Results from the DRM FTC debate

Yesterday was a busy day in Seattle, with the Federal Trades Commission holding a hearing on DRM found on various electronic devices.  It was a pretty good turnout according to a few articles.  A representative from our very own “Reclaim your Game” (congrats you guys :D) attended the event, even had the chance to make a few points regarding SecuROM and other obtrusive DRM’s.

FTC has a role to play in easing burden of DRM. Helping consumers understand what they’re buying, and helping them get what they pay for. Consumers are beginning to expect that products containing DRM will harm them, and that’s not good for either consumers or the content industries.

He researches security of DRM systems. At one time research was primarily around security of content, but there’s an emerging area of collateral damage caused by DRM measures. DRM has a tendency to create security risks beyond that presented by typical consumer software. Brings up the Sony rootkit, and a videogame DRM system called Safe Disk, which had a security bug and the software had kernel-level access to Windows systems. Automatic updates without notification, “phoning home” without notification, are also issues that reduce the users’ understanding and control.

I’m still digest the information from all of the articles, but you can start reading yourself of the event from the following sites:

• Reclaim Your Game
• ARS Technica “We’ll “come calling” about deceptive DRM”
• TweetGrid – FTCDRM tweets
• Electronic Frontier Foundation “Stating the Case of DRM to the FTC”
• Oren’s Weblog – DRM: FTC & Town Hall – Intro & First Panel
• Oren’s Weblog – DRM: FTC & Town Hall – Second Panel – Legal Landscape
• Oren’s Weblog – DRM: FTC & Town Hall – Third Panel – DRM in Action
  
• Oren’s Weblog – DRM: FTC & Town Hall – Fourth Panel – Informing Consumers
  
• Oren’s Weblog – DRM: FTC & Town Hall – Fifth Panel – Future of DRM