In the entire discussion on Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) there are multiple problems that prevent broader discussion and understanding. One of them is that when talking about "Digital Restrictions Management" (DRM) the eyes of many people simply glaze over, as it is quite a mouthful and sounds technical, a certain attention killer.

The same is true when using the labels that proponents of the technology would like to see people using, "Digital Rights Management" or "Technological Protection Measures" in particular. The names alone seem to erect a barrier for people to understand how this technology affects their lives in very real ways.

Trying to attract public attention by turning yourself in to the police, as a group of French DRM activists have done, is a good idea. The German consumers organisation vzbv has taken this to a different level by opening a virtual jail for people who admit to have made private copies -- a right under German law, but one that is increasingly made illegal by DRM.

But none of this undoes the necessity to explain to "normal" people what DRM is and how it affects all our lives.

For this, I've drafted "If paperback books came with DRM... a short story", which takes an object that people know (a paperback book) and describes how it would behave if it came with DRM.

The goal was to describe commonly found DRM effects and put them all into the book, followed by real-world examples of DRM systems that have such effects. If you have ideas how to improve the story, if you know other examples, or if you have general feedback, please let me know at greve--at--fsfeurope.org.