Pirates have been roaming the seven Internets (seven seas? get it?) since its creation – looting from movie studios and record labels…They grown rampant, and the companies sure as well don’t like it.
Their solution? Digital rights management, or DRM.
DRM is a generic term for access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to try to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices.
It simply means that song you can’t copy or transfer to anything.
But it is a double-edged sword. Whenever something is protected by DRM, it restricts access to the software you brought legally. With all the restrictions, it is a pain for legal users.
An example would be Electronic Art’s video game, Spore.
Spore, for those who don’t know, is created by one of video gaming’s most revered designer, Will Wright (his other works include The Sims and Sim City franchises). Anyone can see it is going to sell like hotcakes with the name “Will Wright” on it. However, there is a snag.
It has DRM.
The DRM in Spore allows the legit user to install his copy of Spore in only 3 different computers- and he will need to connect to the internet for verification. Guess what? Spore is a OFFLINE game.
It is like EA is renting the game to the customers for full price. A boycott insures.
Someone managed to hack it within 1 day, and everyone started downloading the full game. The pirates can play the game without any problem, while the legit customers get punched in the face by EA.
EA eventually caved in and allowed people to “deactivate” their copy of Spore on a computer, and activate it on another one.
While that is going on, a little known game made by a little known developer called Ironclad Games sold a staggering half a million copies in a few months – a phenomenal feat considering the game’s development costs less then a million dollars.
It has no DRM at all. You can pirate it as you like- just no online play. As Brad Wardell, CEO of the game’s publisher Stardock, put it,
The reason why we don’t put CD copy protection on our games isn’t because we’re nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don’t like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don’t count. We know our customers could pirate our games if they want but choose to support our efforts. So we return the favor – we make the games they want and deliver them how they want it. This is also known as operating like every other industry outside the PC game industry.
It simple. Less hassle, more sales. Besides, Pirates are not likely to buy your product anyway.
It has happened to music too. Why would people download songs when they could walk out and buy a CD which they can rip and share with their friends – or worst, just torrent it. Apple had since removed all DRM from the iTunes store – but the songs still cost the same.
EA released Sims 3 on bittorent before it even launched – but the pirates found it is a demo for the full game. EA had learned from the Spore fiasco, and started using pirates to their advantage.
Eidos, another video game publisher, also used this to their advantage. The game Batman: Arkham Asylum ridicules pirates by removing their ability to glide – sending them into deadly poisonous gas.
Companies are starting to learn to use pirates to their advantage- certain bands which allow their songs to be used on YouTube. Why mute the music? It is free advertisement. Short snippets of shows on YouTube are being removed by Viacom. But why? Shows like 30 rock turned viral when funny moments of the award winning series are uploaded to YouTube. Many fans of that show- like me, found out about it on YouTube.
And let’s face it – people watching TV shows on Hulu will probably pirate the shows if it is not on Hulu.
Its going to be a good long while before companies start realizing pirates will always be there. Even today when we have such sophisticated warships, pirates hijack ships in busy shipping lanes like the Gulf of Aden and the Straits of Malacca. They may not be hanging skull flags on their mast, wear an eyepatch or say “yarr!” anymore , but they are still there. That is going to happen on the internet too. Movies will still get torrented, Software will be cracked,  and songs will be shared no matter what the companies try to do.
You don’t beat the pirates – you use them for your purpose. That is the most effective way to deal with pirates. NOT making life a living hell for your real customers.
(I admit I pirate a few games before, but that actually converted me into a fan of a series. I have brought every game in that franchise since.)