[ news_security_news ]
Watermarked Music
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-11-30
 Security News RSS Feed
Right now, the Sony's rootkit fiasco echoes around the music industry. Is there no valid, legal way to protect copyrighted material? Digital Rights Management is what most in the industry are working with and so far it seems to be coming out poorly. One method some are suggesting is the watermark.
David Berlind at his ZDNet blog discusses watermarks as a viable alternative to what he calls "digital restrictions management." He cited recent announcements from TiVo and their TiVoToGo program as a possible standard.
He said he figures that TiVo will use MPEG-4 format for their video content so pretty much all video players can use it. What happens is TiVo tags the video you download to you. Then as he quoted Engadget, "recorded shows will be digitally watermarked allowing content to be tracked back to your living room if you get torrent happy with ‘em, dig?"
He points out this is the way to go because it gives people the right to do with the content as they choose but if they choose to distribute the content, you could face consequences to your action. He says watermarking video is easy. The tough part will be audio but he says that can be overcome.
At this point, anything is better than loading rootkits onto discs but there is a caveat. While watermarks could be put in, people will still continue to trade content because there is absolutely no incentive for them to stop. While it may be considered a crime, people commit crimes by going 60 in a 55 and they kids don't see this as much different. Until music providers can make paying for music easier than downloading it from P2P, then it will continue. There's also the issue of enforcement. Most cops don't pull you over for doing 60 in a 55. One has to think that it won't go over well in lots of places if the various record companies start showing up in places trying to confiscate computers and otherwise distracting from local police work.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
More news_security_news Articles
Security News RSS Feed
|
|
