Ars Technica reviews a recent UK consumer survey that contains some revealing opinions on the use of DRM.
Consumer Attitudes Toward DRM
August 6, 2007
Share this post
One Comment

Law Bytes
Episode 278: Ben Waldman on Gander Social and the Challenges of Building a Sovereign Social Network
byMichael Geist

August 10, 2026
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Michael Geist on Substack
Recent Posts
A Century After Keeping Jewish Students Out, Universities Are Letting Them Be Pushed Out
The Lessons of 9/11 We Forgot After October 7th
Named to Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers
Be Careful What You Wish For: Why Asking Google Maps to Defy the U.S. on Lake Ontario Would Undermine Canadian Digital Sovereignty
Big Money, Bigger Design Changes: What the Meta Settlement Means for Canada, Bill C-34, and the Age Verification and Privacy Risks That Remain

I’ve always maintained that the DRM proponents have underestimated one important fact: traditionally “rights” have been an issue the consumer has never had to consider. It has been something that is fought and argued over by those in the business world and it doesn’t affect the consumer directly: once you buy a product it’s basically yours to do with what you want.
The only exception of this has been the audio/video “fair use” laws which have gone the consumer’s way and photocopying which everyone has happily ignored. Once you get into more complex rights management, the consumer as a whole is going to rebel, as shown by this survey.