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.