John T. Mitchell introduces the law and policy of DRM in DRM: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
This paper suggests that good DRM should be encouraged and refined, bad DRM should be examined using traditional antitrust principles under a “rule of reason” analysis to determine whether harms are outweighed by the benefits, and all ugly DRM should be condemned and prosecuted as vigorously as is copyright infringement. There is excellent legal precedent for this approach. One of the most amazing features of the digital revolution is that prosecutors and regulatory agencies have failed to see how easily the legal principles developed in the analog world can be made to apply in the digital age.
