Steve Jobs: Drop DRM

This could be huge for young music video producers everywhere. The Apple CEO's advice to the recording industry came in "a rare open letter," CNET reports. According to the Wall Street Journal, he wrote that digital-rights-management (DRM) technologies aren't "deterring illicit copying of music." And DRM's a problem the music industry needs to fix, Jobs writes. What's interesting, a CNET source said, is that Apple has benefited more than any other company from the use of DRM systems. But Jobs says Apple had to use DRM just to be able to get iTunes off the ground. "There are alternatives, Jobs wrote. Apple and the rest of the online music distributors could continue down a DRM path; Apple could license the FairPlay technology to others; or record companies could be convinced to license music without DRM technology. The company clearly favors the third option," CNET reports. Parents and teachers will note that even if DRM goes away the need to thinking through the ethics of digital-media use won't. The need to work together on digital ethics and citizenship might even grow. In related news, the New York Times reports that British recording giant EMI plans to offer "a broad swath of its recordings" for sale online sans DRM; the Washington Post, though, has the recording industry's general reaction to Jobs's message.