Who "Polices" Todays Media?

What is Digital Restrictions Management?

 The DRM is the media police. Have your ever tried to play a game on your phone and you cannot play because the game says that it requires a Internet connection? Or more close to home, who controls what music sites, are allowed and not allowed to provide free music? Artist and companies hire DRM in order to police their work. The DRM encrypts the customer’s information in order to limit distribution without the customer’s permission. In other words, they enforce the copyrighted law, making it illegal to reproduce copyrighted material.

So how does the DRM do it?

The DRM encodes media. Through encoding music, videos, and data they are able to ensure that it is not being copied and mass distributed without the proper dues to the artist. For example, ITunes formerly used the DRM to encrypt there media so that once the song was sold and downloaded to a computer, it could not be copied and played on other various technologies other than there own, this included not being able to burn CDs. Many of the file trading companies that have recently become famous, have found the loophole in the DRM. Many companies have claimed that their sites are person-to-person sharing, which is legal. This allows them to share media with the intensions becoming a large media distribution outlet.

What about us?  How does the DRM affect us?

As a college student many books are becoming placed online. These online textbooks can either be purchased or rented. In renting a textbook, you are not allowed to download any parts of the book due to that company hiring the DRM to police their work. If this is so, what are the consequences if you do not have Internet access? For that period of time you would not have access to information that you rightfully paid for. The DRM also restricts the public from making back up copies and honestly taking what is rightfully ours. In playing devils advocate, it means we must pay for our media. As the DRM regulates, we must all pay individually for our media and sharing becomes more difficult. It also means we must be careful in what we do. File sharing documents/media that is protected with copyrights are illegal. We must Stop-Think-Look-Share, to ensure that we are not committing a crime. Is this right?

Get involved!

Read the following Article by Defective by Design and begin to form your own opinion about the DRM.

Is Social Media Ruining Our Lives? How Connected Are You?

Have you ever texted someone and you wonder why it is taking them so long to answer back?  Or do you check your phone every time it vibrates, blinks, or chirps? Emails are constantly updating to our phones and “Google” is only a button away. This instant technology is now being the fall point of the increase of Attention Deficit Disorder, also known as ADD. Researchers question the amount of television in the home and if that impacts a child’s attention span. According to Social Times, it seems that because of media the average attention span has fallen from 12 minutes to 5 minutes. 5 minutes of attention equates to a paragraph of information that the brain can actually retain. If every 5 minutes a child needs to be refocused, during an hour long class the child would be asked to pay attention 12 times.  THIS IS ABSURD!

Forbes made a play at the social media aspect quoting a very popular slogan, Verizon’s “Can you hear me now?” campaign should probably be replaced with, “Are you paying attention to me now?”  This is the new slogan in our classrooms and in conversations. Face-to-face interactions are interrupted by the flashing lights and catchy ringtones of our society.   

STUDY 

In order to validate these points represented by various media outlets, I would like to conduct a study. In a college classroom, where labtops are allowed, a teacher will give a lecture. The lecture will be relevant and important to the students major. This should incline most to pay attention. Students will be asked to take notes using Microsoft Word.  During this time, I would calculate the amount of times a student deviates from there open Microsoft Word Document. Deviations include anything that is not that open Microsoft Word document including email, Facebook, Twitter, and even Elms. It is important to include Elms because it detracts the student’s attention away from the instructor. The average would be calculated by the amount of deviations over the amount of time that the professor is lecturing. What do you think the results would be?

 Does media affect the attention span of adults? No longer do we wait until Monday mornings to respond to emails. Emails are read through anytime of day throughout the weekend. Society places hourly deadlines on projects that previously were given days to complete. Jobs and businesses expect for task to be done spontaneously. With programs like remote access there is no reason why assignments have to wait until you reach work to be completed. Employers expect customers to be happy and customers expect speedy business.

Media and today’s children go hand in hand. The internet was not very popular when I was a child but in recent years it has begun to take over. Many say we are the instant generation. As an instant generation who know what will happen next.