Daily Dialectic

A criticism of DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology is that it treats users paternalistically by restricting their actions. Here I use a formal defintion of paternalism to determine whether using DRM to protect digital media is paternalistic. I argue that using DRM is not paternalistic in all cases, especially if users are aware that the digital media they access uses DRM. I also consider when it would be permissible for users to circumvent DRM limitations on self-regarding uses of digital media.