What is Exception Management

This chapter introduces and discusses much needed alternatives to the traditional either/or debate on total security of secure multimedia distribution. Most DRM-based approaches rely on considering the user as untrustworthy and consequently a weak link. We argue there may be alternative ways, providing increased flexibility to users in terms of fair use and copyright balance while still maintaining a much needed level of governed usage of content. While introducing exception management in DRM environments might seam counterintuitive at first sight, we provide elements supporting the idea in the form of a model which is discussed. In doing so, we argue for the need to rethink DRM in ways that will enable both a seamless compelling user experience and the rights holder to address the issue of managed copying of content.