• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

FACTBOX - Key details on Digital Rights Management

LONDON
Mon Apr 2, 2007 12:58pm EDT
A customer checks out Music Store (on a screen) with Apple iTunes at an Apple store in Tokyo in this August 25, 2006 file photo. REUTERS/Kiyoshi Ota/Files

LONDON (Reuters) - Five facts about Digital Rights Management (DRM) after EMI Group said it would make all of its digital repertoire available without the anti-piracy software.

* DRM is software which entertainment companies use to prevent illegal copying or distribution of digital media files such as songs and movies.

* Apple's proprietary Fairplay protection technology is one of the most commonly used to protect songs, TV shows and movies. Microsoft Corp. has its own Windows Media-based protection technology.

* DRM protection of a song or movie can be used to prevent it from playing on a non-compatible digital media player or software. For example, Apple's Fairplay format will only work within Apple's iPod player and iTunes system.

* The most popular digital song format, an unprotected MP3, does not have any DRM protection.

* More than 1 billion digital songs in MP3 format are traded illegally every month on peer-to-peer networks such as Limewire, according to Web consultants Big Champagne.


More from Reuters

Photo

Microsoft loses Word appeal, will adjust program

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it will tweak its Word application to remove a feature judged to be a breach of patent, ensuring that it will be able to continue selling one of its most widely used programs.

» More Top News
Malaysians participate in computer attack and defence hacking competition during The 3rd Annual Hack-In-The-Box Security Conference 2004 in Kuala Lumpur on October 6, 2004. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad
Commentary:

Year of the breach

Data security breaches are nasty business and should be avoided at all costs, writes Kevin Prince, a chief technology officer at Perimeter e-Security. Here's a look at the biggest breaches and blunders of 2009.  Commentary 

Technology
Soldiers look on as U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks to soldiers at F.O.B. Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq December 11, 2009. REUTERS/Justin Sullivan/Pool

Are you pregnant? Sir! No, Sir!

There are some 115,000 U.S. troops in Iraq -- and one commander wants to make sure his soldiers don't multiply.  Full Article 

Politics