Is Digital Rights Management The Answer?

from the doesn't-seem-very-middle-ground-to-me dept

A new report tries to present a “middle ground” in the intellectual property debate by suggesting that digital rights management copy protection may make all parties happy. Say what? I don’t see how it’s a middle ground to artificially exclude uses, making a product less valuable than it is without DRM installed. It doesn’t seem like a middle ground. It seems like exactly what the entertainment industry has been begging for.


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Comments on “Is Digital Rights Management The Answer?”

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4 Comments
Gary E. Brant (user link) says:

Personalized Encrypted Disk ("PED")

We have a simple solution to a complex problem.

Make custom content disks that are unique to each customer.

The PED will only play back for that unique customer, on an encrypted playback device.

A copy of the disk is meaningless, because only that customer can unlock the disk.

End of piracy, end of content file-sharing.

Everyone wins.

We have the system ready for a world-wide launch.

Gary E. Brant, CEO
VeriTouch Ltd.

Mike (profile) says:

Re: Personalized Encrypted Disk (

Everyone wins.

Well, except the customer. Now they have an extra hurdle to go through, and the content they buy is now limited – providing them no extra benefit.

Also, the content creator locks up the best promotional material they have and makes it impossible for people to share their content in a way that promotes their works.

Gary E. Brant (user link) says:

Re: Re: Personalized Encrypted Disk (

I don’t agree.

Before Napster and KaZaA, there were these little buildings with huge metal towers bolted to their roofs, more commonly known as radio stations.

Promoting their works?

What about the legends in the music business like Bill Graham, Brian Epstein, and more recently, David Geffen?

Did they need file-sharing services to promote the holy you-know-what out of their artists. Short answer, no.

You want promotion? Send the band on tour, get them airplay on the radio (now even greater with XM and Sirius), get them on MTV.

Do it in a way that doesn’t rob them of an honest sale that is shot down every time a “free” copy makes it way around the internet.

By the way, distribution of entertainment media changes all the time.

Look at the huge success of Netflix, which merely removed the need for customers to get in their cars to drive to (and from) the video rental store.

Best wishes,

Gary

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