2 cissp ® Official Study Guide Eighth Edition

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F I g u r e 7. 3
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 Digital Rights Management 
Digital rights management
(DRM) software uses encryption to enforce copyright restric-
tions on digital media. Over the past decade, publishers attempted to deploy DRM schemes 
across a variety of media types, including music, movies, and books. In many cases, particu-
larly with music, opponents met DRM deployment attempts with fi erce opposition, arguing 
that the use of DRM violated their rights to freely enjoy and make backup copies of legiti-
mately licensed media fi les. 
As you will read in this section, many commercial attempts to deploy DRM 
on a widespread basis failed when users rejected the technology as intru-
sive and/or obstructive.
 Music DRM 
The music industry has battled pirates for years, dating back to the days of homemade cas-
sette tape duplication and carrying through compact disc and digital formats. Music distri-
bution companies attempted to use a variety of DRM schemes, but most backed away from 
the technology under pressure from consumers. 

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Chapter 7 
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PKI and Cryptographic Applications
The use of DRM for purchased music slowed dramatically when, facing this opposition, 
Apple rolled back their use of FairPlay DRM for music sold through the iTunes Store. Apple 
co-founder Steve Jobs foreshadowed this move when, in 2007, he issued an open letter to 
the music industry calling on them to allow Apple to sell DRM-free music. That letter read, 
in part: 
The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where 
every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable 
formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any 
store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This 
is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace 
it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple 
their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we 
would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every 
iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.
The full essay is no longer available on Apple’s website, but an archived copy may be 
found at
http://bit.ly/1TyBm5e
 . 
Currently, the major use of DRM technology in music is for subscription-based services 
such as Napster and Kazaa, which use DRM to revoke a user’s access to downloaded music 
when their subscription period ends. 
Do the descriptions of DRM technology in this section seem a little vague? 
There’s a reason for that: manufacturers typically do not disclose the 
details of their DRM functionality due to fears that pirates will use that 
information to defeat the DRM scheme.
 Movie DRM 
The movie industry has used a variety of DRM schemes over the years to stem the world-
wide problem of movie piracy. Two of the major technologies used to protect mass-distrib-
uted media are as follows: