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MIT and DRM

Category: Publishing , Copyright Law , Digital Publishing , Libraries , Digital Libraries , DRM
It seems like a small thing - MIT Libraries announced that they would not carry material by the Society of Automotive Engineers - but it has pretty big implications.

SAE's database of technical papers apparently comes girded with a layer of DRM. The library website states:

SAE’s DRM technology severely limits use of SAE papers and imposes unnecessary burdens on readers. With this technology, users must download a DRM plugin, Adobe’s “FileOpen,” in order to read SAE papers. This plugin limits use to on-screen viewing and making a single printed copy, and does not work on Linux or Unix platforms.

Many of MIT's faculty are fellows of the Society, which does not pay its members for the papers it publishes...and yet which restricts access to these papers via that "severe" DRM technology and a subscription fee - in fact, it restricts the mention of these papers in other databases as well, rendering the papers virtually un-findable outside SAE's proprietary database. MIT points to other databases, such as Web of Science and Compendex, which are a little more open and allow for searches in ways that SAE does not.

"A step backwards," says one professor about SAE's DRM clampdown.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , March 19, 07, 9:26 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post
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