Technical measures for the protection of works

• technical features that prohibit copying or limiting the number of copies that can be made,
• decoders and set-top boxes for digital television,
• technical applications, such as ‘video on demand’,
• copy protection on game consoles etc.

All these technical precautions are referred to as "technical measures for the protection of works" or DRM (Digital Rights Management).

The aim of technical protection measures is to prevent users from carrying out certain actions with regard to the work, such as copying, viewing the work on a different device than the one for which it was intended, monitoring the subscription to a television service etc.

The law prohibits the disabling of these systems. “Hacking" the technical protection measures is considered a violation of copyright and can therefore be prosecuted in court. The same applies to providing the means for "hacking" these technical protections (e.g. specific protection-hacking software).