DRM

From BinaryFreedom.INFO

darnolioloda DRM, officially Digital Rights Management but more accurately Digital Restrictions Management, are technical restrictions on the use of certain programs or data. It is meant to protect the rights of producers at the cost of consumers' rights.

[edit] Harms

Programs or information with DRM can not be used with free software, because the specifications are always secret. That is the most obvious problem with DRM. However, DRM is inherently unjust because it limits the fair use rights of consumers. Even if a particular use of data would be legal, DRM laws like the Digital Millenium Copyright Act make it illegal for DRM data. Many DRM implementations make even the most simple uses, such as moving a file to another computer, violations.

DRM is often used to lock in consumers to a product or group of products. For example, music from Apple's music store can only be used legally with Apple iPods. This restricts competition.