Every time they put something in DRM and it went wrong: from chaos with printers to scandal with CDs

The use of DRM (from English, digital rights management) is controversial. Businesses use it as copy protection, but many times the remedy is worse than the disease. In an effort to prevent users from unwanted use of their devices, brands end up applying a DRM that fails everywhere and even avoid normal use.

This is a compilation of cases where companies have struggled with DRM, from printers turning off the scanner when they run out of ink to coffee maker companies going public for adding DRM to their newer models.

What aim The Electronic Frontier Foundation, there is no evidence that DRM helps protect security or is necessary to combat unofficial use. However, we do have many stories about how DRM causes numerous headaches.

Keurig’s 2.0 coffee makers

The Keurig coffee maker company decided to present a new 2.0 model, with a hidden but important change: the introduction of DRM to prevent unofficial capsules from being used. The decision caused the rejection of many users, to the point that the shares fell and sales were a disappointment. The users they accused the company of greed, preventing the use of all the capsules they had from the first model. A DRM for coffee, which in the end consists of gathering beans and placing them in a plastic container.

Today, the competition between different coffee machines is precisely in the compatibility of their capsules, but Keurig was one of the first to introduce a DRM for avoid, by means of an infrared system, the use of third-party capsules with which the coffee machine should not physically have more problems.

Printer DRM affects more than ink cartridges

Printer manufacturers are well known for applying DRM to their cartridges. One of the companies that surprised its users was HP, who in 2016 implemented a pre-programmed firmware to give a warning message even if the (third party) cartridges were in perfect condition.

Interestingly, the message did not refer directly to the brand of the cartridge, but explained that “the following ink cartridges appear to be undetected or damaged. Replace the ink cartridges to continue printing.”

In the case of Canon, in 2021 it was sued by a group of 100 users for misleading advertising. It was explained that the Pixma MG6320 printer model and other similar models they disabled the scan function when the printer ran out of ink, even though it had nothing to do with it. In its quest to detect third-party cartridges, the copy blocking of Canon printers went even further than cartridges.

Canon and the need to explain how to bypass the DRM itself

The chip shortage has had unpredictable consequences. One of them is the one that has affected Canon, which it is failing to enter the DRM chips for the printer cartridges. To get out of the way, you are teaching customers how to bypass the messages that warn of the lack of original parts.

Through an email, Canon explains step by step how to remove the alert message. A message from the DRM that was there to avoid the use of unofficial cartridges, but that with the lack of chips always jumps, even with the original cartridges.

Ranchers on the warpath against John Deere and its tractors

John Deere is the go-to brand for tractors and in 2015 claimed that bypassing the tractor’s diagnostic software was illegal. That is to say, tractors had a DRM to prevent ranchers from doing all repairs on their own. This caused a conflict that had its next episode in 2018 when John Deere promised that they would offer the necessary tools to the community to carry out their own repairs. Regrettably, the conflict still continues.

The company ensures that 98% of the repairs can be done by the farmer, however that 2% must go through a John Deere technician. A percentage “protected” by the DRM that generates controversy and doubts among a sector that traditionally in the US has always opted for this brand of tractors.

Unable to play due to DRM server issues

It didn’t take long for Denuvo to stop being an “unrackable” DRM system. Despite this, it is still widely used in top-tier PC titles. Recently, Denuvo had problems with your servers, which caused thousands of users couldn’t play titles like ‘Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy’, ‘Tomb Raider’ or ‘Football Manager 2022’ on Steam.

“The server is not accessible”, it showed the error that appeared to the players. In some officially acquired games and where the server is not that of the game itself, but that of the DRM system that checks that they have not been cracked. A security layer that instead of providing, adds complexity and problems when playing.

Denuvo’s problems don’t end there. It wasn’t until the last few days leading up to its launch that Intel has solved a problem with Alder Lake processors 12th generation in Windows 11 and Windows 10.

Apple, its DRM FairPlay and the song erasure controversy

iTunes has changed a lot since 2009, but the case with songs on iPods is a clear example of how companies’ DRM is embroiled in controversy. In the early days of the iPod, Apple used a FairPlay DRM for songs that did not allow songs to be played outside of the iPod or put music with DRM from other stores on the iPod. The demand of a group of users went further and Apple accused of deleting competing songs from iPods.

Finally a California courthouse ruled that Apple had indeed deleted the songs, although Apple was found not guilty of the monopoly charges. Steve Jobs acknowledged in several emails to be concerned about these programs that allowed to imitate the DRM of Apple and from the company stated that at that time they were “quite paranoid” about the security issue and for that reason they proceeded to erase.

The great Sony BMG scandal that opened the door to malware

The one of Sony BMG in 2005 it is probably the most flagrant case of a DRM going wrong. The company secretly installed copy protection (XCP) and MediaMax software on millions of music CDs. What was originally going to be an undetectable anti-spyware layer, became an open door to malware with which cyber attackers could introduce malware into a PC without being detected.

Today it is still possible to get one of these CDs and be careful, because they even affect Mac, although to a lesser extent. Sony’s reaction was also a disaster, coming to deny the greatest and ending up in court.

The irony of Amazon deleting the ‘1984’ book on the Kindle

The DRM of Amazon Kindle is another protection that has caused more of a scare. In 2009 it happened that Amazon remotely erased the digital copies of books like ‘1984’, giving itself the irony of applying a censorship that is precisely criticized in George Orwell’s novel. The reason was that these books had been uploaded to users’ Kindles after purchasing them from a third-party store. When the DRM system detected them, Amazon deleted them remotely.

What explains the New York Times, Amazon recognized that this had been a bad idea. In fact, in the policy of use of the Kindle it was not specified that Amazon could delete a book remotely.

In Engadget | I have an idea and I want to patent it: how do I do it and what do the experts recommend?