Text 14. DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT

1. Discuss the following questions in pairs:

1. Can you give a definition of the word “copyright”? What does the term “copyrighted work” mean?

2. What is the aim of the Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, in your opinion?

3. What countries pay special attention to the protection of copyright? How can you characterize the situation in Russia? Do you personally download audio and video files for free? Why? Why not?

4.Use a dictionary to translate the following terms and names into Russian: Content Scrambling System (CSS); Advanced Access Content System (AACS); Recording Institute Association of America (RIAA); Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA); Free Software Foundation (FSF); General Public License (GPL).

2. A) Match the following words and word combinations with their Russian equivalents:

1. a pattern 2. fidelity 3. to assert 4. to enforce 5. a purchaser 6. proprietary 7. notification 8. to sue 9. to force 10.to prohibit

k) уведомление l) приводить в исполнение m) запрещать n) патентованный o) точность воспроизведения p) схема, модель q) преследовать в судебном порядке r) принуждать s) покупатель t)заявлять

В) Fill in the gaps in the sentences using the words above. Each word can be used only once:

1. Any creator can _____ copyright to prevent illegal distribution of his work.

2. Many organizations in the USA _____ people who share copyrighted materials online.

3. Content Scrambling System is a _____ format that was used to protect movies on DVD in 1990s.

4. DRM is a specific technology that helps to _____ copyright and, as a result, to protect the author’s rights.

5. Any digitized information presents a _____ of bits that is easy to copy with the special software.

6. The aim of DRM is to make it difficult for the _____ of a piece of work to copy and distribute it.

7. The Recording Institute Association of America _____ Napster, one of the best known file-sharing services, to become a licensed music service.

8. When an analog audio recording is copied several times, each copy loses _____.

9. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act _____ to produce and spread software that helps users break the protection of online materials.

10.In 2005 Sony used DRM technology that made operating systems open to attacks without _____.

3. Read the text and arrange the sentences from Task 2 B) in the right order:

It is a well-known fact that when information is digitized it is simply a pattern of bits that can be easily copied using a variety of software or the built-in facilities of the operating system. Of course the development of tape-recording technology in the mid-20th century already made it possible to copy audio recordings, and the development of videotape and the VCR did the same for video. However, while analog recordings lose some accuracy (or fidelity) with each generation of copying, digital files can be copied exactly each time. It is equally easy to e-mail, upload, or otherwise distribute audio or video files.

Legally, the creator of an original work can assert copyright to control when and how the work is distributed. Digital rights management (DRM) refers to a variety of technologies that can be used to enforce this right by making it difficult for the purchaser of one copy of a work to copy and distribute it in turn.

In the mid-1990s, movies on DVD were protected using the Content Scrambling System (CSS). This proprietary format was licensed only for certain hardware and operating systems, but in 1999 an activist programmer released DeCSS, a program that could decode protected discs and allow them to be played on operating systems such as Linux, which had not been licensed. A similar story happened in 2007 when hackers broke the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) that was used to protect the new high-definition HD DVD and Blue-Ray discs.

DRM has also been used on many audio CDs. Many consumers complained that their CD players (particularly when used with Windows PCs) were not compatible with the protected discs. In 2005 Sony began to use DRM technology that (without notification) installed a rootkit (a kind of “back door” to the operating system) that potentially left systems open to attack. After several lawsuits, Sony withdrew the DRM, which was ineffective at preventing copying. By 2007 music CD producers came to the conclusion that DRM had more costs than benefits, and such protection is no longer found on audio CDs. Music distributed online is often protected by DRM. However, some services such as Apple iTunes now offer the option of buying DRM-free music at a higher price.

Undoubtedly, if people can get something for free, they will not buy it. Content creators and publishers would go out of business. Organizations such as the Recording Institute Association of America (RIAA) have sued college students for sharing copyrighted music or video online and forced the best known file-sharing service, Napster, to become a licensed music service.

There exists the law known as The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which prohibits the production or spreading of technology (software or hardware) that allows users to break DRM.

There are also a number of legal arguments against DRM. One is that it prevents certain actions allowed to consumers under copyright law, such as making a backup copy of media that one has purchased. Also, because many DRM schemes work only with Windows or Macintosh machines, users of other operating systems must “crack” DRM in order to be able to use the protected media. A number of activists and groups have opposed DRM, including open-source advocate Richard Stallman. They have tried to promote the Free Software Foundation’s General Public License (GPL3), which prohibits the use of DRM in products distributed under that open-source license.

4. Find English equivalents for the following phrases in the text:

1. встроенные возможности операционной системы

2. быть неэффективным в предупреждении копирования

3. сторонник открытого исходного кода

4. распространять аудио и видео файлы иным способом

5. быть несовместимым с защищенными дисками

6. быть разрешенным к использованию на определенных операционных системах

5. Answer the questions using the information in the text:

1. How can you copy digitized information?

2. What is DRM?

3. How were movies on DVD protected in 1990s?

4. Why has it become possible to play protected discs on unlicensed OS?