what I can and can't buy with my money. Obviously, I accept the principle that Xyz has the rights to sell something in this market, but if Xyz won't sell it to me then I say screw Xyz.

So this news doesn't surprise me - the more you tighten your fingers yada yada yada...

Good Old Games

[wjousts]

I'll cite the much debated Steam argument again. Once I buy a game, DRM (positive DRM) allows me to redownload whenever I want, and to play it on any computer whenever and wherever I want.

I'll see your Steam and raise you a GOG.com. No DRM at all, ever, and you can redownload your games whenever you want. Sure their catalog is still small and contains older games (although some are only 2-3 years old), but I'm hoping they'll go from strength to strength and I'm supporting them with my dollars

I'm still hoping to see LucasArts back catalog on there one day.

Re:It's 10 seconds to the wrong people

[Anonymous Coward]

More like 5 minutes. You've obviously not had the misfortune of trying using a disney DVD when you miss the "fast menu" button window, before it goes into a ridiculous number of adverts that you cannot bypass.

List of DRM-free games

[cliffski]

You don't have to assume all PC games use DRM. ReclaimYourGame lists companies not using any form of securom etc. here is the link:

http://reclaimyourgame.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=14&Itemid=62

Disclaimer: I'm one of the companies on there.

DRM doesn't solve anything

[DrYak]

Except that paying taxes, paying for goods, etc. are all required by law.
Circumventing right-restriction is authorized by the law in some cases (="Fair Use"). But regularly you can't do it.

Besides, DRM is useless and doesn't even fulfill the basic mission it was created for (stopping unauthorized duplication of content).

Case 1:
  I'm about to go on vacation somewhere and I want to have a couple of movie on my portable driveless device (PDA, iPod, Netbook whatever), without needing to lug around a drive and a pile of discs. I need to shift formats (DVD/BD -> H264 or whatever the portable device takes) it's authorized by fair use in most juridiction. But I can't because DRM blocks it.

Case 2:
  I'm a student making a presentation on a movie director. I want to copy a (reasonably) short segment of a movie to show as exemple to my audience. I can't, DRM blocks it.

Case 3:
  I want to make a backup of a movie and keep the original in a safe place (that's actually a case I've been through : I have a mentally challenged brother who has a tendency to damage his favorite movies. It's important to him because otherwise he goes into an autistic crisis. Currently the originals are safely locked away, and copies loaded onto- and played from a server)
DRM blocks it (or would have if I haven't resorted to DeCSS).

Case 4 :
  I'm a Linux user (that my case also, actually). I want to play a movie I've legally bought on my custom-computer. DRM blocks it. ...and this list can go long...

All are legitimate uses, which unlike the example of tax fraud or theft of goods should be protected by fair use by copyright laws in most jurisdictions. (Or sometimes are even normal uses like the "i just want to play it, but the system doesn't let me" cases. Fair use isn't required)

But aren't technically feasible because manufacturer of DRM solution only take into account the big 80% of their market : basic average user which buys a media to pop it into a certified player.
They just don't want to spend the additional resource to handle all the exotic corner cases in the remaining 20% even if those are exceptions covered by fair use.

-----

Meanwhile,
Counter-case :
  I'm an EEEVVIIILL pirate (Yar!) and I want to get a movie for free, because I'm a free loader and don't want to pay for anything if I can get away with it.
  I just go to whatever is the most popular torrent portal-du.jour and just click on a link.

That's it. Just. One. Click.

At no time did any form of DRM get in my way to stop me from doing this.
At no time would I be subjected to FBI warnings, advertising for up coming disc releases, etc...

In my series of example :
- DRM got in the way in lots of situation which are legal
- the sole time when a copyright-forbiden act took place, DRM didn't make any difference at all.

Copy protection worked in the previous decade because the only way to get an unauthorized copy was to copy the media yourself. If it's protected, only a couple of users where able to make copies and thus the propagation was limited.

Today, with the magic of the modern internet, all it takes is one single user to publish a torrent (and at the scale of internet among all milions of user, there's always at least one user having the necessary knowhow/equipement/social engineering skill/whatever to do it) and then suddenly the media becomes easily available to anyone connected to the intertubes, without any protection stopping it.

The Internet is good at making some content instantly available to the whole planet without restriction, and that's what make duplication-level protection obsolete.