Ramon F Herrera wrote:
> http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2006/tc20060526_680075.htm
This article describes the proposed plan to provide copy protection for
the new high density DVD devices (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD).
The irony is that the more breakable of the two is likely to dominate.
For almost 25 years I have been a proponent of "Copy Detection" rather
than "Copy Prevention".
The computer industry learned the lesson the hard way. Numerous copy
prevention techniques abounded, especialy in the days of MS-DOS 1.x and
MS-DOS 2.x. The problem is that as machines got faster and drives got
more dense and software got more expensive, most of these systems did
more damage than good.
For example, many copy prevention techniques use software timing loops
to write strictly controlled signals to the floppy or hard drive. The
problem was that when you went from an 8088 to an 8086 or from a 4 Mh
8086 to an 8 Mhz 8086, or to an 80286 or to an 80386, the whole timing
thing got messed up, the software assumed it was pirated, and
ligitimately purchased software was being trashed by the copy
prevention. Needless to say, most of the companies who used these
techniques went out of business almost immediately after the next
version of MS-DOS was released.
Another protection scheme wrote "bad sectors" to the hard drive,
deliberately corrupting the CRC in a specific way, so that pirated
coupies could be detected and removed or destroyed. The problem was
that SCSI devices repair these bad sectors, so software was being
installed and destroyed even though it was legitimately purchased. In
one scenario, Microsoft used this technique on the Mac, and when the
SCSI device fixed the bad sectors, the copy prevention mechanism
trashed the entire hard drive. Fortunately, the problem was made very
public as soon as it was identified, Microsoft released patches and
updates to Word immediately, and the indemnity clause in the EULA
prevented this little mistake from turning into thousands or millions
of lawsuits.
This is one of the reasons that Microsoft shifted it's emphasis from
copy prevention to copy detection. If a company does install thousands
of PCs using the same activiation key, Microsoft can work with that
company to confirm that they have the correct number of licenses
(usuially by offering a "subscription plan" or "support plan").
Part of the reason for the success of TiVo, which is based on Linux and
Open Source technologies, is that they did include copy detection, but
they also offered their machine with a service. For a small monthly
fee, you could download as many movies as the drive would hold. Fur a
much larger one-time fee, you could download movies whenever you
wanted, keep them as long as you wanted, and you were covered for life.
Cell phones have a similar program. You can buy the cell phone, but
it's pretty much useless without getting access to the service.
The MPAA has always struggled with the concept of "Media as Service".
They spend $millions to make a movie, they sell $100 million worth of
tickets in a theater, and the penalty for piracy is $250,000 fine or 10
years in prison for illegal use of the movie.
Early video stores paid as much as $100 per Movie, but cusumers didn't
want to pay $100 for a movie they might watch once a year. So
companies like Blockbuster negotiated with the MPAA and worked out a
royalty schedule and program for renting the videos.
One of the really frustrating things about Napster was their
willingness to assert that they had the right to encourage others to
commit felonies by providing their directory service, and they refused
to even consider that it might be appropriate to provide some sort of
royalty to the artists and publishers who make the service desirable in
the first place.
Once companies like Microsoft, Rhapsody, and Apple approached the RIAA
and made reasonable good-faith offers for reasonable royalties, the
whole issue of DRM was diffused.
Most of these players, even the Open Source players, provide enough
information about how the content was downloaded, who downloaded it,
and who is playing it, to facilitate successful prosecution of
large-scale pirates. If you tried to download a song or album from a
legitimate site, then tried to publish it on the web, it's pretty easy
to trace you back, and your lawyer will probably reccomend a plea
bargain.
The MPAA has fought the proliferation of high density digital tape, MP3
on CD, DVD-R, and numerous other recording media when they are first
introduced. Sony has often suffered the most, being locked out by MPAA
and RIAA Lobbyists while a competitor slips into the market window
created by Sony in the first place. The Betamax to VHS is a good
example.
Hopefully the media industry will come to it's senses, figure out that
"on-demand" media is just a fact of life, and do their best to capture
as much "eyeball time" as they can. The media is cheap, the storage is
cheap, but "eyeball time" is limited. There are only so many people in
the world, only so many hours that they are able to watch, and only so
many dollars they are willing to spend.
There are about 81 million hostnames out there. There are something
like 100 billion pages of content available (including duplicates).
The MPAA and RIAA need to begin to realize that they can't affort to
make access to movies and music so difficult that people end up in
newsgroups, blogs, chats, and web-shopping instead of listening to
their music and watching their movies.
Look at the impact to the publishing industry. Anyone with a computer
and a credit card can become a publisher these days. Anyone with a
video camera, a computer, and a credit card can become a movie
producer. Anyone with some instruments, some microphones, and a
computer can be a music producer.
Sure, the emphasis is on quality not quantity, but it doesn't take long
for low-budget web sites to turn into big dollar revenue engines. That
automatically attracts quality and participation from those who want
more artistic freedom.
Micrososft and Sony fighting over the best copy protection scheme is
like fighting over the best seat on the Titanic, as it is sinking.
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