Legal Niches

Google Introduces New DRM for Android Marketplace

By james_fudge

Google has added a new DRM program for the Android Marketplace that uses a licensing server to verify whether or not a user has purchased an app before it launches. In order to make use of the new DRM an app has to be sold through the Android Market store and built for the Android 1.5 operating system or later. Free apps can't make use of the service, but - in terms of DRM protection - I guess that doesn't really matter..

This will replace the current copy protection scheme used by apps in the Marketplace, which both developers and consumers have criticized for a number of reasons.

Apps can be written to handle the interaction with the licensing server in any way the developer choose, but Google is providing two preconfigured implementations that will stop an app from running if the server doesn't or can't verify the app's license. The second method will only allow the app to start if the server is available to verify the license. In other words, a DRM system that sounds an awful lot like what Ubisoft likes to use.

Source: aferdawn.com

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on July 30, 2010 (boomark / email).