How can the record industry deal with file sharing?

Stop producing content.

That's one of Christopher Rae's not altogether serious conclusions in Why Digital Rights Management Won't Save the Entertainment Industry from the July 15 content Digest.

"The promise of digital rights management (DRM) technologies have been that they will save the entertainment industry from rampant piracy," he says.

And when will that happen? "Not anytime soon."

Rae is the co-founder and software engineer for San Diego, California-based EmpireDRM.

Now read the rest of his really excellent article.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

By: Christopher Rae, EmpireDRM

DRM, by its nature, is simply a series of checks and balances for content, allowing the content owner to choose how their content is consumed. Should it be allowed to transfer to portable devices? Can it be copied to CD? Does it expire after 30 days? These content rules alone do not protect the content anymore than Blockbuster protects content when they say you need to return a DVD in 48 hours. The robustness of DRM is brought to life through the individual business model implementations.

Take into consideration Apple's successful iTunes service: provide lifetime access to an increasingly large catalog of licensed popular music for a fee of $0.99 per song, or $9.99 per album. The one feature of this service that everyone seems to be rightfully overlooking is the presence of DRM, or more to the point, the transparency of DRM. Each AAC-format file is playable on your Mac, your iPod and for Windows users, QuickTime 6 (until more players support MPEG-4). However, each file is delicately wrapped in a thin DRM that provides a lifetime license, but also limits the file to three machines it can be transferred onto. This protects the content owner's royalties more so than unencrypted MP3s, but doesn't eliminate piracy. (An AAC file can be burned to an audio CD, where it becomes just another unencrypted CDA raw audio track which can be later ripped back to MP3.) It merely makes purchasing the content easier and more convenient than pirating it. The reason iTunes has become successful is because of how transparent the process is to the user. Apple's continued win is its elegantly simplistic user interface. Point. Click. Listen.

Where the music and film industries are failing is that their bread-and-butter is made through the manufacturing, distribution and sales of physical, tangible discs. DVDs and CDs represent the last physical format that media will be sold in, much like how VHS and audio cassettes represented the last analog format. It may not happen this year or next, but the evolution of media distribution will be that all content is distributed digitally through networked subscription and purchase services. Its inevitable, and has already begun with on-demand cable, allowing me to watch any episode of Six Feet Under, whenever I want, for an additional $6.00 per month.

The nebulously-hyped digital media centers are nothing more than expandable hard drives with cable, Ethernet ports and Wi- Fi connectivity, that merge your cable box, DVD/CD player and your gaming consoles into one unit. Your digital media center will be connected to your other computers, televisions, plasma screens, PDAs, portable players and your car's media center through your personal P2P file-sharing network. All of your games will be subscriptions online, for example, Xbox Live. Additionally, your car will become a file-sharing device that will communicate with other cars on the highway, swapping content while you weave between lanes. While sitting in gridlock, the car next to you may have that long lost Twilight Zone episode you've been looking for. And once you get home, you car will instantly sync with your home media center. Since it will have billing information pre-programmed in, when you're ready to unlock that episode, just push "Play", and your micropayment will be deducted from your bank account. Point. Click. Consume. *cue creepy theme song here*

So long as record companies and film studios release content on physical formats, there will be ways to pirate that content. Just because DRM exists today doesn't mean that it will save the billions of files already trading on Kazaa, Morpheus, WinMX and other P2P networks. That content is already the sacrificial lamb of this emerging paradigm shift. Unfortunately, it also has the displeasure of being nearly all the content ever created by Humanity. It's ripped. It's out there. And every Tuesday when a new CD or DVD is released, more content gets ripped and thrown into file-trading networks. It would actually behoove the media companies to stop producing content entirely.

So who can benefit from DRM? Content owners who choose not to distribute via CD or DVD. Such customers include corporations wanting to offer on-demand video of stockholder meetings, or e-learning companies offering entire courses online, or has become the more popular case, adult websites offering Internet-only downloadable and streaming video. These customers have no need to release their content on antique formats such as CD or DVD, and thus, they can benefit the most from offering DRM-protected files on scalable networks. If the content is available in only one place, the biggest risk is the content owner accidentally posting the unencrypted versions. Even if those files are purchased, downloaded and then shared in P2P networks, each individual user must get a unique license to view the content, which requires some form of authentication, be it a pay-per-view model with a valid credit card, or a subscription model with an existing user account with that particular service.

The music and film industries will be invited to return to the sandbox once they sever their dependence on physical media for distribution, which will take years. By only producing one original file and then allowing the true power of P2P networks and peer-based CDNs, such as Jibe, to proliferate with copies, the media companies can deliver content at lower prices with higher profit margin. Without the overhead of warehouses, factories and sweatshop wages, media companies could sell a full- length album or movie less than $5.00. Traditional outlets such as Tower Records or Virgin Megastore could offer digital downloads, sell them via superdistribution models and compete for the lowest prices online. Individual bands and indie labels could offer subscription services to their music for much less than the price of a CD and collect higher royalties per download, because most recording deals take significant cuts for manufacturing and distribution of millions of units of tangible atoms.

Apple has a good start, but they are not perfect. An album still costs $9.99, iTunes is only available on the Mac, and due to MPEG-4 related delays, the AAC-format isn't as widely accepted as MP3 or WMA [yet]. In order for the digital distribution and sales models to succeed, content will need to be protected with an isotope of DRM that is inherently viewable by the widest possible audience, the cost of ownership must decrease to drive interest, and the business model will need to be transparent to the user before it will gain market acceptance.

The future of entertainment sales and distribution isn't doomed because of digital rights management technologies. It will be doomed by poorly designed and executed business models.

Amen. The first article I've read to outline what is a sensible, practical and realistic future.

Question (not necessarily copyright-related):
I have long-distance service; my landlady/roomie doesn't. I told her anytime she wanted/needed to make a LD phone call or fax, she was welcome to use my phoneline. Now...will I get sued by AT&T, since we have separate phones and I'm letting her use their service for free? Wouldn't that be "stealing" in the eyes of Big Business? Same as file-sharing, isn't? Just substitute service for content.

Bring it on. I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

BTW...this is un-frikken-believable. 16200 and growing. More than quadrupled since I signed up yesterday.

scayf, what are you referring to that so many people signed up for? I guess I missed something.

iTunes is a good idea. Unfortunately it's a rip off. I will not change my stance on this price issue, aside from everything else.

Cassettes cost much more than CD's to make. They were $8 or less a pop.

CD's are damn near costless. They are $20 a pop.

Following this trend, iTunes should be charging $75 per album. So kudos to apple for that. But realistically, everyone ought to be happy with a $5 per album charge. $.99 cents per song is the same as buying a CD.

DRM is evil, point one.
DRM basically tells you what you can and can do with your own computer, and thereby limits functonality in many respects, point two.
DRM is part and parcel of content and digital control being foisted on us by the WTO and WIPO and other Euro based, wicked witches of the east, in their mad rush toward imposition of globalism, point three.
I will do everything I can to avoid any and all hardware and software "solutions" that implement DRM measures, and so should any freedom loving American, point five.
~code

Whoops, point four got skipped...
DRM, since it will be avoided by anyone with any sense, will hurt sales of new electronic products implementing DRM, and will further, negatively impact the economy.

Sorry sherminator, my bad...the eff petition...http://www.eff.org/share/petition/
My roomie's got iTunes...she's a jazz freak...I told her to lemme know what she wants, and I'd get it for her for a lot less than the .99 cents/song she's paying now.

In the world now, with filesharing on the rise, and ppl not caring about copyright or not, means drm and controls on the internet will never get very big

Plus drm will probably be obselete in a couple years, something will be better

God DAMN DRM!
I (shamefully) broke from the boycott last month and bought the Led Zeppelin DVD. (I know, shame on me big time! And believe me, I learned my lesson!)

Because of DRM, the dam thing won't even play properly on my computer!

Now, I am a huge Zeppelin fan from way back and bought every thing they ever released on cassette, and then on CD when CD's first came out.

But GOD DAMN THE INDUSTRY!!! It is in my experience easier to "steal" songs and clips from p2p than it is to make the DRM'd up discs to play correctly!

Fuck the fucking fucks who are the RIAA and yes, I am using my potty mouth to potty on them for fucking everything up!

I HATE YOU RIAA

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
Support Local and Independent Music!

I spent 35 bucks against my code of ethics even... look what it got me!
I Deserve it for buying an RIAA product I guess!

I was STUPID in a lapse of smarts because I loved a band's music!

...and over 200 more since my first post.

I agree with CodeWarrior on the hardware/software issue. My stuff is archaic by today's standards. 900mHz processor, a 40x CD-ROM, an 8x-4x-32x CD-RW, 2 gig main and 20 gig slave HDs, on Win98. But it works.

Never again! Not til this war is over will a penny of mine be given to ANYONE who is owned by the RIAA! Not even the White Stripes whom I am a fan of!

Hear that Jack and Meg? I am only buying/downloading bootleg stuff of yours... you want me to buy one of your "official" albums??? If so, you better release it independently of the RIAA!!!

NEVER UPGRADE FOLKS!!! (It sneaks DRM crap onto your computer!)

DRM is a joke. Dvd's were supposedly impossible to copy and how many people can look up a dvd ripper and create a divx of their dvds? If you cant, i guarentee you with an hr - 2 of net searching you will figure out the basics of it.

These companies plan to use DRM to actually acomplish something, ie rip the consumers off over and over. DRM will not stand, for every programmer that is out to deepen the pockets of the RIAA or the porn industry there is 100s and 1000s more that will not allow this.

There is nothing secure on a computer anymore that is able to be obtained. Every single encryption method even including the MD5 and DeCSS (or w/e the dvd one is) only ever takes a stand on half a leg with 4 canes before the canes are kicked out from underneath it.

What companies need to realize people that will pay for their products will pay for their products. People that will not pay for their products will not pay for their products, if they can not get them for free they will just go with out. That is why "piracy" rarely ever hurts a company unless it is the true form. Where a group (usually under organized crime) will bootleg millions of CDs (lets say windows for an exmaple) use digital printing presses to create exact copies of the product and sell them for a substantial discount to American stores. This is wrong and needs to be stopped, but trying to make it where copying a windows cd for a friend gets you jail time or a lawsuit is ridiculus. Copyright laws were never meant to rape the freedom of the American people, they were meant to protect copyright holders from having thier content stolen and reproduced for profit or enhancement of another business without paying due fees. Real examples of piracy are boot leg cd's being sold as real ones, a dance club using kazaa to download 5000 songs to play by the DJ for free, or a company using 700 copies of a single office xp disk to save $1000s if not $10,000s that microsoft deserves as its product will be used to further generate revenue or productivity in that business.

DRM will never make it. Along with the most of the other stuff he declares as the future in that article.

There are many media companies that are fascianted with the idea of streaming content. It is a great way to have a user pay for the same data repeatedly, and reduces the amount of content they must create.

This however will not happen this decade or even in the next decade. They must deal with the existing infrastructure and legacy systems. Not to mention break the public of recording devices and the notions of fair use.

Maybe a little off topic, but I wanted to share the letter I received from my representative in congress:
____________________________________

Thank you for contacting me regarding peer-to-peer file sharing and
copyright protections. I appreciate hearing from you.

As you know, copyright law is a balance between the rights to creative
works against the public benefit from the work. Recent debate has
focused on the reproduction of digital music in light of recent advances in
Internet distribution and music recording technology. For many new
artists, promoting their music directly online may be ideal not only for
showcasing their talent and gaining popularity, but also for earning
their first income for their works. However, I stress that these artists
should be the ones who decide how they share their music.

I believe that there needs to be a balance between protecting the
rights of copyright owners and the ability of consumers to enjoy the goods
they have purchased. Although I am no longer a member of the Judiciary
Committee, which has jurisdiction over copyright and other intellectual
property issues, I am still particularly attentive to assuring that
balance. I will continue to carefully monitor related legislative
proposals, including initiatives to add minimal registration requirements or
permit copyright owners to technologically impair peer-to-peer networks.

Again, thank you for contacting me and please don't hesitate to do so
in the future. Should I have the opportunity to consider these issues
in legislation, please be assured that I will keep your views in mind.
Sincerely,

Maria Cantwell
United States Senator
_____________________________________

I don't know if this is fluff or not, but she is at least aware of the situation and how I feel about it. Everyone here should send a letter to their congress and make our stand clear.

Exactly OdiOdin. The recording cartel would love nothing more than the ability to force people to pay for the same junk repeatedly without spending money on R&D and marketing to force a medium-shift. I can also see MS and other software companies using DRM to make users pay monthly fees on something they already bought (so-called "software as a service"). Even the upgrade cycle could be streamlined: the old version could simply be made to stop working, thereby forcing users to buy the new version. Users would have no choice since it would be hardware-enforced and I'm sure any attempt to circumvent it would probably result in terrorism charges. That may sound extreme, but I'm not known among my aquaintences as an optimist.

That letter sounds very non-committal and full of standard politician-speak.

This sentence in particular grabbed my interest. "I will continue to carefully monitor related legislative
proposals, including initiatives to add minimal registration requirements or
permit copyright owners to technologically impair peer-to-peer networks"..no mention of assuring protection from false accusation, privacy concerns, monopoly power and abuses by the recording cartel or any other related matters tho. I may just be parsing language too much, but it sounds like she's trying to blow smoke up your ass.

Hey Bl1ster:
I got the very, exact, word for word letter from my Colorado congressman. They must be sharing their form letters!!!

I don't know if anyone saw this article, but I have a lot more respect for Disturbed now. http://www.93x.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=124970&PT=ROCKNEWS

she is standing on the fence, waiting to see where the money will roll in from, sorry man, but thats how that letter reads to me, if you live in the same area as your rep, go to their office, you can usualy call ahead and see if they are there or to schedul a meeting to disscuss your conserns, and i have a nice little meeting with my rep, on my turf, so i get to have fun, i'm working on putting together a packet to hand him also....i have talked to him face to face a few times in the past and he is down to earth and is concerned what his voters say *sure, he wants to stay in office!* so we will see what happens tomorrow.

also code, anyway you think you could email me a copy of your proprosed bill in word format so i can hand him the rough draft of it also? draken3@hotmail.com thanks man

United WE Stand

draken:
Will do, I haven't had a chance to finish it..but will work on it this evening..cool?

What makes them think that DRM won't be hacked, cracked, and pirated just like every other piece of security software that's been tried since the dawn of computers and software piracy?

I can predict the process easily enough:

1) Companies release content protected by some fancy new DRM security algorithm.
2) Hackers dig into it, bypass the DRM, and release a crack, to either convert it to an older, non-DRM format, or just play/copy it without the restrictions.
3) Everyone gets everything for free again.

Not that I'm necessarily advocating this, but they need to get real. Media companies need to adapt a business model that's centered around the simple fact that their content will be able to be had for free, and either rely on the idea that enough consumers will opt to pay for it, or offer something above and beyond what people can get for free that consumers will want to pay for.

Random Thoughts from a Poet

I sometimes wonder if these corperations and buisinesses really beleive that Physical Media will go away.

Let me pose a question. How many people out there have loved the styles and art of a specific group enough to warrant buying ever release they made? Quite a few from the posts that i've read. We do this because there is in humanity an innate desire to collect things.

I know that i'm especially proud to have alot of rare and unique anime that isn't produced anymore (mostly VHS). I was, and to an extent, still am, a huge fan of the former group Smashing Pumpkins. As a result i can pull out my entire collection anytime a friend comes over and show them each and every last CD they ever released (Even Gish... which was heck of a hard to find). How many people out there collect rare records? We won't have rare records, cds or anything else if physical media is done away with.

In short, physical media will never fully go away, although the method of its distribution may change (we may be able to buy something online such as the movie Star Wars Episode 9 and burn it to a disk, but they will only produce say 10,000 copies of the movie on DVD or whatever media is out there at the time. Thus making them actual collectors items.)

I think their buisiness model that they want to go to completely ignores what the consumer desires and wants. And as such, people will start up new buisinesses based on new models and crush the old models. After all, innovation can only be scoffed at for so long before it cannot be stopped.

---Silence the Poet---

There are certinly reasons content producers might want to abandon physical media. Production and transport make up most of the cost of a CD or DVD. This applies even more to books. The technology is available now, good compression and tough (through not too tough) DRM. But theres no real intrest in digital distribution because physical is still showing a very large profit. The media industry has a rather patchy history of adapting new technology, frequently predicting the end of the economy when new equipment such as the VCR is released. It doesn't always go like that. Sometimes new technology is accepted, usually when it already fills a role in an existing business model such as digital satalite TV or computer-rendered films (Pixars engine is, from a purely technical view, absolutly fantastic). Technology which requires a change in business model is not popular. Network distribution is the largest change technology is likely to produce short of collapseing the industry entirely (which would probably be a good thing, but is highly unlikely).

I agree with most of what's been said about DRM. DRM is evil, it's crackable, and the public doesn't want it. This is just another desperate attempt to preserve copyrights.

However, we have to make a distinction between software and hardware DRM. Software DRM will always be crackable. Hardware DRM is another matter. With hardware DRM built right into the CPU there'd be no way around it. The problem is, nobody wants it, and nobody would buy a computer that has it. The only thing that would be truly awful would be if the government stepped in and mandated hardware DRM on all computers sold in the U.S. That would give content providers complete control over what we see and hear and a license to charge whatever they wanted. That's the nightmare scenario, in my view. I'm sure people would try to buy computers from outside the U.S. unless our government outlawed that as well. However, the scenario I'm describing seems extremely unlikely to me. I can't imaging that the American public would stand for it.

IFeelFree...you are so right, and what you said about "Uncle Sam" stepping in and mandating DRM on all hardware, is what I am afraid will happen. But, I don't share you optimism. I think every day (I mean, I know) "our government" passes laws, statutes, and acts that have adverse effects on the public, and we are never told about it until it is too late. Heck, they passed the Patriot Act and the majority (if not all) of Congress NEVER EVEN READ IT BEFORE PASSING IT!

Any law or act to mandate hardware level DRM implementation, would be written up in extremely technical and legal language so difficult to read, that most people, even if they had a copy, would give up trying to read it after the first page. Look at how hard the DMCA is to read. You would think, "Hell, peolple won't stand for this". I think George Z was there to speak out against the DMCA, but, it passed and became law, much to the chagrin of 261 people.
Unfortunately, I can see the US passing a mandatory DRM hardware law, under the pressure and green persuasion of Redmond WA giant M$, software vendors, the RIAA,etc.. And, with the globalization that is going on, I can see them, in turn, pressuring Japan, Germany, China, and the other folks engaged in manufacturing, to follow suit.

I can see a techno world, ala William Gibson's NEUROMANCER, where old computers are worth their weight in gold. I can see a parallel with cars. Remember the muscle cars of the 60s and 70s before the smog controls were in place. The old muscle cars are venerated because of their power and the fact that with some wrenches and screwdrivers, you could tune them by ear. Now, computers control engines, braking systems, etc., and many people wish for the days to return to the power cars of yesterday, where smog devices didn't choke performance to death.

-one man's opinion...
~code

IFeelFree

That is exactly the point! THAT IS WHAT THEY WANT!

I think ever since little Brianna got sued, there is a sub-movement afoot around here to start downloading and sharing again, even if it's only non-riaa music. The feeling is these scumbags are so ruthless that we must defy them however we can.

One point made against downloading is that if CD sales drop AND sharing drops, that will prove to the RIAA that the decline in CD sales was not due to sharing to begin with, but rather their lousy expensive product.

This is a logical and reasonable approach that I agreed with and abided by...until now.

Any organization that feels it is entirely reasonable, responsible, righteous, moral, and ethical to sue and coerce the grievous file sharers that they say are ruining their sales; and remember they said they were only going after the worst offenders and look who they snagged, (namely 12yr old children, 70yr old grandparents, unemployed single moms, the disabled & housebound)...you know all these people who had the money to buy their crap in the first place[sarcasm]...

...THESE ARE NOT REASONABLE PEOPLE. They will NEVER equate that sharing was not the major factor in the decline of CD sales.

So now I'm downloading again, not from P2P, but directly from websites. When I get enough non-riaa to share, I'm going back up on P2P and giving everyone everything I got!

EXAMPLES:

"reader2770
Date: September 13, 2003 @ 3:16 PM
please start file sharing again. a lot of people are still downloading but very few are file sharing. it is riaa's stated plan to dry up those who share and kill p2p's. don't let it happen. share the indie songs if nothing else. but don't just be a leach. you will kill the freedom of file sharing.

"independentm...
Date: September 13, 2003 @ 2:13 PM
Never again! Not til this war is over will a penny of mine be given to ANYONE who is owned by the RIAA! Not even the White Stripes whom I am a fan of!

Hear that Jack and Meg? I am only buying/downloading bootleg stuff of yours... you want me to buy one of your "official" albums??? If so, you better release it independently of the RIAA!!!

"4thSSpolizei
Subject: Re: "safe" file-sharing?
Date: September 12, 2003 @ 4:42 AM
I still use kazaa, and have yet to be hit up. But in the end, there is no SAFE FILE SHARING method out there. Not from the RIAA, not from people who want to get into your computers, and not from anyone with a bit of technical curiosity.

Get over it, and just download or dont.

"AverageConsumer
Subject: Re: "safe" file-sharing?
Date: September 13, 2003 @ 8:54 AM
There is no safe file sharing. I agree with 4th. Either you download or don't.

Just don't come whining when you get caught. If you know it's illegal, and you still do it, then you take your chances with prosecution.

The best thing to do is to stop sharing the RIAA crap and boycott the whee out of them."

Code, Patriot Act and DMCA shit was ram-rodded in just after things like 9-11.

Never forget that!

If you want to download music with little risk of lawsuit, simply move files out of your shared folder immediately after download. Files will always be available worldwide anyway, we don't have to get them from servers in the U.S.! There's no need for guilt over lack of sharing in this situation. The RIAA is targeting Americans, now we will target the RIAA. Downloading will continue forever, and cd sales will continue to plummet. RIAA, be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.

Another one:

CelticGwen
Date: September 13, 2003 @ 5:31 PM
NOTICE TO THE RIAA (whi am I sure monitors this site!)

I AM OFFICIALLY RESUMING DOWNLOADING!!!

Your scare tactics have not worked!!!!!!

CodeWarrior:

If you're correct, then we're completely screwed. Period. It'll make the old communist Russia look like a free society by comparison. I dearly hope that's not the future we're headed for, where corporate America and the government completely decide exactly what you see and hear, when you can have access, and how much you have to pay. That's what hardware DRM represents. If the American public accepts that then it's time for me to drop out of society, find a cave somewhere, and seek spiritual enlightenment.

Fortunately, I'm a bit more optimistic than you. I don't think the public will accept DRM. They'll stop buying computers, buy them from foreign countries, buy bootleg processors, maintain old computers, whatever. Presently, people continue to share files even though some are being sued. Once people have tasted freedom they don't easily give it up. The government can make all the damn laws it wants. It doesn't mean people will follow them. (Remember 55 mph speed limits, prohibition, abortion and women's rights, sex laws, marijuana, alternative medicine, etc.) Hardware DRM would be the nightmare scenario and I think there are too many groups who would alert the public to it's consequences. I don't see it happening anytime in the near future.

Never again! Not til this war is over will a penny of mine be given to ANYONE who is owned by the RIAA! Not even the White Stripes whom I am a fan of!

I hear ya bro, I have been wanting to buy the 12stone's cd, but will not so sorry 12 stone but I refuse to buy anything RIAA, and this includes you

oh and 12 stone the only way I would have bought your cd was I donwload it from a p2p, that is where, to bad

DRM will NEVER work. No matter what they (RIAA) do to limit the uses of media they still by defination have to let you play it to your speakers and as soon as that happens it is analog. You can then re record that analog and convert it back to an unrestricted digital format. Hey I have a cool idea. How bout we all stop fighting about this and sit down and come up with a reasonable way for people to get their music at a reasonable cost and artist and record companys to still get paid.

jodavis:

Yes, so you can digitally record a CD by digitizing the audio output. Then what? Suppose DRM doesn't allow you to burn that file to a CD, or share the file with others. Maybe you can play it on your computer with your DRM-approved player, MAYBE, but forget about sharing anything, burning CDs of "unapproved" music, etc. This is the potential of DRM. As Code says, it's evil.

IFeelFree - this is one of the few incidents where I hope like everything I am wrong. But, there is an excellent article in October 2003 Computer Shopper by Dan Costa, which talks about the newest thing from our "friends" at Micro$oft. It's called the Next Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB). This delightful little piece of business checks at startup to make sure that you are running "authorized" software, either the OS or the third party stuff. Micro$oft's current plan requires a chip similar to that of the TCG (Trusted Computing Group), but its scope is much wider. They plan on shipping this with the Longhorn version of Windows in 2005. The implementation of this, is far more insidious than the more conventional DRM stuff. When this does become widespread, "before any program can run on a NGSCB system (or any java applet for that matter) it will be checked to make sure it has not been "tampered with" (their words not mine) and that it is "authorized" to use on that machine (I guess authorized means the Redmond M$ stamp has to be on it...lol). The NGSCB will not specifically be a platform for DRM, it will make it easier for DRM to be employed, AND it means that any program or file (MP3s, media clips,eBOOKS,etc) which are seen to be not authorized (read "paid for" and approved by M$oft) will just not work and not play, PERIOD.
Now, that type of control, deciding what progs I should or should not use, or what media clips I should or should not play (and could banning of certain sites to be viewed on IE be far behind>?) is totally unacceptable to me, and I bet a lot of other EUs (endusers). I just will not put up with it, and would rather struggle along with my XP running on an outdated processor, than to upgrade and lose my freedoms and the functionality of my computer.

I feel like I am seeing the future, through a glass darkly.
~code

Thinking about it, there MUST be a way to bypass software DRM that is in wma files and the like at the moment.

No systeem is ever secure, so why should something tagged on to a 1Mb file be?

I've been reading off of here for a while now and here is an issue I'll put in two cents about.

DRM, whether software, or hardware, will not work for long.

software, as acknowledged by most above, is easy to "crack." any motivated individual or group out there could probably provide a mechanism to strip DRM out of media files easily enough. Just look at the plethora of cracks, keygens, etc... on the net for just about any given program, and you'll see that so far, no one has been successful.

hardware, while more difficult to negate than its software counterpart, is not fool proof. Look at the Playstation, Playstation 2, XBOX, and even the gamecube, which all have hardware implementations to prevent bootlegged material from being played in them. if a DRM hardware solution was mandated, some enterprising engineer would tinker with it till he developed a modification chip, or some other hardware level bypass to disable the DRM hardware. And these modchips would be progressively easier to install, such as the xbox one that doesn't require soldering a chip to a board.

While I'm not discussing the legalities of actually doing such, it is certainately technically feasable to implement such measures to get around DRM implementation.

Also, I don't think CPU manufacturers will implement DRM in the processors themselves, because it will cause speed problems from including extra instructions for complex checking operations required for a DRM schema.

Peace out

So now I'm downloading again, not from P2P, but directly from websites. When I get enough non-riaa to share, I'm going back up on P2P and giving everyone everything I got

I am doing the exact same thing, we are friends, and I got your back always.
I am also including, docs about the RIAA and how the nazi organization is out of control.
I will not stop, this is a great tech,
for unsigned bands and new bands, so RIAA COME LOOK IN MY SHARED FOLDER AND YOU WILL SEE THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE, AND YOU ARE NOT IN IT, SAME AS MY SHARED FOLDER A** HOLES

Due to WinDoZe being so much in bed with Intel (and having sway over AMD now as well), I look for some serious engineering to occur to try to force this at the microprocessor level.

I'm not saying it's impossible to crack, but if the OS and the processor are checking things at bootup, it is quite worrisome.

I know dongles were cracked, but if they do implement this kind of thing on the motherboard, it certainly is MUCH harder.

I won't even buy a new machine now with that Windows Media Edition or Media Center crap on it...heck, I refuse to "upgrade" to that Media Player 9 piece of crap they want to foist on us.
~code

kyodylee

IF you would like, go to dmusic, and type in woodhead, you will find my band, and you have my permission to down load our songs, and place them in your shared file, I would be honored to be in your shared folder, I am sure ronnie47 would be also.

All indie bands with web sites, or a place where I can get your music to add to my shared folder email me at
woodheadboycott@hotmail.com and I would be glad to add you to my shared folder.

I saw an article on Slashdot a while ago about Phoenix (big time BIOS maker) incorporating DRM into future BIOSes. You'll have to cut-n-paste, cuz my html isn't good: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/04/1427237&mode=thread&tid=137&tid=185 Makes me feel better about choosing to build my computer when i did. Hopefully if hardware/software DRM starts gaining momentum there'll be groups out there (go EFF!) warning people of the dangers of Digital Rights Manglement.

Wow, auto-linking..Mr. Evans is truly a king among men.

woodhead - Thanks. I will do that. Also, did you see Michael Crawford's post? He listed his site:

Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads

http://www.goingware.com/tips/legal-downloads.html
_____________________

~ I will not stop 'til they are gonoRIAA!

If Microsoft goes the DRM route than I'll have to go with Linux, or maybe even get an Apple (assuming they haven't gone the DRM route as well). I can't help but wonder if Microsoft and Intel will be shooting themselves in the foot (just like the RIAA) if they try shove something on the public they don't want. Who's gonna buy a computer with that crap on it? Sounds like a future boycott to me. I'd rather go without any computer than put up with that nonsense. (I lived the first 30 years of my life without a computer and it wasn't THAT bad!) I think these corporations haven't gotten too arrogant and are underestimating the the public.

Just now read this tonight. I live in Metro Phoenix (Glendale). Yet another reason not to but RIAA junk!

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0913sunncomm13.html

just so everyone is aware a new phoenix company SunnComm Technology sells anti- piracy software just got a contract to make copy-management Technology available to BMG,the music division of Bertelsmann AG. It lets BMG,owner of labels as arista Records and RCA records control the number of times a compact disc is copied while preventing songs from being E-mailed or swapped on file sharing services. the makers of the records will decide how many times a perticular CD can be copied say maybe three to six times and the CD's will be encoded accordingly the first singersong writer from arista Anthony Hamilton Due out Sept.23.
So as I was saying as far back as six months ago they were going to do this and more including CD's that erase themselves after they have been tried to be copied on . pass this on Cd music is gonna be junk now not just filler crap.

I'm with you, IFeelFree! XP will be my last M$ OS. Their next pitiful try is going to be Longhorn, and from what I've read it has fairly substantial DRM written into it. Looks like I sould start learning all I can about Linux! I really like what I've seen of the new G5 but I've built my last two systems and and wouldn't do it any other way which is why I'm leaning towards Linux - more hardware options for the PC.

On an even sadder note the maker of Phoenix BIOS is shopping its new DRM enabled BIOS. This is BAD, BAD BAD! Bios is your basic interface between everything in your system and if you go cramming DRM in that its all going to Hell. I can just see it - instead of the small BIOS chips you have now, they're going to have to solder on 512 Meg sticks to hold all this DRM garbage!

Awesome article on this check it out:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1243790,00.asp

I will not stop 'til they are gonoRIAA

Exactly, they will cease and desist in time

SilencethePoet...on an unrelated topic, have you listened to billy corgan's new band zwan? If so..what do you think about it. I dunno, I have all of the pumpkin's cds ..minus one. Zwan sort of sounds a little happier....he also had the old drummer from the pumpkins in Zwan too... anyhow..

nitedreamerxp:

How can a CD be made which limits how many times you can copy it? Also, if I rip the CD, how can they prevent me from email those tracks? It doesn't make sense to me. For one thing, if I can rip the CD once, I can burn as many copies as a I like. Once the tracks are converted to MP3 they've lost any DRM the CD might have had. This SunnComm Tech article doesn't make any sense to me.

One word for hardware DRM: Linux. You can do anything to the kernel processor of your machine, override elements, change memory addresses, basically do everything with your computer the freakin computer designers do when they design the suckers... the programming language is so radically advanced that I heard it's even possible to physically damage your processor if you're not careful enough.

Bottomline? As long as you don't use any M$ OS, I think DRM will turn out to be a joke.

First of all, yea, DRM is a joke. But not only that, the whole name is a joke. Digital Rights Management. I sounds good, but it should be Digital Restrictions Management. This article is a good look into a evil minded person that works to kill our democracy.

Anyway Hey Bl1ster!!! Maria Cantwell, also my US Senator Has Received over $23,000 from AOL Time Warner!!! WE NEED TO VOTE HER OUT!!! The only problem is, who else is there? By and by, she’s probably not nearly as bad as her competitors, but I think she needs to partake in some serious discussions related to DRM and P2P and other technological issues to get her education in line!!!

I started making the switch from Windows to Linux a while back, but eventually once the HURD kernel becomes more stable and I learn more about programming I’ll most likely switch to the GNU/Hurd system instead (the difference being the Linux kernel is developed and run by a “dictatorship” right now and the Hurd kernel is developed and run by a more democratic system). But now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t be teaching myself about computer Hardware engineering as well. Time will tell, but I’ll bet anybody “Freedom” will win.


~goingnova

DRM has fundimental flaws. For content to be viewed, it must be decrypted. That leaves a window between decryption and the users senses where it can be accessed restriction free, by both hi-tech debuggers or by the low tech splitter in the speaker cable. Ideally it should be accessed between decryption and decompression, which is possible but difficult. Alternatively, a hacker might be able to find the secret keys (which must be available on the system somewhere, burried under layers of anti-taper code) and create a decryptor like DeCSS, Freeme or Clit. Unbreakable DRM is just not possible. If nessicary a pirate will connect the video output on one PC to a video capture card on another, and the best might even manage to rig up a sync system. DRM as a deterant can work. If a user has to spend two hours researching and cracking a file, they will likely give up first.

I said something like this months ago. Only it involved a penny per play, you don't need DRM, you just need a program that reports what' you're playing to ...

Ok here's the idea one more time.

Penny per play.

The concept behind penny per play isn't you pay for every time something is downloaded, but every time you listen to it.

Now think about this .... a good song will probably be played 10000 times in one day perhaps more maybe 10,000,000 times that translates into $100,000 in one day.

How it would be done is this.

first you download a plugin that watches what you listen to.

It uploads that data to a server, then you get billed.

I'm a little tired right now, so bare with me.

On this server every name of every band garage band or not is in this data base with their song, with a chksum/hash whatever. You register your song on a government server thus making it "copywritten" I'm sure there is a fee for this just like normal copywrite.

You get billed once a month. I figure a good month I'll listen to about 1000 songs, that's 10.00 to the record company, and they didn't even have to waste money on shipping and handeling.

The great thing about this is it would work for indie artists as well. No more hey we have to protect our music against copywrite/pirates, we just have to sit back, and let em swap.

Nobody's angry, well almost nobody I'm sure the people who work at CD/DVD packaging plants wouldn't appreciate it.

But not everybody owns a computer. So go figure.

I'm willing to spend 10.00 a month so it's an even playing field.

Then we could see what the #1 song of the week REALLY IS.

It would be much better. The residual income would be great.

Of course I'm sure eventually somebody would get greedy, and say my song is worth $.10 a listen, however you can't decided that.

The ammout you pay is decided by a government pannel just like gas or something.

$.01 would go to the serverice to keep it up and running or perhaps $.001. (Kinda like a pre tax)

The industry would be happy, oh wait .. no they won't no control.

This would be very easy to do. A whole lot easier than trying to do DMR wihas ath encryption and stuff. Of course I could be wrong.

I just made an m3u file with 1000 songs under 87k. So bandwidth to actually upload this info would be very easy.

See you wouldn't upload it all at once, just once a month, or whenever you got to 1000 songs logged.

I don't see why something like this isn't done. It would be MUCH easier. Simpler, and by far the most productive.

Erm

Artist Against The Riaa
http://noriaa.the-erm.com

I don't know if you have been to a music store lately but much of the cds dont even have the compact disk logo anymore! Seems that the new disks are different (DRM) enough from the compact disk format not to have the compact disk logo on them. From what I understand, Phillips, who owns the patent is not happy about this and may sue the members of the RIAa.

OK...here's an idea.
Computer manufacturers now are hurting for business. Dell Computers is changing its name to Dell Inc, and they cut their prices 22 percent. They changed their name because theya are selling printers and digital cameras to stay afloat. Gateway is focussing now on selling Digital TVs.

Now, it seems like there are petitions for everything these days. What if we start a petition to send to the major computer manufacturers that we refuse to buy their product if they implement DRM, or the NGSCB in their machines?
This will put them in a big bind if they thing large numbers will NOT buy their crap with controls inside them.

Thoughts?

Forget DRM. I'm teaching myself how to build my own computer hardware using FPGA's and DSP's.

Code..

That's a good idea. I kinda figured I'd start battling that when the time came, but maybe the time is now. It just might be a perfect time to start the backlash.

~goingnova

theerm I'm extreamly uneasy with anything that would "Monitor" what I am doing in any way. I would much rather just get a product and then be left alone. I'm also not realy comfortable with the growing trend of bills in flux. By that I mean bills that constantly change in size. Once too many of our bills go that way it becomes difficult to really reguate funds. Sure you may be able to see where you are at but busy times and a stack of things to check out become inconvenent. Many are being tied to auto detuct from your bank account. It starts becoming super easy to loose track of what, when, and how much is being taken. I don't know about anyone else but I've had my accout overdrafted by a company that decided to collect in a different way than normal. You cant put it off and wait to get paid and such. Might work fine for the rich but us broke people have to have full control to stay afloat.

I think I walzed off from where I started. So. Don't want DRM. Dont want to have to do any fancy foot work for any reason. I want to buy something, go home and be done with it. Nobody checking in to make sure I'm using it the right way. I'm a grown man would like not to be treated like a child. I would say fair use is alot like porn has been described. You cant fully describe it but I know it when I see it, and when its beeing taken away.

Random Thoughts from a Poet

You know how madonna released fake versions of her music? We should do the same. We should record a message about the boycott movement, the tactics the RIAA imposes, and put this mp3/ogg out for download on kazaa named after alot of the more recent 'pop hits' out there. Perhaps tag a few plugs for independent groups onto them as well.

BTW, just out of curiosity, is japanese/korean/chinese music considered safe here in the US for download?

I would expect forign music is safe, as only major US labels seem to be involved.

Someone has already released a MP3 file containing information on fair use. We could do the same. But I wouldn't recormend using a misleading filename. We are supposed to be the good guys, leave the misdirection to the RIAA

Penny a play? An intresting idea, but two flaws:
1. Micropayment systems. If your collecting a penny per song, its going to take a year of usage for each customer to build a debt large enough to justify the cost of transfering the cash. Very inconvenient.
2. Even with very little financial cost, he hassle of haveing to configure the billing system and connect to the net to allow the program to upload its account information will mean many customers would find it easier to either download a crack for the player or continue downloading from p2p.

.. gonoRiaa!! I LOVE this site!! Thanks, kyodylee! We need to emphasize, as we do here.. that the actual activity of downloading is not illegal. So thanks to you for giving details on how to legally use P2P for your benefit.

BOYCOTT. EDUCATE. REGISTER. VOTE.
ARE YOU REGISTERED AND READY?

If there ever is DRM hardware, I'll do what hackers did in the 80's that gave them that moniker. I'll hack and solder circuit boards together to make a computer.

ROFLMFAO @ Woodhead's new term, "gonoRIAA"...it's what they get for screwing over so many people, both fans they need and the artists they claim to represent! I'll bet they also suffer from diaRIAA, meaning that they spew a lot of smelly shit, such as Britneybot and the Backdoor Boys.

Here's an interesting idea...what about ripping the signal from digital cable music channels or satellite radio? Would DRM come into play?

OOPS...sorry, kyodylee, I should give credit where credit is due for the term "gonoRIAA". A thousand and one apologies.

- Patch

Well, I will say this. I am already considering giving up computer gaming. I see no damn reason why a new game that doesnt look but a little bit better on my computer than the last one did, should require me to go out and buy a new $100 vid card. I think the game companies are in collusion with the hardware makers on this one.
And even though my computer is only about 18 months old, I am already thinking its about time to buy a new one. Think about it, if your TV needed to be replaced every year and a half, you would scream bloddy murder! So DRM would be the final nail in the coffin of computer use for me, and I spend 60% of my leisure hours on computer.

I wanted to mention something that no one else did. In regards to digital management I had heard awile back that if the government were to create a law saying that all hardware and software had to include it not only would your big name companies be affected but little companies would be to. This would mean that any software that was freely distributed on the internet including the big one Linux would have to incorporate DRM. No longer do you have to wonder why the big companies are pushing this. Not only will it limit copying of their products it will also squelch their competition and free alternatives. This is just what I heard and the way the government works I could see them very well doing this.
Makes me laugh actually, I use a program like DVDecrypter which is illegal to download in the US and it would have to be DRM protected.
When you look at the situation though I think P2P could very well be the thing to help save us. If DRM became required we would still have a way to download great free programs that haven't been tampered with. But who knows if the hardware would except them.
Just some stuff to think about.

DogPatch1149 - No apologies necessary. I actually "borrowed" the term from CodeWarrior. But I guess you could say I did popularize it!