Will the FTC clamp down on DRM?
Today, the Federal Trade Commission began a conference in Seattle, WA to discuss digital rights management – aka DRM. While no policy shift changes were announced, I was pleased to read via this post on Ars Technica what one FTC official had to say as a warning to companies that use DRM:
Mary Engle, an FTC Acting Deputy Director, began her remarks by warning that those who use DRM had better get serious about disclosing it and the limits that it places on products. She referenced the Sony BMG rootkit debacle, saying that "sellers who use DRM technology to enforce the terms of bargains with consumers need to be particularly careful to disclose in advance" what those bargains are.
Isn’t that what the fine print is for, to disclose shady terms to consumers without actually expecting the consumer to read about the shady terms and conditions associated with DRM. According to Ms. Engle, that is not acceptable:
And just stuffing the disclosure into the fine print of an End User License Agreement (EULA) isn’t good enough. "If your advertising giveth and your EULA taketh away," she said, "don’t be surprised if the FTC comes calling."
She stressed that it was not permissible for companies to play Lucy to consumers’ Charlie Brown, holding the football and promising that this time she won’t yank it away at the last minute. Promising "if you buy our DRM downloads, we won’t shut down the authentication serves this time," she said, wasn’t enough.
Remember, no new FTC policies were disclosed at this conference. But regardless, I’m glad at least one person at the FTC is serious about clamping down on companies with draconian DRM tactics.
Implications for ebooks
Obviously, whatever outcome this conference has in terms of new policies will greatly affect how ebooks are sold and bought and read. For me personally, I just want to know up front what kind of DRM restrictions a particular device and/or digital media has without having to hire a lawyer to interpret the user agreement for me.
A good example of this is, of course, the Amazon Kindle (sorry Amazon). I know if I buy a Kindle I’ll be tethered to buying your ebooks from your website. That’s fine. But if one day you decide to disable my Kindle or any of the ebooks I legally purchased from you, then there will be problems.
I can take it a step further and argue that companies like Amazon, who do sell digital content, need to figure out a way for users to back-up there purchases to their own computers and/or other hardware, and not rely on Amazon for that back-up.
In other words, I’d like the FTC to implement a policy that would make this possible, so if Amazon goes belly-up I can still enjoy the ebooks I bought for them. This would also prevent them from disabling an ebook simply because they put some small piece of legal mumbo-jumbo in their user agreement saying they can just because.
I hate to pick on Amazon. But they are an easy example to use when it comes to issues regarding DRM and ebooks. I guess I could have just as easily used Sony. But oh well.
What are your thoughts? What regulations and policies would you like the FTC to implement regarding DRM? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
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