Digital Rights Management or DRM is a term which includes various technologies which publishers or copyright owners use in order to control the access and the ways in which you use data such as an mp3 file or hardware such as an iPod. It is a form of copy protection basically so companies can keep control over content so it does not get sold via the internet and then transfered between people for free.

An example of this is the wireless feature of the Zune. You can send a file to another Zune but that Zune who receives the file can only play it for a few days before it must be fully purchased. With no DRM the file would be free to transfer but since the copyright protection is on place on both the file and the hardware it will require you to purchase the particular song or delete it as it will leave it unplayable.

Other modern examples include such things as a movie studio including software on its DVD which would limit the number of copies a user could make to just two so a duplicate copy is possible.

The DRM has always been very controversial as those in favor will say it is necessary in order to prevent duplication and continue revenue flow. Critics though will say that things such as iTunes use the DRM to form a monopoly of sorts since the files will only work and play on certain hardware and such.

The DRM has been around since as long ago as the 1980s with other forms taking place in the 1990’s when a DRM system was used to scramble DVDs to stop the illegal duplication of them.

It also took shape after the Digital Millennium Act which was passed on May 14, 1998. This makes the production of technology which would strip all forms of DRM illegal.

The big controvery surrounding the DRM is that there are no industry-wide standards. This leaves companies with the option to do virtually anything they want which usually goes above and beyond what is necessary. An example of this is when the DRM will not allow you to skip the trailers at the very beginning of a DVD when you put it in. This does not stop copyright in any way but it is used as a restrictive form of DRM.

Many consumer rights groups are trying to get Congress to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to an extent as they want to change the section which makes developing software to disable a DRM system against the law.

With all of this information on DRM and no matter which side of the fence you sit on it is clear that it is not going away anytime soon. It just needs to be stressed and pushed that companies do not use the lack of any standard to this point to their advantage any further than they already have.