A study of the awareness, attitude and usage of digital rights management amongst local software developers.

• Main Authors: Ng, Shu Wei., Lim, Wen Jie., Ho, Cai Feng.
• Other Authors: Anilkumar K Samtani
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Information technology::Ethics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/44219
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study aims to investigate the current state of Digital Rights Management (DRM) within Singapore‟s software development industry. The software development industry in Singapore is still in its infancy as compared to regions such as the Americas and Europe, thus providing us with the opportunity to study the importance of DRM in this growing industry. From research done prior to embarking on this study, we have compiled within the report a list of the different types of DRM mechanisms and their various applications. Issues that impede the advancement of DRM would also be discussed. Our study seeks to explore, in greater depth, the awareness, attitude and usage levels of DRM in relation to the local software development industry. Seventy-Nine (79) software developers falling under the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) bracket were surveyed and results were tabulated based on these three key aspects. Our analysis showed that the attitudes software developers have toward DRM plays a significant role in determining software developer‟s usage of DRM. Further study also reflected that the genre of software also plays a noticeable role in determining whether DRM is employed. The concluding part of the report delves into our study‟s limitations and lists our recommendations to increase receptivity towards DRM and better content rights protection.