DRM, the Maginot Line and the big Catch-22: A friendly reminder of the obvious

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By David Rothman

“Some parts of the industry have focused on DRM as a solution to the problem, ignoring the fact that a flawless DRM system is not even theoretically possible, and conveniently forgetting that as long as one DRM-free copy of a work exists, it can be distributed for no cost.” – David Chisnall, in The Future of eBooks, an article for InformIT, a Pearson Education publication.

The TeleRead take: Chisnall didn’t mention the Maginot Line, but how can I not point out that DRM is the equivalent of building the Maginot and expecting the Germans never to roll through Belgium? Furthermore, what about Digital Rights Management‘s Catch-22 factor? If books aren’t popular, e-pass-alongs may actually spur interest in them, especially the p-editions. And if they’re best-sellers, people may actually type out the text (what’s to prevent them, short of requiring “DRMed” eyeglasses?). Either way, “protection” just doesn’t make sense—especially since it hurts sales to law-abiding users, while giving unprotected, pirated editions a nice, healthy boost.

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