Digital Rights Management and the End of Ownership
Bruce Willis was going over his will with his lawyer. When he told his lawyer he wanted to leave his iTunes library to his children, he was informed that he doesn’t outright that music. Despite paying for the music files and having it stored on his personally owned iPod, the terms and conditions he agreed to stated he didn’t have any legal claim to it.
The current generation already faces the unlikelihood of homeownership, now they must face the reality that they don’t own their media.
Take a look around the average living room. DVDs, books, video games, and CDs have all but vanished and been replaced by digital content and online streaming. Not only that, but the devices we stream them on — iPhone, Galaxy Fold, any other phone that costs thousands — now have financing plans available through their companies or network providers.
And just as Bruce Willis discovered — we don’t actually own any of it. We don’t even own our phones outright. It’s kicked off an era of what the tech industry calls digital rights management.
Digital “purchases”
You’re essentially leasing music through iTunes and movies through Amazon and Google. Just because a customer buys media through Apple, doesn’t mean they own it. Like the case of the disappearing movies…
