Ok, so, Protecting Intellectual Property Online.
What is intellectual property?
Intellectual property is basically anything original that someone creates on their own. A book, a song, a theory. As defined by American Heritage dictionary, it's " A product of the intellect that has commercial value, including copyrighted property such as literary or artistic works, and ideational property, such as patents, appellations of origin, business methods, and industrial processes. " or even simpler put by dictionary.com "property that results from original creative thought, as patents, copyright material, and trademarks."
So for example in reality and what I will be talking about mostly is digital music, motion pictures, tv shows, music videos, and important creative documents such as books.
With today's technology music and movies are only a click or so away. iTunes, MP3.com, allow for users to get new music in seconds while Amazon, iTunes and others now have downloadable movies, even the companies Jiggerbug.com, Movielink (and one other I can't remember but have seen commercials for) have downloadable rentals. But how do you keep these things safe? How do you keep people from buying it, then passing it on for free? Or even copying it and calling it there own. The honest answer is you can't. "Where there's a will, there's a way." Since recording off the radio, illegal mix tapes, bootlegged CDs and movies, DVD duplication. There is always a way around it. Sometimes it might take the bootleggers and hackers a bit longer to crack the encryptions, but given time, anything is possible. However, lets side step reality and all this cynicism and take a look at what is trying to be done to protect intellectual property online.
DRM
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It is a term that is used to describe any protection software/encryption that protects digital property/media. For example, one of the biggest and "widely" used (only used on iTunes, however iTunes has over 70% market share of digital online music distribution) is FairPlay. FairPlay is Apple's proprietary music protection software. Currently it is attached to every song file distributed from iTunes. There is much debate about DRM (which I will get to shortly) however, applying this encryption to the songs is the only way music companies allow Apple to distribute their music. What FairPlay does to protect the music is that it only allows the song its attached to to be played on the computer it was downloaded on, and up to 4 other computers, (5 at once total). You can authorize and de-authorize computers as much as you want, but never more than 5 computers at a time can have the song unlocked. You are also allowed to put it on unlimited iPods. (Apple.com)
Now this is all great and good, the problem arises in smart people with a lot of free time - (S. Jobs, Apple.com). As I mentioned before, where there is a will, there is a way and plenty of people are constantly cracking the every updated FairPlay encryption. This then allows users to freely redistribute the technically now "stolen" music. This is pretty much the same as renting a movie from the store, making a copy of it then copying it for all your friends. Now, what's stopping you from doing that with a cd at the store? Nothing. That's where the controversy comes into play.
Ok so, take this into consideration. LEGAL DRM protected Online music distribution accounts for only 10% of music sales/distrubution by the Big Four (Universal, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner) Music companies. Meanwhile, these same companies distribute over 20 billion songs (yearly) in the form of unprotected CDs at stores world wide. That means that if you into a Best Buy, FYE or whatever and get a CD you can rip it to your computer and share it with whoever you want without any super 1337 computer h4x0r skills. So what is the point of protecting a measly 2 billion songs that will just get unlocked anyway? I really don't know, it seems like its a giant waste of time and money, Steve Jobs thinks so too."Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly." (http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/).
I'm interested to hear what you think about DRM.
Anyway onto movies.
It's pretty much the same for movies, as far as cracking and distribution. However most movies sold in stores do have multiple DRM and Analog rights management security measures in place. For example, a measure know as Macrovision. This is an encoding found on most Warner and Universal films. This technology prevents users from dubbing copies of the DVDs onto VHS or other external DVD players. If the dvd is being run through a typical commercial/personal VCR (like say you have a dvd player hooked up to another DVD-R or VCR device) the recording device will experience a kind of interference, most commonly such as the picture getting brighter and darker randomly, this mostly just really annoying. The most common, everyday occurrence you might have experienced with this is if you have your XBOX or Playstation hooked up to your TV through a VCR and try to play a movie on the console. The VCR or other device cannot correctly decode the already decoded signal because it still has an underlying uncoded signal i it that serves as interference for auxiliary devices. Macrovision, however, can easily be conquered with a macrovision defeater, kind of like a black box. They are legal and easily available to those who want them, therefore the technology is fairly weak. Some VCRs are even absent of Macrovision chips or have built in defeaters (you wont find which models have or dont have them publish anywhere) but this makes it even less of an issue.
This technology also prohibits consumer DVD ripping and burning software from copying movies by embedding copyright code. This also creates controversy in itself because it prevents the average user from using their legal right to back up DVDs. AKA, if I own a copy of the DVD Fight Club, I am legally allowed to rip and copy that movie to another DVD for archival purposes- in reality, this right is abused kind of the same as the loop hole that allows vendors to sell glass pipes for "tobacco use only".
As for online management, the files are encrypted, but basically, just like the FairPlay protected music files, its useless against smart crackers with alot of free time. The files will eventually be distributed through networks and p2p clients.
Now, as far as document protection. Text is text and if you don't want someone to distribute or steal it, don't post it on the internet. However, I did happen to come across an interesting service that will basically serve as a legal witness that posted material is actually your material. They are fittingly enough called Datawitness. http://www.datawitness.com/
Datawitness will electronically archive your documents or materials as well as double safe archiving it with a third party physically on 500 year rated Kodak microfilm (http://www.datawitness.com/).
Quoted from datawitness.com
"Datawitness' secure online storage and retrieval solution eliminates the risks of paper-based document storage. When you Datawitness a document, you instantly create both a digital record online and a physical record off-site on 500 year Kodak microfilm. Paperless documents authenticated and archived by Datawitness are safe from tampering, destruction or loss. Having these copies means you can rely on Datawitnessed records in court."
It's more or less a new school way to secure and self copyright stuff (ie, mailing via federal mail a document and keeping the timestamped envelop unopened in a safe).
In looking around I also just found a response letter to Steve Jobs's letter from the CEO of Macrovision, here is a link to both.
Steve Jobs: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/ Fred Amaroso, Macrovision CEO: http://www.macrovision.com/company/news/drm/response_letter.shtml
Soucres:
http://www.apple.com
http://www.jiggerbug.com
http:/www.datawitness.com
http://www.csu.edu.au/special/auugwww96/proceedings/copyright/copyright.html
http://www.dictionary.com/
http://www.macrovision.com/
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11 comments:
Interesting aritcle, and more importantly one that affects many, if not all college students. Someone on my floor recently got in trouble with the school for using Limewire to share songs.
Personally, I feel as if people in the Music industry are making too big of a deal about this. Since the introduction of programs like Napster and more recently Limewire and BitTorrent, CD sales have not become extinct. People still buy CDs, and even entire albums online thanks to iTunes and the new Napster.
I also have a big problem with not being allowed to burn DVDs legally. Why am I, the consumer, not allowed to legitmately make a copy of the DVD I bought in order to have a backup copy should my original break or get lost?
I personally liked the matter of the screen "brightening and darkening" if it was a bootlegged coppy of a movie. Apparently my DVD that I bought from Walmart (Pirates of the Caribbean) was bootlegged. This brings up a variety of issues. Is it morally, ethically, and personally right to sell bootlegged copies as if they were the originals? I personally don't.
Interesting topic, great write-up. I agree that companies are doing enough to protect the material they distribute and that they should not be allowed to intrude too much on the consumers' rights. I understand the need for DRM and other non-piracy measures but I don't like the idea of these companies making buying music, movies, etc so inconvenient i.e. preventing the consumer from making a legal back-up. I mean what's next, self-destructing media or movies that you can only watch after a retina or fingerprint scan? Sounds a little Big Brother-ish to me.
These companies still make their money too. It's not like CD sales, movie sales, game sales etc. are non-existent. Even though you can pretty much get any kind of song, movie, or game you want via Torrents, people still do buy these materials legitimately. If anything, piracy has made the music companies lower their prices to a fairer price and made it easier to buy individual songs and assemble playlists on programs like iTunes. The bottom line is, there is only so much you can do from a legal perspective because no matter what you try to administrate, people will continue to find ways to circumvent copyright protection and share files.
No matter how many security measures they come up with there will always be hackers willing to work to break them. Blu-ray was touted as uncrackable. The source code was already broke around 2 months ago and copying them has been done. The overall number of people who pirate material is really the biggest obstacle to stopping it. Even the computer illiterate can use LimeWire to download music. You don't even think about the fact that you are breaking the law anymore.
I thought your presentation was very well written.The internet creates an environment where information can very easily be distributed illegally, but companies still have been doing everything they can to enforce copyright laws.
It becomes a tough issue, because while you do not want people stealing IP's and selling it as their own idea, it is sometimes tough to find a solution that will allow the consumer their right to a back up copy of what media they bought.
IP theft is a large concern in the software industry because it is often easy to steal software and if you are a programmer "break" the software into saying its a work of your own and then make profit from it.
Data incryption and security has come a long way in recent years and hopefully soon in the future we can have a solution that protects both the artists and the consumer.
Great presentation. I agree with you, there is really no way to completely stop people from copying "intellectual property." People are able to slow the process down through encription, but it will never be stopped. I think that one of the best parts of the internet is its easy access to free material. If all of this free material wasn't out there, i doubt i would be on my computer as much.
Great overview on pirating music and movies. Music corporations have been ripping off customers for decades, so I think it's only fair that their customers are finally ripping off the companies. CDs definitely do not cost $17 to produce. Maybe if music companies made their CDs a reasonable price, like $8 or something, then people wouldn't steal as much music.
I agree with Jobs about how it's pointless to protect the music. Someone out there is savvy enough to crack it, and once it's done once it will undoubtedly occur more and more.
Really thoroughly researched and documented entry. It seems to me that if DRM software was removed entirely it would also serve to make music production and download significantly cheaper. This could go towards lowering the price of the music, which would in turn lead to less consumer fraud. I am not saying this would solve the issue, and I am sure there would still be many problems, I just thought that would be an interesting side effect.
It is also always interesting to me to contemplate that no matter how secure software is made, there will always be a self motivated hacker smart enough and dedicated enough to break and manipulate the script.
I really liked this presentation and the way it was presented. I agree with most everyone else in that major media companies are doing a lot, and in some cases too much to protect their product. You cant blame them for trying to recieve full profits from sales and dont want to miss revenues they could have gained if people legally purchased their product. However, as advanced as these companies can become, there will always be a new creation to copy their music, movies, game, etc.
I agree that there is a major problem with intellectual property theft online. So much file sharing takes place- it's ridiculous... Now, while that is great for us, it's not great for the RIAA, or other movie companies like Paramount and Sony that do such a hard job- and pay so much money- to provide these resources. I even read a statistic that said that in 2004, p2p file sharing comprised 60% of all internet traffic online! The RIAA has also vowed to sue more college students for copyright infringment in the next 3 months than it has in the last 3 years combined.
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