A "Speed Bump" vs. Music Copying



Remember the SDMI case ? The RIAA held a competition who could break their watermark copy protection, a professor broke the protection, wanted to publish how and the RIAA sued him ?

Businessweek has an interview with this professor and talks to him about copy protections. The main thing he says is that nothing is unbreakable but that you have to make it as hard as possible to duplicate it.

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Q: Can any technology completely prevent the unauthorized copying of music?

A: None of them prevent unauthorized distribution. All they do, at best, is make it more difficult, more time-consuming to copy things. [A good analogy is a] speed bump. You're not putting up a barrier to prevent copying but a speed bump that will frustrate people who want to copy illegally.

Q: Which type of copy-protection technology is the best speed bump?

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A: Each of the technologies lend themselves to different uses. Some try to prevent copying in the first place. Some try to detect it after the fact. Some technologies are not good at knowing who copied something but can track how many copies have been distributed.

For the right answer, you have to look at the whole system. Not just the copy-protection technology but what business model it is embedded in. Given that you'll never be able to prevent copying, the question is, what can you do to minimize it? What can you do to make consumers happy enough with legitimate use of the system that they'll be willing to pay for it?

Those intrested in digital rights should read the interview, you can do just that, by clicking here.

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Source: Businessweek.com

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