Devil's Advocate: Life after DRM doesn't look so bad

If rights holders put too stringent demands on how we can use digital information, we may well see people move back towards the analogue experience of books and the outdoors, says Martin Brampton.

Digital rights management (DRM) is a curious area of technology. There are doubts about whether the rights holders are deserving of such generous treatment. More immediate, though, is the question of whether the whole issue will deter consumers from buying new technology at all.

The whole question of DRM seems to involve a highly dismissive view of the high street shopper. It seems that all kinds of restrictions are considered perfectly acceptable. Vendors want to carve up the world into areas and control who can buy what, and exactly where they can use it. This contrasts with the big companies' determination to gain substantial advantage from global operations and tax havens.

Moreover, the whole attitude of the rights holders is often more than a little offensive. It implies that when we buy something, we cannot be trusted to use it in accordance with the law. Perhaps sometimes we can't but that may be because some laws fail to command general respect or to coincide with what is widely seen as reasonable practice.

It is not just company executives who travel widely these days, and consumers see no good reason why they should not buy DVDs wherever they go, and play them back home. Fortunately DVD players have proved easy to modify to multi-region, thus defusing what might otherwise have become an issue.

But now we are seeing another anti-consumer trend in DRM. Not only are the so-called rights holders going to great lengths to impose restrictions, technology makers are seeking a slice of the pie. Microsoft in particular is hoping that its media centre developments will put the company in a position to rake off a royalty whenever a digital artefact changes hands.

If there were a competitive market in DRM schemes, then the charges made by technology providers would be driven down. The fear is that this will not happen because of Microsoft's market muscle. And it really is quite hard to see exactly why we should all be paying a toll to Microsoft every time we watch a film at home.

It does seem that as these restrictions on individual freedom become more irksome, the obvious answer is to simply boycott all related products. After all, there are many ways to spend time, some of them almost certainly more rewarding than consuming restricted digital material.

Books remain highly attractive, and sales suggest that a lot of people spend a significant amount of time reading them. Efforts to replace them with digital devices have made very little headway so far and probably will not do so for a long time yet. Books work perfectly well without any power supply, it is perfectly legal to lend them to your friends, and they can be given to the local charity shop when you have finished with them.

Walking in the countryside has recently gained ground with the 'right to roam'. Not only is walking increasingly popular, it is a far healthier way to spend time than sitting in front of a screen with drink in hand. Cycling is another alternative; as yet there is no road tax on bicycles and they offer the freedom to get to a lot of places.

Talking to friends and relatives is another interesting way to spend time, perhaps not as much exploited as it could be. If you are unhappy with your local circle of friends, there are all kinds of ways to contact like-minded people, including the internet. Find new friends and create your own digital material by exchanging messages.

For the moment at least, the BBC continues to provide creative material in both sound and vision for the times when other activities pall. But it seems to me that abandoning the excessively restricted areas governed by DRM might well open up new horizons and an altogether more interesting life. I'm looking forward to it!