Fraunhofer develops non-DRM anti-piracy measure for music

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#1

I just posted the article Fraunhofer develops non-DRM anti-piracy measure for music.

 Fraunhofer Institute which invented the well known MP3  audio format has developed a prototype technology aimed that curbing file  sharing piracy.  Unlike DRM measures which typically...

Read the full article here:  [http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/11477-Fraunhofer-develops-non-DRM-anti-piracy-measure-for-music.html](http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/11477-Fraunhofer-develops-non-DRM-anti-piracy-measure-for-music.html)

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#2

what if someone doesn’t like you, steals your files and shares them on the net? you’d be put in jail! then it’ll be your case to prove that you’ve been framed! geez :frowning:

#3

I don’t trust this… and what about when they figure out how to hack the hash value… more innocent people getting the blame.

#4

So it is safer to d/l, and not BUY the CD!

#5

Store bought CDs don’t normally have MP3, so I don’t understand what you are trying to say. Downloading MP3s is where this will cause propblems.

#6

This is mainly developed for web sites that offer music for sales in MP3. In that case if the person buys a track - the MP3 becomes traceable. Now - to get to the bottom of it: this protection is waste of fraunhofer’s money because only newbies can be caught. One who knows a little about software and computer in general will always find a way to capture the sound from sound card and create unprotected file. Probably, they are betting on a fact that majority of people are only “light pc users” and are not familiar with digital world of pc’s and applications. I do not advocate the piracy, but in my opinion - the recording companies are losing money because of the corporate greed and crappy content. That’s the bottomline. They are just in denial…

#7

juzzie, that won’t work if the watermark is encoded into the audio, as converting the format or sampling the audio will leave the watermark in tact.

#8

This is exactly the technology that is being used in Paul van Dyk’s new online radio/shop Vonyc. It’s not surprising as PvD is German and the Fraunhofer Institute is based in Germany. The main site is here (http://www.vonyc.com) From the FAQ, we have this: What is the Watermark --------------------------- The Watermark of ISPI Fraunhofer Institute ? An efficient technology to prevent copyright infringement. Each sold track is provided with this special watermark to enable tracking of its source. It includes the name, adress, personal registration number and a secred code - all saved in the track. The explicit watermark will be permanently embedded in the file, even after it is burned onto CD or converted to other file formats. This is the main reason that I won’t ever be buying tracks from the shop. It’s just far too risky to have all these files that are tagged to me personally. What if my laptop gets stolen and the thief then shares all the music on it ?? Yup, traced back to me and I’m the one who gets busted. I’m sure they would completely ignore the fact that the laptop had been stolen or blame me anyway because I hadn’t used encryption on the files, etc. It’s too bad because the shop has some awesome exclusive releases but they won’t ever get my money. They just don’t get it…

#9

Thanks for the info :), as I was not aware of any stores that actually made use of this technology. What Fraunhofer needs to do is to come up with is some way of protecting the owner against what you have mentioned. For example, if one has their music or laptop stolen, there should be a way to report the tracks as stolen such that instead of the owner being in legal issues, the first source found sharing a certain number of these tracks reported stolen (such as 10 or more to rule out other sources who obtained one or two songs from the initial source) would face legal action. At the moment, it seems like just letting one song get shared out could cause legal issues for the owner, which means that anyone who buys watermarked music should treat them as they would with handling confidential documents.

#10

It would be a really good idea to have some way to report that you are no longer the owner of the tracks. Either because you sold them on or because they were stolen. The way it is now though, you couldn’t sell them on (like you do with physical CDs) because your info stays in the tracks for ever. And like I said earlier, it’s just too much of a risk to have the tracks released onto a network with my info tagged in them. A risk I’m not willing to take…

#11

As far as i know (at least by me in Poland) if you would report to the police, that you laptop was stolen (and of course your mp3’s) you wouldn’t be responsible for anything that happens to this files after you reported it. What is more, maybe you could track your stolen laptop that way?? :slight_smile: PS. AFAIK the Verance waterwark for DVD-Audio was cracked, so maybe it will be also possible with this new ones.

#12

I recall the studios using watermarking technology with Spielberg’s new flick (“Miunich”). Guess what I saw on the 'net recently. Guess it was defeated. Big surprise.
[edited by Roj on 10.02.2006 19:22]

#13

So this would apply to mp3’s purchased on-line. So go back to sharing the “old fashioned” way: ripped from cd’s. This would only make on-line song buying even LESS attractive! As for reporting stolen mp3’s, first they want you to go from free to paying for them. Now I have to monitor their whereabouts? I have enough crap to take care of. Would you really accept more??