I just had a meeting revolving around a project I'm starting to work on
regarding a digital library of Indigenous archive material. The meeting
discussed security and protocols for the archive material, and access.
Indigenous protocols may be very complex on occasion. For example, men
and women cannot have access to the same stories. Different methods were
suggested, including Digital Rights Management (DRM). Yep, the evil
DRM. I jokingly responded with "DRM is a bad word isn't
it?" It is definitely reviled by most users, making a simple act of
copying a file from one computer to another a chore, and, it has been suggested, a
bit of misnomer given that it actually inhibits the rights of the user rather
than providing them with rights like the Bill of Rights. Perhaps though,
we are just looking at it from one context; a large profit
driven conglomerate of global media corporations is putting certain conditions
on their content. Restrictive conditions on their content to be
exact. Does this suck from a user's perspective - yes. I hate DRM,
especially on the two eBooks I bought. After discovering I could print 10
pages - ever - I stopped buying eBooks. Sometimes you just need to print
out a section to take with you.
However, what if DRM was used in another context? Not by a corporation
but by a group of Traditional Owners wanting to protect their knowledge and
culture from exploitation and misuse. There is a push for free open information and public data, but that comes with a cost. By giving
information and putting it out there to say Google, you gave it to Google, and
it's theirs no getting it back (extreme example warning). This is a
system of power, so a group which has been marginalized by this system of power
for centuries might be a wee bit reluctant to just hand over their culture and
knowledge. But what if the costs to archive the data is paid for by public funds? Does that mean it is for the public? The US is the only place I know where this arguments holds, definitely not in Australia or the UK.
Soooooo....Is DRM good in some contexts and bad in others? Don't
know. I think it is an interesting suggestion, and will pursue it.
I also think it is worth looking at DRM in potential positive contexts.