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GNU Operating SystemProprietary DRM
Other examples of proprietary malwareHere are examples of proprietary programs and systems that implement digital restrictions management (DRM): functionalities designed intentionally to restrict what users can do. These functionalities are also called digital handcuffs.
DRM is reinforced by censorship laws that ban software (and hardware) that can break the handcuffs. Instead of these laws, DRM ought to be illegal. Please support our campaign to abolish DRM.
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The Amazon Kindle has DRM. That article is flawed in that it fails to treat DRM as an ethical question; it takes for granted that whatever Amazon might do to its users is legitimate. It refers to DRM as digital “rights” management, which is the spin term used to promote DRM. Nonetheless it serves as a reference for the facts.
We refer to that product as the Amazon Swindle because of this and other malicious functionalities.
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DRM in Windows, introduced to cater to Bluray disks. (The article talks about how the same malware would later be introduced in MacOS. That had not been done at the time, but it was done subsequently.)
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DRM in MacOS. This article focuses on the fact that a new model of Macbook introduced a requirement for monitors to have malicious hardware, but DRM software in MacOS is involved in activating the hardware. The software for accessing iTunes is also responsible.
A further consequence of this malware is that users may have trouble playing videos on auxiliary large screens. (The article, from a publication whose name suggests it idolizes Apple, treats these restrictions as irreproachable.)
Adobe made “Digital Editions,” the e-reader used by most US libraries, spy on the user for the sake of DRM.
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DVDs and Bluray disks have DRM.
That page uses spin terms that favor DRM, including digital “rights” management and “protect”, and it claims that “artists” (rather than companies) are primarily responsible for putting digital restrictions management into these disks. Nonetheless, it is a reference for the facts.
Every Bluray disk (with few, rare exceptions) has DRM—so don't use Bluray disks!
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