<nettime> Indian industry study pushes for adopting DRM in country

["Frederick Noronha [ààààààà ààààààà]" <fred@bytesforall.org>]

INDIAN INDUSTRY STUDY PUSHES FOR ADOPTING DRM IN COUNTRY

FN

GOA, India, Nov 24: Indian national commerce chambers FICCI has pushed
for the adoption of an "efficient" digital rights management (DRM)
system, and said this would give "a fillip to the fast-growing Indian
digital entertainment and media industry".

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry took this
stand in a study jointly done with the PriceWaterhouseCoopers titled
'Entertainment & Media: India Going Digital' and released even as
India launched the 38th edition of its international film festival in
the coastal state of Goa.

This joint-study called for an efficient DRM system "that allows
management and protection of digital content". It also sought
"technology-agnostic, forward-looking and robust regulatory policies
balanced with self-regulation and cross-industry agreements" saying
these were the "need of the hour" for India.

Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to
access-control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders
to limit usage of digital media or devices. It is also used to
describe restrictions associated with specific instances of digital
works or devices.

DRM is sometimes seen as a controversial issue. Advocates argue it is
necessary for copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of
their work to ensure continued revenue streams. Opponents say it
involves "restrictions" on users, rather than rights.

Some critics have likened DRM schemes to anti-competitive practices.

FICCI said their study showed the rise of digital media threw up
issues that "Indian stakeholders need to take cognisance of".

"Among these, copyright issues are at the foremost which impact
exploitation of digital content across 'new media'. Technology issues,
especially those relating to inter-operability of equipments and
devices at consumer premises are also to be dealt with," said FICCI's
media coordinator Taresh Arora.

Digital piracy, though at a nascent stage, will also be a challenge
for the Indian stake-holders with proliferation of digital media to
the large Indian masses, argued Arora, while underlining the need for
a DRM system.

New technologies and growing digital solutions are "creating great
opportunities for content providers in India to monetise their
valuable content across various digital media and devices", FICCI
said.

But the migration to digital formats is having an adverse impact on
competing revenue streams, the organisation argued citing its study.

FICCI admitted that there would be a price to pay.

It said: "An issue for content providers and distributors is the
degree to which they utilize DRM software to control distribution. DRM
restricts the ability of consumers to copy and distribute products.
The benefit to content providers is that DRM limits unauthorized
distribution. There is also a cost. Restrictions on usage, which
include the inability of content downloaded on one device to play on
another, can discourage some consumers from buying product through
legitimate channels. Companies are grappling with this trade-off."

Technical controls on the reproduction and use of software have been
used since the 1970s. More recently, the term 'DRM' has been used to
describe measures to control copyrightable artistic content.  Some
says DRM technologies could enable publishers to enforce access
policies that not only prevent copyright violations, but also prevent
legal fair use, according to those criticial of these approaches.

DRM is mostly used in the entertainment -- film and recording --
industry. It has been deployed in other fields as well, like in online
music stores.

FICCI said that because of increasing pressure on the industry itself,
music companies are considering releasing music over the Internet
without copy protection, which would fuel Internet distribution and
revenue growth by allowing music downloaded to be played on virtually
any device.

"With physical distribution falling rapidly, labels are becoming more
receptive to strategies that enhance digital distribution even as it
reduces impediments to unauthorized distribution," FICCI noted.

"Companies are experimenting with different approaches to intellectual
property management. It is expected that technologies, methodologies,
and business models will continue to evolve during the next several
years," said FICCI.
--
Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph 0091-832-2409490
12000+ downloadable, sharable hi-res photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/


#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime>  is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org