TorrentSpy Says MPAA Can't Reinterpret The Supreme Court On File Sharing

Yet Another Expert Points Out That Copy Protection Doesn't Work

from the in-case-you-weren't-paying-attention dept

Tue, Mar 28th 2006 1:40am — Mike Masnick

This has been repeated way too often, but it still appears that the entertainment industry doesn't quite get it. As they continue to insist on the need to use copy protection, they never seem to respond to the fact that copy protection doesn't work. The latest to make the case is a researcher whose PhD. covered issues related to copy protection, and is hoping the industry will finalize recognize that copy protection isn't the issue -- better business models are all that's needed. Of course, plenty of people have been saying that for years, but the industry continues to ignore it. Instead, they prefer to alienate so much of their market by treating them like criminals that by the time they do figure out the need for different business models, most of that market will have already gone elsewhere.

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randomboy, 28 Mar 2006 @ 2:06am

I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
Really now Mike, how many times must you give us readers the same point of view? We've all heard it before, does not work, need better business models, where's the news?

I don't agree with this entirely anyway. The harder a copy protection is to break, the more people will be compelled to buy the original.
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Mike (profile), 28 Mar 2006 @ 2:50am

Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
Really now Mike, how many times must you give us readers the same point of view?

Fair point. However, part of the issue is that there seem to be plenty of folks who don't understand the issue.

We've all heard it before, does not work, need better business models, where's the news?

The fact that more experts are pointing it out seems like news to us... because those who don't buy into it insist that it's not true.

I don't agree with this entirely anyway. The harder a copy protection is to break, the more people will be compelled to buy the original.

That doesn't strike me as being compelling. First of all, all it takes is one person to break it before it ends up on pretty much every file sharing system -- and there are plenty of folks who work very hard to break any copy protection as soon as it comes out.

So, the issue of how hard it is to break really isn't an issue. Someone, somewhere, will break it... and then it's game over. Thus, it has little impact on whether or not someone will buy the original. The free version is always going to be available.

So what good does it do?
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Superman3522123, 28 Mar 2006 @ 2:55am

That's a mouthful right there
Well as a frequent music buyer, one that couldn't care less about the big copyright war even I leave music that has any mention of copyright protection on the shelf. I am noit going to see the trouble of trying to get a copy of the cd to be used with my portable CD player. Why do I need to copy it?
A) Because the CD player is very picky about protected CDs. They may not play at all or may play erroneously.
B)The cd player does cause some wear on the CD since it will move quite a lot when jogging etc. I am not going to destroy an original with it, no way.
Sure I could buy a mp3 player but I'd have the same hassle trying to get the songs on it.
So for practical reason, I am not compelled to buy an original CD with any kind of copy protection. I do buy all my music. Those I download, I'll buy legally online.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 28 Mar 2006 @ 3:03am

Re: That's a mouthful right there
I do buy all my music. Those I download, I'll buy legally online.

which in turn are crippled with DRM, and you can't burn them to CD or play only a limited number of times, and only on the device it was downloaded to.
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Nittacci, 28 Mar 2006 @ 3:49am

Re: Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
Um, does "harder" really matter as long as somebody breaks it? It seems like games show up on trackers about the same time they show up in stores.

Serious question: is there any copy protection that hasn't been broken?
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RenderingSanity, 28 Mar 2006 @ 4:13am

Quick! Don't picture your grandmother naked!

Did you picture her naked? Did my telling you not to, make you instantly, for a fraction of a second, do just that?

It's human nature to do what you're told not to. Had the entertainment industry left this alone, it wouldn't have ended but it certainly wouldn't have become a challenge for everyone to do it without getting caught. Telling someone they can't do something in most cases just makes them want to do that thing more.
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Chief Elf (profile), 28 Mar 2006 @ 4:17am

Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
Tech Dirt gets new readers all the time, and this may be new to them.

Plus, this is an important issue, and I, for one, want to stay current on what's happening. Including who's promoting DRM and who's panning it.
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thecaptain, 28 Mar 2006 @ 5:16am

Re:

Did you picture her naked? Did my telling you not to, make you instantly, for a fraction of a second, do just that?

It's human nature to do what you're told not to.

That's a rather specious argument...if I tell you not to go out and build a car...will you have to struggle not to go out and try and build one?

Its not like we HAVE to go and download music...or HAVE to try and break copy pyrotection...in fact, I doubt ANY of the above posters have ever cracked copy protection by themselves (they might however have followed the footsteps of others)...
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Mike, 28 Mar 2006 @ 5:17am

I'm sick and tired of YOU
Pandagram
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Rugburn, 28 Mar 2006 @ 5:19am

Re: Re: That's a mouthful right there
(legally) Downloaded tunes from MOST sources do indeed have some sort of DRM. Crippled, though, I think not. However, I have yet to find one that will not allow SIMPLE burning to a CD, nor have I yet to run into any that will only play a limited number of times. As for only playing on the device it was downloaded to, that IS indeed sometimes the case, but not near always. There are music services that legally sell DRM-Free mp3 files (See eMusic for one), that can be played on virtually any player on the market.
Why is it that some seem to think if it is music, it should be free to any and all, with no strings attached, play on anything they want it to play on, and be given to anyone they want to give it to?
I see so many slams on legit music sources, file types, download services, etc., that I have to wonder sometimes if these people have ever even tried one of these services out, or if they are just jumping on the bitch-and-whine bandwagon to hear themselves rant...
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Mar 2006 @ 5:53am

The music industries arguements pretty much ignore the realities of the real world. People who pirate on a large scale (especially who sell bootlegs) are merely going to be slowed down a little, if at all, well the industry tries to turn their customer base - the people who actually buy their products - into criminals.

When I was in my late teens, one of the local radio staions played a full album every night at midnight. another station played a six pack of albums every Sunday afternoon. I recorded a couple hundred albums that way. The ones I really, really liked I went out and bought the actual albums (my way of supporting the artists - except I later learned I wasn't really support the artists at all but the big labels).

Would I have bought every album i taped? Nope. Unfortunately like some major coprorate executive I don't make $1 million dollars a year or even $100,000. I still managed to buy on average of 100 albums a year thought my late teens and all of my 20's.

Then I suffered some financial setbacks that prevented me from investing in music for a while and by the time I was able to invest in music again the RIAA's terror campaign was starting to gear up. Even if I could invest in music at my current level (which I can't as album prices have virtually doubled while my salary hasn't - and I have more expenses these days) I wouldn't.

I've bought maybe 5 major label albums the last five years, so the industry has been losing 100 sales a years just from me alone. Recently, I've taken a more active role in disuading people from supporting the RIAA's bully tactics, with some success. I'm sure I'm costing them more sales by turning friends and aquaitances to indepedant artists and labels.

And I've never downloadeda single MP3 in my life.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Mar 2006 @ 6:01am

Really??? Wow - glad it took them so long to figure it out!!! I'm suprised it don't work!

/sarcasm off

LOL
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drk, 28 Mar 2006 @ 6:18am

DRM: Propaganda is our only weapon
We all have to keep banging on about DRM because (a) the media don't grasp the problem and therefore doesn't report the issues, and (b) consumers don't get it yet because the media aren't reporting it.

Let's sum up why DRM is bad - again.

1. DRM hurts paying customers
2. DRM destroys Fair Use rights
3. DRM renders customers' investments worthless
4. DRM can be defeated
5. DRM encourages platform lockdown and discourages innovation
6. DRM encourages "content lockin" or "corporate authorship"
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EZ TECH, 28 Mar 2006 @ 6:18am

Business and Technology
Come on guys and gals. The technology is not the problem, it's fat executives getting fatter off of the same plan they have been getting fat off of for 30 years. Time to change!!

Increase the technology and you have even fatter geeks in a dark room somewhere witha case of Bawls determened to be smarter than they are and crack it - then once again it's free to everyone via google, yahoo and other engines......maybe they should be the ones to blame for making the info so easy to find? Ha, just kidding. Happy Tuesday to everyone.
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limeboi, 28 Mar 2006 @ 6:21am

Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
"I don't agree with this entirely anyway. The harder a copy protection is to break, the more people will be compelled to buy the original."

If this were the case, with all the trouble that various pieces of software have gone to prevent piracy - it would have been all but eliminated by this point. By increasing the difficulty of breaking copy protection on things people are going to treat it as a challenge, when that happens no matter *what* lengths people go to to prevent something from being reproduced with out the permission of the creator it *will* be circumvented.

However if on the other hand quality content was produced that inspired people to purchase it because of how much they enjoyed it I think that would be better route to go. The RIAA and their ilk are not looking to stop the casual pirate, they are more setting their sights on the people that *would* take the time to learn how to get around copy protection. Which as technology integrates itself into our culture at a younger and younger age, people who are currently perplexed by the tools that are used to get around current copy protection are going to start to dwindle as their numbers are replaced by the youthful masses that will take the time to learn how to get around things because they can and crucifying those that pirate isn't going to solve anything because anyone with a teenage child knows that when you say 'don't do this' it because it practically becomes a knee-jerk response to do it anyways.

By convincing the masses as a whole via a better buisiness model and better content which in turn inspires people to procure items in general rather than pirate them I feel that the extent that people go to get something that they can normally buy would decrease exponentially.
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Jimmy Bear Pearson, 28 Mar 2006 @ 6:23am

The business
I think that the time and energy (spent on DRM routines and copy-protection schemes) should be spent on enforcement (read: going after massive re-seller bootleggers) AND on developing new music.

For the cost of the DRM and copy-protection efforts, plus the cost of lost business (due to pissed FANS), the businesses could spend cash on (shock!) artists who might be interesting - even if they're not the next MTV favorite. If you provide more variety of music and promote the music to the FANS, more people will purchase the music (one way or another). The more you beat on the FANS with draconian copy protection, the less FANS will buy music.

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taxciter, 28 Mar 2006 @ 6:32am

Just make the player explode ;-)
One example of copy protection that works well is the ringtone racket. Providers and manufacturers have been able to start from the ground up, doing a good job of programming (and obscuring technical details in their favor). In this case a hacker is at great risk of ruining their equipment while the public simply pays what the market will bear. And my personal beef: it's near-impossible to establish a means of distribution for my own original material. Hmm.... maybe I should sue...
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CodeRedEd, 28 Mar 2006 @ 6:44am

Re: Re: Re: That's a mouthful right there
Why is it that some seem to think if it is music, it should be free to any and all, with no strings attached, play on anything they want it to play on, and be given to anyone they want to give it to?

If I buy a song or an album of songs, I'm buying the music. The media should not matter. I should be able to buy a CD and rip it to play on my MP3 player. I should not be able to make copies for anyone else, but I should be able to play the songs I paid for where and when I want to play them.
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Stanley, 28 Mar 2006 @ 6:47am

once something is digital it can me edited, manipulated, and copied. no time of blocking can stop it.
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Jon, 28 Mar 2006 @ 7:09am

I used to be in a band, and sell records all around the world and i found one thing.. the more people had our music, the more money everyone made. it didn't matter how they got it. in fact, we encouraged people to make copies of our music and give it to all their friends. granted i'm not a millionare but i saw the whole thing with my own two eyes and you can't beat that. there's more ways for record companies to make money than just selling records. but they wouldn't want that to get out, so keep it on the down-lo. cool?
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Zeroth404, 28 Mar 2006 @ 7:30am

"Really now Mike, how many times must you give us readers the same point of view? We've all heard it before, does not work, need better business models, where's the news? "

Maybe we'll finally drive that into their thick skulls that it only HURTS the industry.

Maybe.

Wishful thinking. Until then, I'll just keep getting my music for free.
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Tom, 28 Mar 2006 @ 7:39am

male-to-male 3.5mm
Just use a simple audio cable, fools! All illusions of copy protection dissolve like dust in the wind in the face of this mighty invention (available at radio shack for $5)
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chronicon, 28 Mar 2006 @ 7:41am

Downloads != CD Quality [Re: Re: That's a mouthful
Marcel de Jong said: 'I do buy all my music. Those I download, I'll buy legally online.'
which in turn are crippled with DRM, and you can't burn them to CD or play only a limited number of times, and only on the device it was downloaded to.

Not to mention that the majority of music downloads that you purchase are coded at a much lower bitrate then a CD. Unless it's a .wav, .flac, or other LOSSLESS format, you are NOT getting what you paid for quality-wise...
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stghm, 28 Mar 2006 @ 7:50am

Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
If you look on forums relating to cracking a game's anti-copy protection. They aren't discouraged at all. It's much easier to download the game and download a crack than to run to the store and shell out 50 dollars.
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Funny, 28 Mar 2006 @ 7:51am

Copy Protection
Its quite strange that there is this rush to find ways to make people pay for sounds. What exactly are we buying when we buy the CD the right to listen it to it as specified by the recording industry? Or the right to do with our purchased property what we please.

If you purchase a car you can lend it to as many people as you choose, if you purchase a house you can choose who lives in it or does not.

I dont have an arguement with the recording industry and there fears concerning people who bootleg. What is getting annoying is that I as an honest consumer seem to be having to deal with this issue more than the very people the recording industry is after. Why should I have to deal with crazy non playing copy protected CDs or DVDs that I PURCHASE? If anything these tactics make me less likely to purchase and more likely to turn on the radio in my car or home which is still for the most part free and in case they havent figured it out is still available for recording and uploading to any site you want. There is also recording from your pay per view channel for movies.

I have yet to see one legitimate study showing the actual drop in sales of CD's or DVD's due to downloading of music.

If they spent as much time trying to figure out how to lower the price of CD's or perhaps researching ways to capitalize on this trend there would be no need for this. Its really getting to be way to much and way to Big Brother.
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chronicon, 28 Mar 2006 @ 8:06am

Copyright Reality [Re: That's a mouthful right the
Said CodeRedEd: If I buy a song or an album of songs, I'm buying the music. The media should not matter. I should be able to buy a CD and rip it to play on my MP3 player. I should not be able to make copies for anyone else, but I should be able to play the songs I paid for where and when I want to play them.
INAL, but I would say you are right on the money there.
Copyrights don't mean you can't copy (media-shift) works you have purchased for your own use. Copyright law is about DISTRIBUTION.
Did you know that you can *shock* actually COPY video that you *shock* didn't pay for?
It's true... We've been doing that LEGALLY for years. The old name for the technology was the VCR. The Supreme Court of the USA said we could do it and that it was perfectly ok, and everyone was happy--except the media companies. Now they want to usurp the power of the highest court of the land with their DRM machinations...
The **AA's would like to wipe out any notion of FAIR USE and make us all criminals for things that are not a crime. Media-shifting music (ripping CD's to Vorbis for example to play them on your home LAN) is not a crime!
Redistribution of the same to others for profit is definitely a crime. However, FAIR USE allows you to redistribute copyrighted works to others legally in certain cases. Check out this comic book by a bunch of lawyers, it explains a lot of this stuff.
DRM is a racket. It's all about control. Manufacturers what to tell you how and where you can & cannot use the products you have purchased, and own.
DRM is C.R.A.P. We should stop buying (and buying into) their C.R.A.P.
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TasMot, 28 Mar 2006 @ 8:11am

A very old business model
Mike keeps saying that the recording inductry is trying to use the same old model. It's a very old model. Before there was a recording industry the artist had to actually play it so that it could be heard. Now the recording industry would like to go back to that model, except they get the money, not the artist (they only need the artist once to make the recording after all). But, look at how much money they would make by charging per use like the good ole' days. I mean let's face it, once they copy protect it so that we have to pay for every play, we will still be playing oh a hudred songs a day at $1 a piece, that means that they will get at least a $100 a day for every person on Earth. Man will they be rich because of course we will pay that much. Right!!!

One thing Mike has not been repeating is that the recording industry has managed to keep the price of a CD at the $12 and up price even though everyone with a computer knows that the CD costs less than $1.00. Down from the $5.00 to $8.00 it used to cost for the blank CD. Fortunately, in their zeal to force everyone to pay up for every time a song is played, less and less people seem inclined to pay at all.
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Ju1c3, 28 Mar 2006 @ 8:14am

I agree with the post above mine. If they lowered the prics of a CD or DVD ,then i would be more likely to buy them. It makes no sense for me to buy a DVD or CD for $20 when I can do it myself for less the $1. To top that off, I don't even have to drive to the store with gas being the way it is. I can do it from the comfort of the chair iI am currently sitting in.

As for the new copy protections, I agree that as soon as a new one comes out, people feel the need to break it becuase of the challenge. It is exactally how I feel when i am trying to chrack the latest version of DVD burning software so it is free.

If they want this stuff to change, then they had better lower the cost of CD's and DVD's becuase like i said, the math just doesn't add up for me.
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gcoller, 28 Mar 2006 @ 8:31am

DRM
Until the music publishers can control the digital stream from the player all the way through the digital speakers DRM will be only an inconvenience. With digital streams there will always be a point where the decrypted stream lives and you can always tap into that.

An example is the connection between iTunes and the driver for your computer's sound card. I have a program that can rip the pure digital stream from any source right there. Don't use it for pirating, but I do use it to save supposedly locked Internet streams (real player) to a file that I can move to my iPod so I can listen to it away from my desk.

What the RIAA doesn't seem to get is that if they make it harder to enjoy their music I just won't buy it anymore. The media corporations keep wanting you to pay for the same thing multiple times. I should be able to buy a song once, store it as my ring tone, burn it as part of a mix, put it on my laptop, on both my iPods, stream it through my home system, back it up to disk, etc.

I can do all of that right now from the songs I buy from iTunes but not without some pain and workarounds. As soon as I can't do it at all I'll consider not buying music anymore.
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Blisshead, 28 Mar 2006 @ 8:58am

Re: Re: That's a mouthful right there
my eMusic mp3's transfer to CD, mp3 player and my phone no problem. You need to buy smart, if your using iTunes, then sure your (without other measures) locked in. There are alternatives though.
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MLON, 28 Mar 2006 @ 8:59am

Price
Reducing the price might help, but if they dropped the price of a new DVD to $9.95, some would say it's too high. Drop it to $4.95 and many would still whine.

People complained about paying $16 for a CD that contains only one or two "good" songs. Apple responded by selling single tunes for a buck. Now the net is rife with posts about how a dollar is too high, and they'd buy if it were a quarter. Or a nickle.

The fact is that some people are going to rationalize their P2P habit regardless of price or business model.
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Jason, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:10am

Re: Re: That's a mouthful right there
Actually i buy WMA's from the MSN store...and then burn cd's from them all the time. Unlimited playbacks, up to 5 other computers can play them. It's restricted, but not to the point of uselessness. Plus my 5 year old Lyra loves to play them better than MP3's. I actually get LONGER play time with them.
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Zeroth404, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:15am

"majority of music downloads ... are coded at a much lower bitrate ... "

OGG vorbis, my friend.

People don't care about quality, thats why MPEG and JPEG compressions are still around. People that download music don't even know what we're talkign about :-)
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grasshopper, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:16am

copywrite responses
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grasshopper, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:19am

copywrite responses
the responses of "same old thing", etc. are, in my estimation, replies from recording insiders. Listen up, Rome is burning! The need for the iterations are to keep hammering at the idiots until they finally get it.
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Danny, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:19am

Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
All it takes for a cop-protected work to become easily accessible to the public domain is one person capable of breaking the copy protection and then distributing that unprotected content. The math isn't difficult to do.
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GLOVEWORKS, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:33am

Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
You don't seam to get it the harder they make it the more fun to break.
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Girkshnip, 28 Mar 2006 @ 10:09am

Re: Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
Mute points all around when you realize what can be made, can be un-made. There never was, is, or shall be a reason for DRM other than the RIAA's hackers going up against the rest of the wolrd's hackers. WOLRD's HACKERS WIN EVERY TIME! I think that maybe now this "issue" has become more of a validation for a job than anything else.

Thanks for keeping us up to date Mike. Thought I would put in my 2 cents, since following from the begining days.
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Nevermore, 28 Mar 2006 @ 10:38am

Fame
If Leonardo Da Vinci had locked the Mona Lisa up in a vault while the paint was still wet and threw away the key I wonder how much merchandize it would sell today?
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Billy BadAss, 28 Mar 2006 @ 10:42am

Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
Dude. I could crack copy protection in my sleep! I want to buy a DVD and my a copy for my car, SUV, portable DVD collection and at home all while making sure that the original can be stored safely without getting scratched then I will do so. Just because you are too scared to pee without the government and big business telling you that its okay as long as you dont pee in someone else's toliet does not make it right for you to shout "what's wrong? where is the real news?"

`nuff said
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go away whiners, 28 Mar 2006 @ 11:39am

Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
that is completely stupid, the harder a copy protection is to break, the more hackers want to figure out a way to break it. it will never change, the RIAA will never change until they alienate everyone that would buy their product legitimately. what would be cool is to see places like I-tunes and napster start offering a recording label and skip out on the recording industry all together. the artist get more of a cut and the RIAA goes away permanently! aside from that, if i buy a CD and want to rip it to put on my mp3 player i should be able to do that as the CD is now my property and i should have the right to listen to it in any way i feel i want to listen to it.
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Jim, 28 Mar 2006 @ 12:03pm

RIAA scare tactics
I think anyone who has become a computer user over the last ten years knows a way to get around copyright security. Once the Internet became a part of everyone's daily life then copyright protectino became almost impossible. Hackers have always fought for free data, and music/movies are just a new battle ground in an old war for them. Is anyone here shocked that 24 hours after a new copyright protection is announced the crack to it is online? Hackers today are alot better then people who program for the big companies and they have more time. The big music companies have been screwing the world population so bad for so long that now they don't know how to hand a world population that can actually listen to music free and without their control. What I don't understand is why more bands aren't just putting their albums online in MP3 or WMA format. That way if they have complete control of the music and just sell it online. Most people would rather do something legally anyway so they woudl probably pay for the music directly from the artist. Now wait a minute doesn't that sound like a great idea? Bands don't need record companies they just need a website and a good tech guy. They could explode across the internet in a matter of days. Its what porn sites have been doing for years and look how much money they take in.
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skandic, 28 Mar 2006 @ 12:15pm

"Own it now" advertising
The kicker is the studios continue to advertise their products with "own it now on DVD" etc. Own means just that, own. Free to do with it as you please.
What their lawsuits are saying is that we don't really own it, we're just licensing it and thus only allowed to use iit according to a license agreement with which we are not supplied.
But you don't see them advertising it as "License it now on DVD" do you?
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coachdeb, 28 Mar 2006 @ 2:33pm

Oooo, you people are forgetting one thing...
I don't care one way or the other on this topic because I buy what I want on CD. If I want to hear it at home, I put the CD in my computer or CD player. If I want to hear it in my car, I stuff it into my car's CD player. Simple, clean, neat, and no work involved. Having said that, I'll play Devil's Advocate...

Let's look at something people seem to be ignoring: the "product" itself. Pick any product manufactured in the world EXCEPT MOVIES OR MUSIC. Tell me that when you buy a toaster, you're going to run home and clone the thing for your Mom and Dad to save a few bucks. Or, how about that $10.00 T-shirt you just bought off the rack at Wal-mart: race home now and clone that for 10 of your best buds. An even better deal can be had if you get 1000 of your closest friends to pitch in and buy a single Ferrari and then clone it so you can all have your own copy... what a deal!

If you think that sounds ridiculous, it is. But why does it sound so ridiculous??? Because THE GENERAL PUBLIC DOESN'T HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY SITTING IN THEIR LIVING ROOM TO ACCOMPLISH THAT KIND OF COPYING. But oh, guess what, we DO just happen to have the kind of technlogy that allows us to duplicate music and movies... and don't you, RIAA trample on my right (right?) to 'fairly use' my easily clonable stuff.

As far as I can tell, the grand concept of "Fair Use" is really only applied to music and movies (tapes, DVDs, CDs and electronic media), NOT to T-Shirts, toasters, or $1,000,000 Ferraris. And, as far as I can tell, forgery of any kind is still a crime punishable by plenty JAIL TIME - ask any art forger you may know.

Come on, who's lying to themselves... RIAA and the artists that create our entertainment or the self-appointed "fair use" whiners all around the world who selfishly think that the means justifiy the ends.

Get real, pay a buck a song. Good grief!
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Ray Winter - Chairman : Mazingo Limited, 28 Mar 2006 @ 2:35pm

DRM & Easy access to ALL forms of Content
All of our content producers are fully protected and we have recently released our 4xSSID Router+WiFi Handset with full WPA encryption, the perfect DRM for all Content owners. We are a Content Portal that does not limit our subscribers to the Content deals contracted by their Mobile Network Operator. Mazingo.tv is shortly to be released in the UK.
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anonymous, 28 Mar 2006 @ 4:37pm

Copy protection
This situation will only change when lawyers are no longer making money at it.
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TasMot, 28 Mar 2006 @ 8:58pm

Re: Oooo, you people are forgetting one thing...
Uh, actually you are still missing the point. That toaster you are talking about, how many times can you use it, how long can you use it, where can you use it. You can make as many slices of toast as you like, and you can do it at your house, at your parents house, at your friends house. Basically anywhere you can carry it you can make toast. You can even go to Europe or the Far East, just take the correct power converter. DRM like iTunes say "thou shall pay me and you can ONLY use it on your iPod" If that iPod were to die, "TOO DAMN BAD, BUY IT FROM ME AGAIN". Due to a mechanical failure beyond your control (like the hard disk dies), you now have to re-purchase all of your hundreds of songs. Fair Use says that you can make a backup for just such a contingency and restore it. The RIAA not only would like to have me pay to watch a movie on DVD a second time, but I'll bet they are trying to figure out a way to see if I have brought over 3 friends and charge me for them to watch it as well.
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TasMot, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:03pm

Re: Oooo, you people are forgetting one thing...
Uh, actually you are still missing the point. That toaster you are talking about, how many times can you use it, how long can you use it, where can you use it. You can make as many slices of toast as you like, and you can do it at your house, at your parents house, at your friends house. Basically anywhere you can carry it you can make toast. You can even go to Europe or the Far East, just take the correct power converter. DRM like iTunes say "thou shall pay me and you can ONLY use it on your iPod" If that iPod were to die, "TOO DAMN BAD, BUY IT FROM ME AGAIN". Due to a mechanical failure beyond your control (like the hard disk dies), you now have to re-purchase all of your hundreds of songs. Fair Use says that you can make a backup for just such a contingency and restore it. The RIAA not only would like to have me pay to watch a movie on DVD a second time, but I'll bet they are trying to figure out a way to see if I have brought over 3 friends and charge me for them to watch it as well.
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coachdeb, 29 Mar 2006 @ 6:53am

Re: Re: Oooo, you people are forgetting one thing.
NOPE. Don't buy it. YOU'RE missing the point. The product is TOASTER, NOT the toast. Quick, run out and make me a copy of that toaster you just bought for $19.

You pick and choose examples to support your case and then simply choose to ignore anything else that prooves you to be wrong. The MUSIC is the product, just like the TOASTER and the FERRARI are products - no difference.

Ok Class.... can anyone pick which of those 3 in the tiny product sample above (chosen from the millions that exist) are protected by "FAIR USE"?

And if it's too hard to understand products, then how about this: go to work, do an honest day's labor, and then let your boss tell you that s/he's not gonna pay you for the product of you labor. And will the words coming from your mouth then be "Oh, well, that's fair."?

Again, get honest. Pay a buck a song.
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James, 4 Apr 2006 @ 6:57pm

For those who bash my rights to copy: Enough is en
Not only that they say that "copy protection doesn't work", The DMCA law has just plainly gone too far.

I mean, if I buy a movie on DVD, or a game, then I should have the right to reverse-compile, or even edit the game, or make clips of movies or music, and even mess it up anything that I wish.

It just makes me want to download a cracking software, crack the security code on the DVD, and then throw an egg at the movie producers for p_____ing me off with all that copy protection s_____t. I mean, I do support such DRM measures to prevent mass copying and stop these true pirates...the people who make 1000000000000 copies and reselling them on the streats.

And believe me, IT CAN BE DONE! All they have to do is put down the consumer number on the machine, so that I can make unlimited copies on the machines that I own. All it takes is one coding rights fingerprinting key, and if the fingerprint on the music matches the fingerprint on that piece of device, than it works.

And I tell you this, for those who support the full extent of the DMCA law and support hanious copy protection, than _____ them.

And Come on, this region junk thing. If I want to watch one of my DVD movies even though I am out of North America, where I am staying at a hotel, I mean, COME ON! It's my freak'n DVD, ma'an.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Jul 2006 @ 7:01pm

Re: I'm sick and tired of Techdirt
"I don't agree with this entirely anyway. The harder a copy protection is to break, the more people will be compelled to buy the original."

BullSPIT! I'll just have to settle for the old-school handi-cam copy that the junk-monkey on the corner recorded from the back row of the theater!!

...that is until I get my patch updated by one of the thousands of cracker-hackers out there eagerly anticipating the pleasure of screwing over another bastard who thinks the $25 retail he's charging on 2� worth of goods is considered "fair market value"!

And yes, the 2� includes more than just the cost of the disc. It also accounts for the rest of the gratuitous excess like the butt-load of cash they showered on the guy who promised them he could develop an effective form of copyright protection!

(Who, coincidently, was the same guy who sent me the pirated, pre-release version which the apes in the editing room misplaced shortly after interlacing it with a few subliminal flashes of fetish porn.)

Besides, face it, when you realize that your rug-rat used your Blue Hawaii Special Edition Unrated Directors Cut or his Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang disc as a coaster for his can of Jolt or to play fetch with the dog, you'll wish you still had your original discs safely tucked away in the armoire so you could make another 2� copy instead of shelling out another $25 when he starts bawling cause he wants his flying car movie!

When the DVD Cartels are willing to warranty my original discs for life and replace them when they start skipping, I'll be glad to forgo burning copies.

Until then, you hold your breath and I'll protect my right to back up my library by supporting those hard working code hackers.... and occasionally recoup some my losses in greyer methods.

__________________________________________
As the "HDTV" buzzword grew, DVD content producers wanted to cash in. Of course their DVDs were still only 480i, but never let the facts get in the way of a good marketing campaign. They discovered that 1080p professional digitizing equipment was being used to digitize the film content -- which was then down-scaled to 480i to be put on the DVD. And that was all they needed to know to call their new crop of DVDs "high definition" DVDs.
-Bob Pariseau
www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=477740
__________________________________________
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CloneMe, 19 Jul 2006 @ 5:13am

The new DMCA and Fair Use laws (coming soon)
The latest bill (H. R. 4536), currently before congress, can be found here...

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:1:./temp/~c109utKY9y::

and I think we can be fairly pleased. Although it isn't even close to being comprehensive, it addresses all your issues, so put the gun down and step away from the RIAA lawyer!

Even the title makes me tingle all over!

"Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations" (BALANCE) Act of 2005

For those of you who are browser challenged...
it basically says 'when we wrote this up back in '98, um... sorry we screwed up and alot of consumers got hosed in the process'.

ok, here's where Congress starts to bend over and grab their ankles...

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (`DMCA') was enacted as an attempt to safeguard the traditional balance in the face of these new challenges.
It gave copyright holders the ability to fight digital piracy by employing technical restrictions that prevent unlawful access and copying.

In practice, however, the DMCA also ENDANGERED THE RIGHTS and expectations of legitimate consumers.

(blah blah blah, more good stuff... go read it for yourself!... blah, blah, blah...)

Sec. 123. Limitations on exclusive rights; permissible uses of digital works
Use of Lawfully Obtained Digital Works-

It is not an infringement of copyright for a person who lawfully obtains a copy or phonorecord of a digital work, or who lawfully receives a transmission of a digital work, to reproduce, store, adapt, or access the digital work...--

-For archival purposes; and

-In order to perform or display the work, or an adaptation of the work, on a digital media device.

Hold on... that last one kinda choked me up... getting teary...

Then there's a touching mention of how "nonnegotiable license terms" placed on works, shall not be enforsable in any state.

Now here is the part which gives the RIAA a sore bung-hole...

SEC. 5. PERMISSIBLE CIRCUMVENTION TO ENABLE FAIR USE AND CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS.

Circumvention for Noninfringing Uses-

(1)... A person who lawfully obtains a copy or phonorecord of a work, or who lawfully receives a transmission of a work, may circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to the work or protects a right of the copyright holder under this title if--

(A) such act is necessary to make a noninfringing use of the work under this title; and

(B) the copyright owner fails to make publicly available the necessary means to make such noninfringing use without additional cost or burden to such person.

And here is where hackers rejoice and sing glorious praise to the heavens above...

(2)....Any (lawful) person may manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise make available technological means to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title or protects a right of a copyright holder under this title, if--

(A) such means are necessary to make a noninfringing use...

(B) such means are designed, produced, and marketed to make a noninfringing use...; and

(C) the copyright owner fails to make available the necessary means. .

I like the direction this is going!
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