Conquering the Challenges of DRM in K12 Publishing

For any endeavor to be successful, both its benefits and its pitfalls need to be understood. Digital Rights Management (DRM) is one such aspect of K12 publishing that needs to be viewed from all angles.

In our previous article, we covered the basics of DRM and the impact it can have on your key stakeholders. Today, we flip the coin and explore the potential challenges you may face while implementing DRM. We’ll also take you through the multiple ways in which DRM functions. All this, with the aim of helping you conquer Digital Rights Management. 

What Could Possibly Be Wrong with DRM?  

While DRM comes with a host of benefits, including protection against copyright infringements (and thereby revenue protection), implementing it is not quite straightforward. 

The Difficulties of Implementation:

DRM protocols are technically complex, and not every publisher can implement them effectively, on their own. Bringing on professional help could lead to an increase in the cost and effort required to use DRM. 

Apart from that, even if one could afford to implement it, the process involves immense collaboration between the DRM provider and software technicians. Any communication gap in this process can lead to a malfunction.

Ensuring Consistent Compatibility:

Today's world is dynamic. As technology continues to advance, user preferences also evolve, and keeping up with these changes can be challenging. 

Compatibility issues between numerous software and services can make it difficult to effectively protect all the content. Meanwhile, if the DRM solution is not compatible across multiple devices, you stand to lose readership.

A Lack of Standardization:

It’s important to note that there is no one standard method of implementing DRM protocols.

As a K12 publisher, you can pick and choose how you wish to protect your work. While that does allow for a certain level of freedom, it could have direct repercussions on one’s readership.

For example, if your chosen DRM implementation methods make it a little too difficult for your readers to access the content, you may find them leaning  towards similar content that is not DRM protected. 

Similarly, if you haven’t built up enough trust with your audiences, implementing any sort of DRM strategy might come across as based solely on self-interest.

Limiting Accessibility:

When one owns a physical copy of a piece of work, they are free to share, gift or lend it to anyone they like (as long as they don’t gain financially from it). Meanwhile, when a piece of work uses DRM protection, it limits the number of people who can access it. Critics argue that these limits are unfair to honest users. 

Similarly, a protected piece of work, especially in education needs to be placed at a fair price point so as to not make it restrictive for students from lower income groups.

Ways DRM Protocols Function

Now that you have some idea of the obstacles in your way, you can use this information to choose from the methods below the kind of DRM protection you wish to implement. When making this decision, also keep in mind the kind of content you have and where you wish to distribute it. 

Encryption

One way to protect your digital content is through encryption. Encryption is a method by which information is made incomprehensible to humans. To put it simply, the information is written in code. To read this code, or to decrypt the information, a user would need a decryption key. Those without the key will be unable to open any files. 

You can use this method to protect your content by sharing the key only with authorized users.

Digital Watermarking

Digital watermarking is a way to mark digital content with a unique identifier. This comes in handy when one needs to ensure that their materials are not being shared or used without permission.

Unlike encryption, a watermark does not restrict access to the material. Instead it gives you the ability to trace and identify your material in the event of piracy or copyright infringement.

Licensing

Using a license to control access to digital content is a great way for you to ensure your content is used only by those legally entitled to access it.

Some licenses can be configured to restrict access to materials based on certain criteria, such as geographic location or the number of users allowed to access the material. 

Hardware Controls

DRM can also apply to hardware. It prevents users from opening a file unless they are on an approved device. Once again, this helps ensure that only authorized users can access the content. 

Conclusion

The K12 publishing industry is in a tricky situation. 

On the one hand, learning materials have traditionally supported sharing & collaboration. For e.g. – Students share notes or textbooks with each other.

On the other hand, the effort required to create eLearning content today, and the benefits of these new formats of content have increased exponentially. e.g. – Creating an interactive video explaining a complicated subject is difficult without professional help. However, once the video is created, teaching a student becomes much easier. 

Look at it another way. While DRM stands to restrict education and knowledge-sharing, a quick look into the music/film industry reveals the extent to which piracy can financially affect a given sector.

The arguments on both sides of DRM protection have validity. 

As a publisher, the biggest challenge of DRM would perhaps be to maintain the balance between data security and audience trust.  We hope this article has guided you towards the right balance.

For more ways to conquer DRM, also download our guide. 

Thanks for reading! 

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