Digital Rights Management (DRM) and piracy are set to be hot topics of discussion at next month’s Seybold Seminars trade show and conference in San Francisco, Calif. In fact, September 10 is being called Digital Rights Management Day at the event.
A split session featuring GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies president Bill Rosenblatt and two panels of experts called “The Antipiracy Wars” will serve as the focus of the discussion. They’re expected to discuss the problem of defining, protecting and licensing intellectual property rights in the digital domain as well as present solutions that serve both the content’s owners and consumer’s fair use rights.
Issues up for discussion include increasing pressure from industry and government to require rights management systems to be built into computers and televisions; such government-mandated solutions are a bone of contention at companies like Intel Corp. and Apple.
“Several pending bills would mandate their inclusion in all digital media rendering devices, and would allow media firms virtually free reign in hacking into Internet servers suspected of harboring pirated material,” said Rosenblatt. “Technology organizations become indignant at these pieces of legislation, calling them unfair constraints on innovation and consumer choice; meanwhile, legal experts wonder whether DRM technology can really coexist with the copyright laws in their current form.”