Grooveshark

Apparently someone is listening to the voice of reason. Finland’s Helsinki Court District recently ruled that CSS (copy protection scheme used in commercial DVDs) is “ineffective” as a form of DRM. The ruling was made in the case of two Finnish copyright activists charged with illegally manufacturing and distributing a product to get around the CSS DRM system, along with providing a service to “circumvent an effective technological measure.”

Guess what this means for the music world. Possibly nothing considering the Helsinki District Court is towards the bottom of Finland’s legal system, and the Finnish government may appeal the decision.

Effects

But then again, maybe countries are beginning to realize that DRM is not only crippling, it’s actually extremely ineffective. After all, in many cases the technology is so trivial to counter, free software is often available to do it for you.

In the case of the European Union, of which Finland is a member, all member nations are required to use the EU’s copyright directive, which states, in a much more dramatic fashion, that a technological measure is effective if it achieves the protection objective. If other European nations come to the same conclusion as Finland’s Helsinki Court District, then CSS could officially be deemed “ineffective.” And if that were to happen, perhaps other forms of DRM could also find themselves on the chopping block.

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• Posted in All of The Rest