MIT, SAE End Standoff Over DRM

One year after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) libraries, with the support of the university’s faculty, dropped the Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE) Digital Library over the publisher’s plan to employ restrictive Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, MIT has resumed access after SAE scrubbed the plan.

The DRM issue flared in March 2007 when SAE announced it intended to require use of a plug-in, called FileOpen, to access content from the SAE Digital Library, as well as instituting download limits and a “drastic” increase in prices, noted MIT librarian Tracy Gabridge. MIT librarians argued that the restrictions also curbed users from emailing or sharing documents and limited printing. MIT faculty, with the help of librarians, helped convince SAE, she said.