Anti-Copy Schemes May Be Anti-Privacy
Aug. 28 -- In the post-Napster world, it's clear that artists want and deserve to get paid for their work. So the record labels and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) are developing possible solutions to digital piracy.
The recording industry, along with top tech companies, formed the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) with the goal of developing technology that protects digital music. One of the key components of the tech is a digital watermark.
A watermark is like an invisible fingerprint, or license plate, that is encoded into a song. Watermarks are not audible to the human ear, but computers and other players can be programmed to read the information embedded in the song.
The most obvious function of watermarking is to deter piracy. The recording industry is pushing for standards on new audio equipment and players, including chips that will limit or prevent consumers from misusing copyright material.
Fouling Up Fair Use and Air Play?
"One thing that people are thinking about is trying to stop what they call piracy — what some of us might call fair use. Basically stop consumers from copying their music, or sharing it with friends, ripping it on their computers," said Fred Von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"Already we're seeing signs that the record industry doesn't want you to be able to make copies, even for your own personal use," Von Lohmann said. "Hilary Rosen, of the RIAA, would not admit before Congress, when Senator Hatch questioned her, that it was OK to make a copy of your CDs that you legitimately purchased, to take along in your car."
Digital watermarking has other possible uses besides preventing consumers from listening to pirated music. Von Lohmann suggests that watermarks could help record labels keep track of which radio stations are playing their records.
Watermarking technology company Verance offers such services, which it markets as Verance Confirmedia. The service consists of a Web portal connected to a nationwide radio and television broadcast, connected to a network that can provide 24-hour information on where and how audio content is being used.
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