The introduction and use of digital rights management software, has raised the question of whether the subverting of DRM is ethical. Some see DRM to be an ethical step; others believe that, this is wrong because the costs of products or services may go up due to DRM.

DRM is also portrayed as defenders of users’ rights. This allows, for example, making copies of audio books of PDFs they receive; also allowing people to burn music they have legitimately bought to CD or to transfer it to a new computer is an issue. It looks like a violation of the rights of the intellectual property holders, leading to uncompensated use of copyrighted media.