DRM software is designed to protect copyright in material such
as music, films or software, that is stored or transmitted
digitally. It works by encrypting the content and managing how that
content is used.
The problem at the moment is that there is not a single DRM
standard, which means that a person buying a DVD might be able to
play it on his DVD player but not his computer, because the
computer uses a different DRM product that cannot read the DVD.
Sun hopes to tackle this problem by generating cross-industry
collaboration in the standard.
"We are entering the Participation Age – an age where
individuals are creating and supplying the news as much as they are
consuming it. Mobile phones play music and take pictures,
high-quality video is delivered to almost any device on earth, and
legitimate global P2P networks are being created that will
transform the way we live," said Sun President and Chief Operating
Officer Jonathan Schwartz.
"The demand for new network services is exploding. Incredible
economic value is waiting to be tapped, but we must not allow
progress to be stifled by clumsy, self-defeating internet tollgates
in the form of a monolithic, closed digital rights management
system," he added.
The Open Media Commons would protect intellectual property, but
encourage participation and innovation, according to Schwartz. To
this end, he announced that Sun would immediately share its
internal Sun Labs program Project DReaM (DRM/everywhere available)
with the community.
The software firm will face competition from many sources, not
least Apple, Microsoft and Sony, all of which have their own DRM
software. The Coral Consortium, a group that seeks to resolve the
interoperability issues between different DRM systems by giving the
various technologies acommon language, is also active in the
market.
