I'm a big fan of openess and am broadly speaking opposed to attempts to limit how we use things that we buy via mechanisms such as DRM. So it's great to see some new research suggesting that using DRM can actually lead to more piracy than leaving users free to use their files however they wish.
Researchers in America used analytical modeling to test whether privacy is influenced by the presence or otherwise of DRM restrictions. They found that whilst DRM made piracy harder and more costly, they also have a negative impact on legal users that have no intention of doing anything dodgy.
Because a DRM-restricted product will only be purchased by a legal user, “only the legal users pay the price and suffer from the restrictions,” the researchers write. “Illegal users are not affected because the pirated product does not have DRM restrictions.”
“In many cases, DRM restrictions prevent legal users from doing something as normal as making backup copies of their music,” they continue. “Because of these inconveniences, some consumers choose to pirate.”
This obviously flies in the face of suggestions that freeing up access to files is an easy way of encouraging piracy, with the study showing that removing DRM can reduce piracy.
The research also suggests that it is not always the copyright holders that benefit from lower piracy. They found that in some instances lower piracy correlated with lower profits.
Sure there's some rationale behind this. I mean if someone expects you to be crooked (hence the use of restrictions such as DRM), then I suspect that effectively encourages you to be so.