Originally an esoteric matter for computer programmers and encryption experts, digital rights management (DRM) evolved from the need to protect digital information such as proprietary programming code and classified military information. The owners of this sensitive intellectual property controlled access to information in a variety of ways, from simple passwords to complicated viewing devices that made readers long for the good old days of paper documents.The journey from protecting spy secrets to spy novels accelerated with the advent of the Internet, and even more with the explosion of eCommerce. The easy, immediate distribution of content made authors, musicians, and publishers start thinking about controlling access to their intellectual property, as well as charging appropriate usage fees. And the MP3 phenomenon showed them just how much money could be lost if they didn't take steps to make consumer-level DRM a reality - fast.
"All the pieces for distribution of intellectual digital content are coming together, but people are reticent to put stuff up on the Internet because anyone can access it," says John Warnock, Adobe chairman and CEO. "Fast" doesn't do justice to the development efforts underway at software and hardware heavyweights worldwide. The opportunity for DRM is huge, and those with first-to-market advantage stand to capture leadership positions within the next several months.
In the last six months alone, Adobe and Microsoft have each secured major strategic partnerships with content providers and DRM technology vendors. No stranger to encryption technologies, Xerox has announced the ContentGuard DRM system, which offers support for Adobe and other industry-standard solutions. Even younger companies such as Reciprocal and InterTrust are way ahead of the game in this vibrantly competitive market.
