Darknet

Warner Music gives up on DRM

NY Times: Warner finally gives up on copy protection.

On that hard drive that won't share video

Saul Hansell at the NY Times Bits blog: On that hard drive that won't share video.

BoingBoing today posted about a networked hard drive from Western Digital that blocks access to music and video files. The blogosphere started a chorus of outrage. And I referred to it in a post about the dark side of Macrovision’s acquisition of Gemstar TV Guide.

I also called Western Digital, and when they called back it turns out that the situation is—as it often is—somewhat more complex than it first seemed.

The file blocking is not in the hard drive itself but in an Internet file sharing service called Mio that is included with the drive. This service, Mionet, which was acquired by Western Digital earlier this year, has two aspects: It lets you connect to your own files from anywhere on the Internet. And it also lets you specify certain folders that you can share with your friends.

Even before WD bought Mionet, the service blocked people from sharing music and video files with friends. But it did—and still does—allow users to link to any of their own files. ...

The hitch in Amazon's Kindle

This week's Newsweek cover story, Books Aren't Dead, takes a look at the shiny new gadget produced by Amazon. Steve Levy's sidebar explores the fine print on the Kindle:

Though the copy protection doesn't affect book-reading, it is limiting, and annoying. You can't print out a passage, e-mail it to a friend or copy it into a document. You can't lend a book to someone, or sell it after you're finished.

In Newsweek's main story, Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle says he's unhappy with the DRM on the Kindle; his choice of an e-book reader would be the dirt-cheap XO device designed by the One Laptop Per Child Foundation.

One anti-piracy system to rule them all

NY Times blogs: One Anti-Piracy System to Rule Them All.

Digg's tough choice

BusinessWeek Online with the somewhat unfair headline Digg's Mob Rules. The news-sharing Web site faces a painful choice: allow user content that courts legal woes, or risk losing users—and content

Antipiracy code spreads wildly

NY Times: In Web Uproar, Antipiracy Code Spreads Wildly

Sophisticated Internet users have banded together over the last two days to publish and widely distribute a secret code used by the technology and movie industries to prevent piracy of high-definition movies. ...

On Tuesday afternoon and into the evening, stories about or including the code swamped Digg’s main page, which the company says gets 16 million readers each month. At 9 p.m. West Coast time, the company surrendered to mob sentiment.

“You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company,” wrote Kevin Rose, Digg’s founder, in a blog post. “We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.” If Digg loses, he wrote, “at least we died trying.”

Jay Adelson, Digg’s chief executive, said in an interview that the site was disregarding the advice of its lawyers. “We just decided that it is more important to stand by our users,” he said. Regarding the company’s exposure to lawsuits he said, “we are just going to prepare and do our best.”

The conflict spilled over to Wikipedia, where administrators had to restrict editing on some entries to keep contributors from repeatedly posting the code.

Hacker cracks AACS copy-protection on Blu-ray, HD DVD discs

Digital Media Wire: Hacker Cracks AACS Copy-Protection on Blu-ray, HD DVD Discs.

Well, that didn't take long.

Hacker targets iPod, iTunes restrictions

This is getting a little old.

AP: A hacker known for cracking the copy-protection technology in DVDs claims to have unlocked the playback restrictions of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod and iTunes music products and plans to license his code to others.

30 days of DRM

Canada's brilliant Michael Geist: 30 Days of DRM.

France to ease bill criticized by Apple

Associated Press: France to ease bill criticized by Apple. Mandate to force the sharing of iTunes technology to be softened.

Inside the Spyware scandal

In the May-June Technology Review, Wade Roush had the best wrapup I've seen of the Sony rootkit scandal: When Sony BMG hid a "rootkit" on their CDs, they spied on you and let hackers into your computer. What were they thinking?

Plus, Wade blogs about it.

Apple's iTunes solo act getting competition

San Jose Mercury News: Apple's iTunes solo act is getting competition. Excerpt:

Windows users have always faced a huge barrier to exit; they'd have to buy new computers and software to say goodbye to Microsoft.

Apple is now creating a similar kind of tollbooth.

If you buy music or video clips from iTunes, they will only work on one portable player: the iPod. Once you've purchased several dozen albums from iTunes, it's not likely you'll switch away from the iPod.

If you buy an iPod, it will only play music and video purchased online from one store: iTunes. You can't try music downloads from rival services such as those offered by America Online, Napster, Rhapsody and Yahoo.

Don't let Congress shackle digital music

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a disturbing bit of news about a bill introduced by my senator, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.:

Dianne Feinstein's "Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music (PERFORM) Act" would permanently hobble your ability to record off the radio and force webcasters to use DRM formats.

If passed, future satellite and digital radio receivers would be limited by law to what the bill calls "reasonable recording." To the RIAA, this means that all consumers will be banned from choosing and playing back selections based on song title, artist, or genre. According to the Consumer
Electronics Retailers Coalition, even the transmission of a recording from room to room inside a house would be restricted by mandatory blocks and controls.

PERFORM would also mess with streaming Internet radio stations. Right now, MP3 or open format Internet radio can take advantage of statutory copyright licensing to remunerate rights holders and artists. After PERFORM, all streaming music that uses statutory licensing will be required to be in a DRM-encumbered format that forbids interoperability or user-editing. Wave goodbye to MP3 streaming and to moving recorded webcasts to the portable player of your choice.

PERFORM is yet another petulant scrawl by the RIAA on the statute books, placing their short term interests over the freedom to innovate and the future freedoms of America's musicians and customers. Tell your representative not to co-sponsor or vote for PERFORM in the Senate or its
companion bill in the House.

Take action now.

Details and full text of the bill here.

EFF's summary of the bill's implications.

This is not only a terrible misuse of government power but also poor public policy, potentially pushing legions of digital-savvy users into the Darknet.

Sony BMG settlement

EFF: Sony BMG Settles Up with Music Fans for Copy-Protection Debacle.

Google Video's DRM scheme

David Pogue in Thursday's NY Times: Google Video: Trash Mixed With Treasure.

One aspect of Google Video, however, will not be so easily changed: its copy-protection scheme, a new one that Google wrote itself. You can't burn the shows to a CD or DVD, and can't play them back on portable players like iPods. In fact, most of the TV shows don't play back at all without an active Internet connection, which, for most people, also rules out laptop playback on planes, trains and automobiles. This is sickening news for anyone who thought that two incompatible copy-protection schemes - Apple's and Microsoft's - were complex and sticky enough already. And compared with the ABC and NBC shows available on the iTunes store, the value of the CBS shows looks even worse.

Sony Rootkit: Invasion of the computer snatchers

Stanford's Center for Internet & Society presents its lunch speaker spring schedule. I'll be speaking on Feb. 20 about the clash between big media and personal media. But next up is this: "Invasion of the Computer Snatchers: The Sony Rootkit Incident."

Who: Natali Helberger, Associate Professor at the Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam

When: Monday January 23, 2006, 12:30-1:30 PM

Where: Room 280A, Stanford Law School

Lunch served, open to all.

Details below.

Sony's latest Digital Rights Management (DRM)-endeavour earned a charge of "fraud, false advertising, trespass and the violation of state and federal statutes prohibiting malware, and unauthorized computer tampering". The technology installs, unnoticed by the user, a piece of software that prevents consumers from unauthorised copying, is able to monitor and report user behaviour back to the firm and, accidentally, holds the door wide open for Trojans. Under other circumstances one would be tempted to describe such a strategy a hostile "spy at-tack". In case of Sony BMG, this seems to be part of a business model to sell digital music to consumers. The talk will have a closer look at the charges of the EFF and a Californian lawyer against Sony BMG's latest DRM strategy. The Sony BMG case adds a number of interesting new dimensions to the 'DRM and Consumer' debate. The talk will explain why the case is so important, also against the background of similar recent case law in Europe, and why it points into an entirely new direction of talking about DRM.

Natali Helberger is Associate Professor at the Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam. Dr. Helberger is managing legal partner to the INDICARE project. INDICARE (Informed Dialogue about Consumer Acceptability of Rights Management Solutions in Europe) is a project co-funded by the European Commission. The objective of INDICARE is to address issues regarding consumer acceptability of digital rights management solutions; identify obstacles and suggest solutions. At the moment, she is a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.

Buy, play, trade, repeat

Astute piece by Damian Kulash Jr., lead singer for the Los Angeles-based band OK Go, in the NY Times via the International Herald Tribune: Buy, play, trade, repeat.

Tech-savvy fans won't go to the trouble of buying a strings-attached record when they can get a better version free. Less Net-knowledgeable fans, ones who don't know the simple tricks to get around the copy-protection software or don't use peer-to-peer networks, are punished by discs that often won't load onto their MP3 players - the copy-protection programs are incompatible with Apple's iPods, for example - and sometimes won't even play in their computers.

Conscientious fans, who buy music legally because it's the right thing to do, simply get insulted. They've made the choice not to steal their music, and the labels thank them by giving them an inferior product hampered by software that's at best a nuisance. As for musicians, we are left to wonder how many more people might be listening to our music if it weren't such a hassle, and how many more iPods might have our albums on them if our labels hadn't sabotaged our releases with cumbersome software. ...

Luckily my band's recently released album, "Oh No," escaped copy control, but only narrowly. When our album came out, our label's parent company, EMI, was testing protective software and thought that we were a good candidate for it. Record executives reasoned that, because we appeal to college students who have the high-bandwidth connections necessary for accessing peer-to-peer networks, we're the kind of band that gets traded instead of bought.

That may be true, but we are also the sort of band that hasn't yet gotten the full attention of MTV and major commercial radio stations, so those college students are our only window onto the world. They are our best chance for success, and we desperately need them to be listening to us, talking about us, coming to our shows and, yes, trading us.

More from P2Pnet.net.

Sony's escalating 'spyware' fiasco

BusinessWeek Online: Sony's Escalating "Spyware" Fiasco. Along with lawyers, prosecutors, and furious fans, artists are joining the backlash against the label for slipping a hidden, anti-theft program into users' computers.

Digital rights mismanagement

For those who missed it, Adam L. Penenberg had this in Slate the other day: Digital rights mismanagement. "The music industry is supposed to sell music, not the medium it comes in, right?"

Fighting copy protection

International Herald Tribune: Consumers fight copy protection.

PARIS -- All Stéphane Perquin wanted to do was watch David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" at his mother's house in the Burgundy region of France. Since he knew that there was no DVD player in the house, he got out his dual-deck video recorder to transfer the film from the DVD he had bought to a tape so he could watch it on the VCR, as he had done in the past.

Only this time, the movie would not copy. Confused, he checked the packaging and discovered a small "CP" printed in on the back. His disc could not be copied under any circumstances because Universal Pictures had equipped it with copy-protection technology. ...

In the Universal case, the Paris appeals court said that if a DVD was not copyable, there must be a clear and visible warning. The small "CP" symbol does not meet that description, the court said in reversing the lower court. The appeals court also decided that "one of the essential characteristics" of a DVD is that it can be copied. ...

Lawrence Lessig on interoperability

At Creative Commons: Lawrence Lessig on Interoperability. Excerpt:

Why not add DRM to the rights expressed through Creative Commons DRE? What's wrong with a cheap system to enforce the rights still reserved?

There are two problems at least. We can see the first by returning to the picture of what made this network amazing — interoperability. Widespread DRM would disable that interoperability. Or at least, it would disable interoperability without permission first. We could remix, or add, or criticize, using digital content, only with the permission of the content controller. And that requirement of permission first would certainly disable a large part of the potential that the Internet could realize.

The second problem relates to "fair use." The law of copyright has never given copyright owners the right to perfect control over their copyrighted work. Fair use is a codified exception to that control. As we see them today, DRM technologies cannot respect "fair use."

I'm not sure that I agree. But it will be an interesting road ahead in the next two years.

Lawrence Lessig on interoperability

Over at Creative Commons, Lawrence Lessig has a few words to say about interoperability.

Hollywood's plans to control your TV

I just read the September issue of Scientific American, where Wendy Grossman has this article (subscription required to read full text): Flagging Copy Rights. Piracy protection may redefine home recording.

The right to protect against unauthorized copying of digital television and film seemed to take a step back for the entertainment industry and content provider--and a step forward for the consumer and video pirate--when a federal court struck down the planned July 1 introduction of the "broadcast flag." The flag is a set of bits in a digital transmission that can prevent recording. But advocates of free recording are not celebrating the defeat of the flag--transmissions standards currently being devised could trump the ruling.

The consortium creating the standards is the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Project, a group that includes broadcasters, mobile phone companies, set-top box manufacturers and movie studios. Most of its work defines ways to transmit, encode and format data. But the next version of the DVB standards will include a scheme called Copy Protection/Copy Management (CPCM), which, if implemented, may give copyright holders even more control than the broadcast flag would have.

As drafted, CPCM will allow them to specify, for example, whether protected content can be copied -- and, if so, onto how many devices. They could dictate how many times a program can be viewed, where it can be viewed and how long a copy may be kept. While attending a public DVB Forum meeting held in Dublin this past March, Jim Williams, vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America, said in private that preventing someone from accessing a single HBO subscription from two different locations is "social justice." ...

TiVo users fear Hollywood machine

Associated Press: TiVo Users Fear Hollywood Machine. Excerpt:

Many fans of digital video recorders made by TiVo Inc. are beginning to fear that Hollywood studios will one day reach into their set-top boxes to restrict the way they record and store movies and programs.

Among the functions included in TiVo's latest software upgrade is the ability to allow broadcasters to erase material recorded by TiVo's 3.6 million users after a certain date. That ability was demonstrated recently when some TiVo customers complained on TiVo community sites that episodes of "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" they recorded were "red-flagged" for deletion by the copyright holder.

Some users also were upset that they were prevented from transferring these red-flagged shows to a PC via the TiVoToGo service.

Elliot Sloan, a TiVo spokesman, called the red-flag incident a "glitch" and said it affected only a handful of customers. "It's a non-story," Sloan said.

Nonetheless, skeptics among TiVo users questioned why TiVo would own such a technology unless the company planned to one day use it.

TiVo and other digital video recorders let users skip commercials and jump around a recording quickly. Since TiVo introduced its DVR in the late 1990s, customers have enjoyed the ability to record anything they want, and store it indefinitely.

But last year, TiVo quietly disclosed that it would employ copyright-protection software from Macrovision Corp. for pay-per-view and video-on-demand programs. According to a post on TiVo's Web site, the software allows broadcasters to restrict how long a DVR can save certain recordings or in some cases prevent someone from recording altogether.

"Program providers decide what programs will have Macrovision copy protection," said the TiVo post. ...

TiVo: When an upgrade is a downgrade

From the EFF:

TiVo Owners: Got Macrovision?

Have you noticed that when you "update" a product these days, you have to be on your guard lest the vendor slip in a "downgrade"? Like when Apple "updated" iTunes to reduce the number of burns you could make from the music you bought from the iTunes Music Store?

Well, here's another reminder of how "updates" can hurt you. As reported in the PVRBlog, the latest TiVo OS "update" causes some TiVos to start popping up red copyright warning flags on certain saved programs (including the Simpsons), threatening to automatically erase programs after a certain number of days. These restrictions are part of TiVo's move, as reported last year, to lockdown and auto-erase content that is marked by broadcasters with Macrovision (a technology originally
intended to befuddle analog VCRs, but now also being used as a flag to mark analog video for copy restrictions).

It looks like it was a glitch on TiVo's end this time. Only pay-per-view and "premium channel" (i.e., HBO) programs were supposed to be Macrovisioned. (In fact, section 1201(k)(2) of the Copyright Act forbids broadcasters from putting Macrovision on any other programs.)

Of course, the fact that it was a glitch this time is should be no comfort to TiVo owners. When you bought your TiVo, you could record and keep the Sopranos, or Six Feet Under, or that exclusive boxing match. Thanks to the "updates" to your TiVo, now that capability can be taken away from you at the broadcaster's whim.

It's a good reminder that, in an age when Hollywood is calling the DRM shots and technology companies acquiesce, "updates" may no longer be your friend.

TiVo: When an upgrade is a downgrade

From the EFF:

TiVo Owners: Got Macrovision?

Have you noticed that when you "update" a product these days, you have to be on your guard lest the vendor slip in a "downgrade"? Like when Apple "updated" iTunes to reduce the number of burns you could make from the music you bought from the iTunes Music Store?

Well, here's another reminder of how "updates" can hurt you. As reported in the PVRBlog, the latest TiVo OS "update" causes some TiVos to start popping up red copyright warning flags on certain saved programs (including the Simpsons), threatening to automatically erase programs after a certain number of days. These restrictions are part of TiVo's move, as reported last year, to lockdown and auto-erase content that is marked by broadcasters with Macrovision (a technology originally
intended to befuddle analog VCRs, but now also being used as a flag to mark analog video for copy restrictions).

It looks like it was a glitch on TiVo's end this time. Only pay-per-view and "premium channel" (i.e., HBO) programs were supposed to be Macrovisioned. (In fact, section 1201(k)(2) of the Copyright Act forbids broadcasters from putting Macrovision on any other programs.)

Of course, the fact that it was a glitch this time is should be no comfort to TiVo owners. When you bought your TiVo, you could record and keep the Sopranos, or Six Feet Under, or that exclusive boxing match. Thanks to the "updates" to your TiVo, now that capability can be taken away from you at the broadcaster's whim.

It's a good reminder that, in an age when Hollywood is calling the DRM shots and technology companies acquiesce, "updates" may no longer be your friend.

Why Microsoft is cozying up to Hollywood (and selling us out)

EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann (who writes Deep Links at eff.org) just posted this pithy analysis to the pho mailing list (I'm sure he won't mind my reproducing it here), in light of the announcement that Microsoft's next operating system, Vista, will feature components that will please Hollywood but displease consumers:

Hollywood is saying, loudly and to anyone who will listen, "unless we get content protection that satisfies us, our next-gen HD video will not be on your platform." (Since there are only a handful of major studios who control 90%+ of commercially important film and TV content, this kind of cartel threat is relatively credible.)

In the past, this would have been an empty threat, since someone
could just build a device to play their content, whether they liked
it or not. Not so since 1998, thanks to the DMCA. Now, if Hollywood
encrypts its content, tech vendors need to get permission before they
can build a device to play it.

So here's what's happened since 1998:

1. DVDs are encrypted, which means that you have to sign a license
before you can build a DVD player or recorder. So Hollywood gets veto
power over new DVD features, thanks to the DVD-CCA license.
Companies that build cool DVD products get sued (see, e.g.,
Kaleidescape).

2. Cable added DRM to its set-top boxes and CableCard architectures,
for fear that Hollywood would otherwise favor satellite (which, as
the minority player, was happy to court Hollywood) with "premium"
content.

3. Blu-ray and HD-DVD are now in a DRM bidding war to please
Hollywood, as demonstrated by the Blu-Ray DRM features announced this
week.

4. Microsoft is now adding DRM to Windows, for fear that otherwise
Hollywood will lock them out of next-gen HD Hollywood content,
thereby slamming the door on convergence home theater PC products
built on Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) technologies. After all,
the traditional consumer electronics companies would be quite happy
to have the next generation DVD products play only on purpose-built
Blu-Ray boxes. (Of course, MSFT may also have its own reasons to want
access to Hollywood stuff, insofar as it would distinguish their
platform from Linux, which will never play Hollywood DRMd content.)

The computer industry in general is actually quite afraid of being
left out of the Hollywood party -- I remember hearing stories about
how DVD almost never made it to PCs, because the computer industry
was so late to the negotiating table. After all, from Hollywood's
POV, the mainstream market for DVDs is playback on DVD players in
your living room. The PC home theater stuff is niche today, untested
tomorrow, at best. For the computer guys, on the other hand, this
convergence stuff is a critical part of their effort to convince you
that you actually need to buy new PCs and displays (pesky thing --
PCs are too good and lasting too long, so you need something to push
consumers to upgrade or buy another one).

In short, it's classical economics -- on one side you have a supplier
cartel with market power (Hollywood), on the other side you have
several competing technology platform providers (MSFT, the major CE
companies, etc) each eager to get picked by the cartel (and thereby
gain competitive advantage over those not picked).

As is usual, consumers lose because the upstream cartel supplier
gobbles up surplus consumer value. ...

Hollywood's chief interest in DRM is not winning the war against
piracy, but rather getting control over disruptive technologies. See,
e.g., DVDs. The DRM was cracked long ago and there is no evidence
that CSS is inhibiting the circulation of Hollywood movies via P2P
and other media. But CSS continues to pay big dividends for Hollywood
by allowing them to control, via licensing, the feature-set of the
entire DVD player/recorder market. That gives them a rein on
innovators (like Kaleidescape) that might otherwise disrupt the DVD
market.

So MSFT is *not* staking its (or Hollywood's) future on the DRM being
uncrackable. Rather, it's staking its future on the bet that giving
Hollywood a say in the future of video in Windows will pay off in
favored access to next-gen Hollywood content, which will, in turn,
drive consumers to buy Windows machines and applications.

Reasonable minds certainly can differ on whether that's a good bet.
What you can't deny is that consumers lose in the bargain, thanks to
the combination of market power on the part of the Content Cartel and
the DMCA to back-up the Cartel's threats of withholding content from
those who don't play ball.

Here is Fred's more polished post at DeepLinks: Why Would MS Do Hollywood's Bidding?

Hollywood controlling parts of Windows Vista

From Prof. Edward Felten at Freedom to Tinker: Hollywood Controlling Parts of Windows Vista Design. Excerpt:

A recent white paper (2MB Word file) from Microsoft details the planned “output content protection” in the upcoming Windows Vista (previously known as Longhorn) operating system product. It’s a remarkable document, illustrating the real costs of Hollywood’s quest to redesign the PC’s video hardware and software.

The document reveals that movie studios will have explicit veto power over what is included in some parts of Vista. For example, pages 22-24 describe the “High Bandwidth Cipher” which will be used to encrypt video data is it passes across the PC’s internal PCIe bus. Hollywood will allow the use of the AES cipher, but many PCs won’t be able to run AES fast enough, leading to stutter in the video. People are free to design their own ciphers, but they must go through an approval process before being included in Windows Vista. The second criterion for acceptance is this:

Content industry acceptance
The evidence must be presented to Hollywood and other content owners, and they must agree that it provides the required level of security. Written proof from at least three of the major Hollywood studios is required.

The document also describes how rational designs are made more expensive and complicated, or ruled out entirely, by the “robustness” rules Hollywood is demanding. ...

These are just a few examples from a document that describes one compromise after another, in which performance, cost, and flexibility are sacrificed in a futile effort to prevent video content from leaking to the darknet. And the cost is high. As just one example, nearly all of us will have to discard our PC’s monitors and buy new ones to take advantage of new features that Microsoft could provide — more easily and at lower cost — on our existing monitors, if Hollywood would only allow it.

Read it and weep. Or better yet, get angry. Hollywood will be in total control of your viewing experience.

I know this much: I won't be buying a new PC monitor just to please Hollywood. Ever.

Grokster ruling a boon for DRM

I'm quoted in this Chicago Tribune story by Eric Gwinn today about the Grokster decision.

Meanwhile, consumers may lose new features for their digital players because the ruling doesn't specifically spell out ways a company could encourage illegal activity.

"When Apple says in an ad, `Rip, Mix, Burn,' is that inducement?" asked Michael Petricone, vice president of technology policy for the Consumer Electronics Association. "You don't know what the legal landscape is; all you know is it's easier to get sued." ...

"Unfortunately, we'll be left to the good will of Hollywood on how we can access the content," said J.D. Lasica, author of "Darknet: Hollywood's War against the Digital Generation."

I spoke with Eric chiefly about the digital rights management that we'll now see increasingly in our digital devices.

An open letter to Adobe

From Adam Fields:

Dear Adobe:

Your activation system is a failure.

I have been a loyal customer for more than ten years. I’ve dutifully paid pretty much whatever you’ve asked for upgrades over the years, and I’ve always been happy with your product. ...

Let’s be clear about this. I’m not stealing your software.

But you’re treating me like a criminal. ...

Macrovision's busted DRM

Missed this smart essay from BlogMaverick Mark Cuban the other day: What am I missing, Macrovision?

If Macrovision can’t stop the bad guys, just what exactly is their purpose in life?

Apple's move to Intel: a DRM gambit?

Speculation continues about why Apple is shifting from IBM to Intel chips. At Wired News, Leander Kahney offers one explanation:

Why would Apple do this? Because Apple wants Intel's new Pentium D chips.

Released just few days ago, the dual-core chips include a hardware copy protection scheme that prevents "unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted materials from the motherboard," according to PC World.

Apple -- or rather, Hollywood -- wants the Pentium D to secure an online movie store (iFlicks if you will), that will allow consumers to buy or rent new movies on demand, over the internet.

According to News.com, the Intel transition will occur first in the summer with the Mac mini, which I'll bet will become a mini-Tivo-cum-home-server.

Hooked to the internet, it will allow movies to be ordered and stored, and if this News.com piece is correct, loaded onto the video iPod that's in the works.

Intel's DRM scheme has been kept under wraps -- to prevent giving clues to crackers -- but the company has said it will allow content to be moved around a home network, and onto suitably-equipped portable devices.

And that's why the whole Mac platform has to shift to Intel. Consumers will want to move content from one device to another -- or one computer to another -- and Intel's DRM scheme will keep it all nicely locked down. ...

I'll admit, the same thing crossed my mind when I heard the news. Apple wants to be a player in Hollywood and not locked out if the studios get in bed with Microsoft.

Slashdotters weigh in, of course, as does Donna at Copyfight.

Enough already with the DRM

Bob Lefsetz at p2pnet.net:

The announcement by Sony BMG of CD burning restrictions is so wrongheaded as to make one question if [Andrew] Lack truly understands not only the music landscape, but the technological landscape. It's not about piracy, it's about getting music into the hands of more people than ever, and CHARGING them for it.

Intel solders DRM into the motherboard

PC World:

SYDNEY -- Microsoft and the entertainment industry's holy grail of controlling copyright through the motherboard now comes closer as Intel said it is embedding digital rights management within in its latest dual-core processor Pentium D and accompanying 945 chip set.

Officially launched worldwide on May 26, the new offerings come digital-rights-management-enabled and will, at least in theory, allow copyright holders to prevent unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted materials from the motherboard rather than through the operating system as is currently the case. ...

Microsoft Office's DRM

No one has yet to explain to me how society is better off when we can prevent users from printing a document.

Music ownership to become a thing of the past?

Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Music ownership to become a thing of the past? Excerpt:

Though targeted at limiting the illegal trading of files online, developments like MacroVision’s “CD Value Management” technology can also prevent perfectly legal uses of CDs, such as ripping MP3 files to a computer for easy organization and listening or making an additional copy of a new album for use in the car. Some customers, afraid of letting such capabilities fall by the wayside, developed techniques for bypassing such limitations. A student from Princeton University, for example, published a paper pointing out that holding down the Shift key when inserting a compact disk prevented early versions of the copy-proof software from activating. Though SunnComm labeled his actions “at best, duplicitous, and at worst, a felony,” no charges were filed. Other popular evasion techniques included using felt tipped markers to black out the rims of disks that store the restrictive code as well as simply keeping popular copying programs up to date.

With the introduction of online music stores, consumer rights dwindled even further. So-called Digital Rights Management, or DRM, initiatives were instrumental in securing the necessary Recording Industry Association of America licenses to sell music. Apple Computer’s iTunes Music Store locks down its files with a technology dubbed FairPlay, which restricts files to only play on up to five computers registered with your account. Restrictions enforced by Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM are less apparent from viewing their webpage but often include similar registration requirements as well as limitations on which tracks can be burned to CDs how many times, and of course the ultimate ability to have music expire—as Napster takes advantage of for their subscription service. Additional stipulations come by way of which devices files can be played on. Appe’s iTunes program, for example, supports both Windows and Mac OS computers for storage but only supports Apple’s iPod for portable use. Windows Media supports Windows systems only but play on a variety of music players—though determining just which devices play protected content has become so confusing as to cause Microsoft to devote a large portion of its site to its PlaysForSure informative campaign.

Such confusion and limitation has led to a number of consumer hacks to the online market place as well. Programs such as Hymn and PyMusique for iTunes have allowed users to strip or otherwise bypass the DRM schemes implemented by these online stores. Even Napster’s new subscription service has been compromised, as weblog posts that quickly spread across the internet with titles such as “Burning through Napster’s collection, free” will be happy to inform. The hack works by utilizing programs that automatically record audio signals as they are sent to the computer’s soundcard. In fact, the realization that anything which can be heard can also be recorded is indicative of the endless battle such companies will have with those who refuse to accept the restrictions imposed upon their music.

Perhaps the largest movement that has developed in opposition to RIAA and the trend towards limiting the rights of consumer of music are the founders of the Creative Commons License. As Doc Searls, a leading advocate of Creative Commons licensing, describes on the project’s website, “[the online marketplace] demands new kinds of relationships between everybody, and not just the entities we call creators and customers. The relationships don’t need to be personal; they just need to respect the immediacy of everybody involved. That immediacy is what’s native to the Net.” He is quick to deride the industry for viewing the internet as simply another closed distribution channel, to be policed as all the others. “There’s a reason we call it ‘cyberspace,” not ‘cyberpipes,’” he says. “Markets are conversations. People will buy, and will support, the stuff they care about. The next step after ‘markets are conversations’ is ‘markets are relationships.’ Creative Commons helps us get to that better than any other effort I know.” ...

New steps to protect DVDs

In conjunction with Macrovision's announcement of new DVD anti-piracy technology, Jon Healey has this in the LA Times: New Steps to Protect DVDs in Piracy War. Macrovision plans to unveil technology to block 97% of software used to duplicate discs.

Macrovision Corp. today plans to unveil technology that it claims can block 97% of the DVD-copying software that pirates use without interfering with a DVD's playability or picture quality. ...

The RipGuard technology would defeat the most popular of the ripping programs, Macrovision's Gervin said, by tinkering with the format of DVDs to make it impossible to extract data quickly from the discs. The technique confounds ripping programs without damaging computers, preventing the discs from playing or reducing picture quality, he said.

Macrovision introduces anti-piracy DVD technology

Received the following two press releases from Macrovision a few hours ago:

Macrovision Introduces RipGuard DVD to Dramatically Reduce Digital DVD Piracy

Combination of Macrovision Analog Copy Protection
and RipGuard DVD creates world's first analog and
digital DVD content protection solution

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-February 15,
2005-Macrovision Corporation, the
world's leading supplier of content and software
value management solutions, today announced the
worldwide availability of RipGuard DVD a digital
rip-control solution for DVD Video. RipGuard DVD
plugs the "digital hole" created by PC-based
DeCSS ripper software, which allows millions of
average consumers to make unauthorized perfect
digital copies of copyrighted DVDs in mere
minutes. These copies can be burned to
inexpensive recordable DVDs or uploaded onto the
peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. P2P downloads and
the "rent, rip, return" of DVDs are an ongoing
source of billions of dollars in annual revenue
losses for the movie studios.

RipGuard DVD is a unilateral content protection
system that is applied to DVD discs and requires
no additional software or hardware to be
incorporated into PCs, DVD players or DVD
recorders. The combination of Macrovision's
analog copy protection technology (ACP) and
RipGuard DVD provides comprehensive DVD
protection for both major piracy threats faced by
video content copyright owners - the analog and
digital holes. RipGuard DVD is a technological
solution that effectively protects a copyright
owner's rights. The Digital Millennium Copyright
Act (DMCA) makes it illegal to attempt
circumvention of such technological measures.

"Macrovision RipGuard DVD is designed to
dramatically reduce DVD ripping and the resulting
supply of illegal P2P content. For over two
decades, Macrovision has provided the premier
solution for device-to-device copying using DVD
players, VCRs, DVD recorders, digital video
recorders, digital set-top boxes and media center
PCs," said Steve Weinstein, executive vice
president and general manager of Macrovision's
Entertainment Technologies Group. "Ultimately, we
see RipGuard DVD and the ACP framework evolving
beyond anti-piracy, and towards enablement of
legitimate on-line transactions, interoperability
in tomorrow's digital home, and the upcoming high
definition formats."

The two processes of applying RipGuard DVD and
ACP to DVD optical discs can be transparently
combined at the replication facility, regardless
of the type of manufacturing systems used. In
support of the worldwide content protection
ecosystem, Macrovision has developed extensive
test and certification facilities used to
validate both these products for seamless
playability on nearly all manufacturer's DVD
players, drives, and recorders prior to market
release.

RipGuard DVD is available today in select
replication facilities, with general availability
anticipated in the second quarter of 2005.

______________________________

RipGuard DVD is World's First Rip Control
Product to Feature THX Verified Status

RipGuard DVD is THX Verified to provide consumers
with a seamless and transparent audio and video
experience

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-February 15,
2005-Macrovision Corporation, the
world's leading supplier of content and software
value management solutions, today announced that
RipGuard DVD, its digital rip-control solution
for DVD Video, has been awarded THX Verified
product status by the industry-respected labs at
THX Ltd., ensuring the audio and video quality of
the original content.

"THX works with our partners and licensees to
develop technologies that support the
industry-accepted quality standards established
by THX," stated Sheau Ng, chief technical officer
of THX. "THX Digital Works performed
compatibility and performance quality testing of
RipGuard DVD titles, which revealed no
degradation of the digital audio and video when
compared with the original material."

"Macrovision is committed to creating products
that are good for both our studio customers, and
their consumers," said Steve Weinstein, executive
vice president and general manager of
Macrovision's Entertainment Technologies Group.
"We believe that the best way to fight piracy is
to create compelling consumer value. In
developing RipGuard DVD, we turned to THX as a
noted industry expert to ensure that RipGuard DVD
delivers the ultimate consumer experience, while
protecting the digital content of the video
producers."

RipGuard DVD can be combined with Macrovision's
analog copy protection technology to deliver the
world's first comprehensive DVD protection
solution, addressing both major piracy threats
faced by video content copyright owners - the
analog and digital holes. RipGuard DVD plugs the
"digital hole" created by PC-based DeCSS ripper
software, which allow millions of average
consumers to make unauthorized perfect digital
copies of copyrighted DVDs in mere minutes. These
copies can be burned to inexpensive recordable
DVDs or uploaded onto the peer-to-peer (P2P)
networks. P2P downloads and the "rent, rip,
return" of DVDs are an ongoing source of billions
of dollars in annual revenue losses for the
studios.

About THX
THX Ltd. is the leading provider of technologies,
certification programs and quality assurance
standards for the entertainment industry. As
consumers seek entertainment experiences with
greater sensation and sensory immersion, using
precision science to invent new technologies has
become paramount. THX is continually enhancing
these consumer experiences by enabling the
creation, delivery and presentation of digital
content through more efficient, more powerful,
and more enjoyable methods. With structured
certification programs and innovative technology
development, THX is embedding the science of
sensation in diverse entertainment venues and
influential products. Today, the world's premier
commercial cinemas, post-production studios and
home entertainment products incorporate THX
technologies and have achieved the coveted THX
Certification. The company is headquartered in
San Rafael, California. Its Digital Works office,
offering DVD mastering and post-production
services, is based in Burbank. For more
information about THX, visit www.thx.com.

For more information, please visit the Macrovision RipGuard DVD Website.

About Macrovision
Macrovision develops and markets content and
software value management solutions for the
video, music and software industries.
Macrovision's technologies are embedded in over 9
billion DVD, VHS and CD units representing over
$130 billion of protected entertainment content.
In the software market, Macrovision's software
value management solutions are licensed to
software developers. They include the FLEXnet
universal licensing platform and the
InstallShield® suite of software installation,
repackaging and update solutions, which are
deployed on more than 500 million desktops
worldwide. Over 50,000 software publishers and
hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies use
Macrovision's technologies to maximize the value
of their software. Macrovision is headquartered
in Santa Clara, California and has offices
worldwide. More information about Macrovision can
be found at www.macrovision.com.