Marc Policani's Digital Media Blog: Digital Rights Management (DRM)

French court rules in favor of private P2P use

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:58:57 GMT

On the eve of France's Parliament returning to discuss the possibility of legalizing P2P via a compulsory or global license, the French judiciary has sent a message to deputies a day early, clearly siding with non-commercial users of P2P applications. The message from the French tribunal actually dates back to December 8 of last year, but the decision has just been made public in a rather serendipitous way. As the French think about the possibility of making P2P legal by merely charging internet users a flat monthly fee, the court looks to be suggesting that current usage is already legal.

At issue was the fate of a young man ("Antoine G") charged with uploading and downloading over 1,200 audio files whose copyrights were represented by a French recording industry organization, the Société de Civile de Producteurs Phonographique. After a victory in a lower court, the SCPP had to represent its case to the district court of Paris (Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris), seeking a final judgment against the man accused of the non-authorized reproduction and distribution of commercial content. The defendant had been an avid user of Kazaa, and during 2004, his activities were monitored by agents of the SCPP, revealing him to be a frequent user of the P2P network. He allegedly had almost 1900 files containing copyrighted materials. [ more... ]

Libraries fear digital lockdown

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 17:52:40 GMT

Libraries have warned that the rise of digital publishing may make it harder or even impossible to access items in their collections in the future.

Many publishers put restrictions on how digital books and journals can be used.

Such digital rights management (DRM) controls may block some legitimate uses, the British Library has said.

And there are fears that restricted works may not be safe for future generations if people can no longer unlock them when technology evolves.

The British Library spends £2m of its £16m annual acquisitions budget on digital material, mainly reference books and journals." [ more... ]

Gracenote gets music fingerprinting tech

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 16:48:05 GMT

Digital music company Gracenote said Tuesday it had acquired the rights to technology from Philips Electronics that can identify song files by looking at their audio "fingerprints."

The fingerprinting technology is at the heart of new legal peer-to-peer services such as Napster founder Shawn Fanning's Snocap, and the Mashboxx file-swapping service it will soon support. By identifying songs as they are downloaded, the fingerprinting tools are used to block unauthorized trades. The Philips technology is also the foundation of Gracenote's own service that identifies music by holding a cell phone up to it.

Philips has been working on a similar technology to identify video files , which Gracenote will also gain rights to. As part of the agreement, Philips has taken an undisclosed equity stake in Gracenote.

Sony BMG hinders music pirates with protected CD

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:12:17 GMT

"LONDON (Reuters) - Sony BMG, the world's second-largest music company, is rolling out CDs with new technology that serves as a "speed bump" to hinder people who want to make illicit copies.

Users will be allowed to make three additional CD copies for their own use and to store the music files on their computer in a protected format from Microsoft.

Sony BMG's new copy-protection effort comes with at least one downside: PC users are unable to transfer the songs to Apple's popular iPod portable music player, because Apple has declined to make its software compatible with Microsoft's Windows Media digital rights management (DRM) system.

The copy-protection technology is also far from ironclad. Apple Macintosh users currently face no restrictions at all. What's more, if users go to a Web site to complain about the lack of iPod compatibility, Sony BMG will send them an email with a "back door" measure on how to work around the copy protection." [ more... ]

US appeals court tosses FCC's broadcast flag rule

Fri, 06 May 2005 16:15:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday vacated a Federal Communications Commission a rule designed to limit people from sending copies of digital television programs over the Internet.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the FCC had "exceeded the scope of its delegated authority" with the 2003 rule.

The FCC has said copyright protections were needed to help speed the adoption of digital television, which offers higher quality signals.

Architectures of Control: DRM in hardware

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 15:05:20 GMT

Dan Lockton is working on an Interesting dissertation at Cambridge-MIT Technology Policy programme entitled "Architectures of Control," the way that technology is designed to control how its owners make use of it.

"Examples with primarily commercial control intentions range from the technology-intensive—such as Hewlett-Packard’s alleged use of embedded chips in printer cartridges which ‘expire’ the cartridge, even if unused, on a certain date, thus forcing the user to buy new cartridges—to the simple, such as the Audi A2’s bonnet which cannot be opened by the car’s owner, only by an Audi dealer.

There are, equally, numerous examples with more socially beneficial intentions, such as breathalyser or seat belt interlocks for car ignitions, blue lighting in nightclub toilets (to make intravenous drug use difficult), and growing opportunities in terms of coercing consumers to behave in more environmentally friendly ways—e.g., products could cease to function if the intended operation would cause excessive energy use. [ More... ]

French court bans DRM for DVDs

Sat, 23 Apr 2005 14:19:48 GMT

A French appeal court just issued a ruling preventing the inclusion of anti-copying measure on DVD. This is after a man who was not able to copy a DVD he purchase to a VHS cassette so he can watch it at his mother's place. Which is considered private copying and is a consumer right in France. He got the help of a consumer protection group to sue the Film Studio that produced the DVD. Film studios have one month to unprotect DVDs. [ more... ]

Towards a Universal DRM: The DMP Tackles DRM for PAVs

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 21:07:25 GMT

"An international forum aimed at standardizing digital media and copy protection technologies is set to achieve a major milestone in its drive toward creating interoperable Digital Rights Management. This month, the International Digital Media Project (DMP)—which brings together more than 25 member companies across the digital content and device industries including Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Telecom Italia, and the BBC—is expected to release the industry's first DRM technology specifications for Portable Audio and Video devices (PAVs).

Hopes are high that the group's recommendations, largely focused on existing technologies, will bring more realistic content protection plans into the digital mainstream. The current approach—one that links DRM and specific playback devices from manufacturers including Apple, Microsoft, and Sony—restricts the content market along with the freedom of consumers to access content they've paid for across platforms and devices." [ more... ]

The Politics of Digital Copyright debate at Cornell University

Wed, 20 Apr 2005 15:05:47 GMT

Allison has put up nearly three hours of video clip debates between EFF Senior IP Attorney Fred Von Lohmann and Media Studies Prof Siva Vaidhyanathan as they discuss the MPAA, RIAA, Napster 2 and Universal Studios. (Note: The remaining hour of the debate will be there in the next day or so).

Round One:
Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Communications, NYU (188 MB)
Fritz Attaway, Executive VP and general counsel, Motion Picture Association of America (242 MB)
Avery Kotler, Senior director, Business and Legal Affairs Napster (217 MB)
Cary Sherman, President, Recording Industry Association of America (358 MB)
Fred von Lohmann, Senior staff attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation (367 MB)
Alec French, Senior counsel, Government Relations, NBC/Universal (335 MB)

Round Two, Rebuttals:
Siva Vaidhyanathan (164 MB)
Fritz Attaway (74 MB)
Cary Sherman (83 MB)
Fred von Lohmann & everybody (222 MB)

Round Three, Queries and Responses:
Query: This seems to be a distribution issue—it's not an issue of wanting a system where everybody's paying nothing. It's an issue of being entrenched in this old system of everybody paying too much to distribute things in a modern world where distribution is cheap. I would like you to address that. more... ]

Latens and Texas Instruments Protect IP-based Content and Revenue for Digital Broadcasting Applications

Thu, 14 Apr 2005 15:39:28 GMT

According to this press release from Texas Instruments, "Latens Systems has ported its IP CAS to Texas Instruments' (NYSE: TXN - News; TI) digital media processor platform. Now, a new generation of content-oriented services, such as Pay-TV and Video on Demand (VOD) services via IP settop boxes, personal video recorders (PVR), personal computers (PC) and other consumer devices, will be protected against piracy. The combination of Latens' solution with TI's TMS320DM64x generation of high performance, fully programmable digital media processors, delivers an optimal and secure transaction system to equipment manufacturers and IPTV operators, protecting their broadband content and revenue streams. This new solution will be showcased at TI's booth (# SL3845, south hall) at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Las Vegas, April 18-21, 2005.

Enabling flexibility in design and rapid implementation of new services, Latens' open platform content and revenue protection system has been designed to protect and control access to valuable content in Video on Demand (VOD), IPTV and other content delivery applications. Latens' security systems employ new IT security techniques and use the power of two-way digital networks to provide next generation Conditional Access (CA) for broadband and digital cable networks through Secure Software Modules (SSM) in the settop box. The SSMs are monitored and managed across the network and whenever necessary are updated or replaced through the network."

Lower fees for Phone DRM, but still high...

Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:32:07 GMT

Last month, Cory Doctorow blogged about the "deceptively named Open Mobile Alliance that provides DRM for music/movies on cellphones. The OMA licensing cost was $1 per handset, which means that buying OMA for all of last year's phones would have cost $684 million -- more than the total market for digital music.

The OMA has responded by generously cutting that licensing fee to $0.65/handset, which brings the cost of outfitting all the phones sold this year in line with the approximate market for digital music." [ More... ]

Apple Skips US Congress DRM Hearing

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 16:46:34 GMT

At a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on digital music Wednesday, there was one party notably missing: Apple. The company, which has a solid grip on 75 percent of the music download industry, reportedly declined to appear in front of the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. [ more... ]

German news site fined for publishing links

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 15:22:12 GMT

German news site Heise has to pay €500,000 in damages to the music industry because it provided links in a news report to Slysoft.com, a company that advertises software that can play, copy and rip protected audio CDs.

A Munich court ruled that, by providing a link to the company's homepage, Heise online had intentionally provided 'assistance in the fulfillment of unlawful acts' and is therefore liable as 'an aider and abettor', in accordance with Section 830 of the German Civil Code. [ more... ]

Congress moots mandatory DRM scheme

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 14:44:42 GMT

The US Congress is pondering laws to force digital music companies to use a single, unified DRM system, in order to allow songs purchased from any download service to run on any hardware.

The House of Representatives' intellectual property sub-committee met yesterday to discuss such a move, proposed by Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, and Howard Berman, a Democrat from California.

Their beef is the ongoing incompatibility between, say, Napster's download service and Apple's iPod. The shiny white music player will happily handle songs downloaded from Apple's iTunes Music Store and protected with Apple's FairPlay DRM system, but not DRM'd Windows Media Audio files, for example.

"This interoperability issue is of concern to me since consumers who bought legal copies of music from Real could not play them on an iPod," Smith said at the hearing, Internet News reports.

Apple apparently wasn't there to add its two cents to the debate - Smith described its failure to appear as a "mistake" - but other industry players, including Napster CTO William Pence, along with consumer groups and public policy bodies, were present to tell the Congressmen to leave the emerging digital music market alone.

Essentially, opponents argue that it should be for the market to decide which services - and thus which DRM systems - dominate. [ more... ]

OMA DRM DOA? (The Feature)

Tue, 05 Apr 2005 01:14:03 GMT

Handset manufacturers already balked at the price to license the Open Mobile Aliiance DRM patents; carriers have now chimed in as well. Is the DRM that was supposed to unite the mobile world now in danger?

At the beginning of the year, the MPEG LA intellectual-property licensing firm said it had pooled together the necessary patents needed for OMA DRM, and would license them to handset vendors for $1 per handset, a price device makers decried as too high. They may have a point -- after all, had the price been paid on all 684 million handsets sold last year, the revenue generated would be greater than those of music downloads on the Web.

MPEG LA also said it would license the patents to service providers for 1 percent of each transaction involving them, and now mobile carriers are objecting. OMA DRM 2.0 was envisioned as being the single DRM technology used across the entire mobile industry, and being licensed to other consumer electronics manufacturers as well, paving the way for users to be able to share content between their mobile phones and other devices. But with these two large blocs of players objecting, what's going to happen?

There are two possibilities. First, MPEG LA and the patent holders could relent and lower the price, which seems the most reasonable choice. It's hard to see what return handset vendors get from the $1 they have to spend for the rights to the technology. Essentially, they're paying $1 to license technology that's part of an ecosystem with no guaranteed spot for them. Operators, too, won't give up any revenues for which they don't think they're getting a decent return -- and if no one wants to implement the OMA DRM spec, it's only going to hit MPEG LA and the holders in the pockets. "The patent holders would be better off to lower their royalties and get a smaller piece of a much bigger pie than a big chunk of a small pie," Reuters quotes a sensible DRM software exec as saying. [ more... ]

Phone DRM too expensive, say carriers

Sat, 02 Apr 2005 16:10:24 GMT

Andrew Orlowski reports for The Register that, "Mobile phone networks dissatisfaction with the copyright interests has gone public. The association representing the GSM standard, with over a billion users worldwide, has declared that the proposed tariff for DRM is too high and is unworkable. Members of the GSM Association think that the per-transaction model agreed by the MPEG Licensing Authority - and proposed to the Open Mobile Alliance standards group - harms users in the long run.

The proposal put to OMA by the MPEG LA in January requires carriers to pay one per cent of transactions and $1 per handset back to the DRM patent holders, which include ContentGuard, Intertrust, Matsushita, Philips and Sony.

In a statement, GSMA CEO Rob Conway described "significant discontent" with the licensing proposal, and characterized the plan as "impractical, excessive and short-sighted". The GSMA objects to both the ‘per transaction’ fee that carriers must pay, as well as the $1 a handset DRM fee."

How to restore Microsoft DRM to a "clean" state.

Sat, 02 Apr 2005 15:54:00 GMT

A new Microsoft KB article has been published which instructs users with corrupted DRM license stores on how to reset DRM to a "clean"state.

SYMPTOMS: You’re receiving one of the following error messages when attempting to play DRM protected content:

The licenses for your media files are corrupted. (Error code 0xC00D2754)

Windows Media Player cannot play the file because the associated license is either corrupted or not valid. (Error code 0xC00D11D6)

CAUSE: This issue occurs when the DRM system on your computer is corrupted.

RESOLUTION: To work around this issue, restore the DRM system on your computer to a clean state. To do so, follow these steps:

WARNING: This procedure deletes all the current licenses for media files on your hard disk. To play your existing licensed media files, you may have to acquire and purchase a new license from the content provider.

Click here for more details...

"I heard that I can get a computer virus by playing a protected WMA or WMV file. What can I do?"

Sun, 27 Mar 2005 15:53:04 GMT

The Windows Media Player FAQ has been updated again, for all of you that heard that you can get a computer virus by playing a protected WMA or WMV file check out the following link.

Apple squeezes iTunes customers

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 03:23:13 GMT

The Inquirer is featuring an article by Nick Farrell who writes, “ the latest version of iTunes, 4.7.1, has introduced a limit to the number of people who can access iTunes shared music each day.

It all came about because of a Rendezvous feature in which users on the same subnet could share the same tunes by streaming.

However, Apple has moved to restrict the streaming capability. In the good old days it used to support five simultaneous listeners, but now allows only allows five listeners a day.”

Microsoft DRM Buy Expected to Proceed

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 03:46:01 GMT

In an article for BetaNews.com, Ed Oswald and Nate Mook write, “Both Microsoft and Time Warner have decided to not proceed with a hearing over the takeover of digital rights management software company ContentGuard. Under EU antitrust laws, a company has the right to request a hearing in front of the Commission to plead their case as to why regulators should approve a deal. The Commission will then consult with the various authorities of member nations and decides whether to approve or deny the merger or takeover. ContentGuard offers technology to prevent copying of protected files and has created eXtensible rights Markup Language (XrML), which it is pushing for industry adoption. The EU's initial concern stemmed from whether Microsoft's control of ContentGuard will broaden its dominance in the digital media space, and allow Redmond to vertically integrate into other markets.”

Creative Zen Micro Now Plays For Sure

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 03:09:44 GMT

A recent post on Mp3 player blog reports that, “ Creative has released a firmware update for the Zen Micro that adds support for Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM technology. Napster to Go, among others, uses PlaysForSure to protect music, so the Zen Micro is now compatible with Napster's newest service. [Via Nomadness]

To install the firmware, download the file from the Creative support site, connect the Zen Micro to your computer, run the download .EXE and then click Upgrade.”

Protection management, copy control

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 17:00:33 GMT

Wendy Grossman has written an interesting article for the Inquirer entitled Protection management, copy control”. Wendy Writes, “ARE 30 monks in a monastery a household? CPCM is intended to create a trusted system analogous to Microsoft's trusted computing platform – now known as Next Generation Secure Computing Base. Commercial content is acquired from a broadcast, data stream, or shrink-wrapped medium. It comes wrapped in metadata known as USI (for Usage State Information) that specifies how the content may be used: for example, how many times it might be viewed, how long it can be kept available, whether it can be copied, how it may be output, and so on. Knowing that increasingly people will have many networked devices from which they want to access "their" content, CPCM creates an Authorized Domain – loosely, a household – that recognizes these restrictions and within which the content is allowed to flow freely. So what about those 30 monks? Are they a household for the purpose of watching last week's Desperate Housewives?”

Napster raises revenue guidance

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 21:38:10 GMT

In an article for CNET News.com, Dinesh C. Sharma writes that "Napster expects to end its fiscal fourth quarter with more revenue than it had previously forecast, the company said Thursday.

The company now predicts that revenue in the quarter ending March 31 will be around $15 million, which is $1 million higher than it had projected earlier.

Napster said the higher guidance is the result of "robust growth" in its regular and portable music subscriptions. Napster said that demand has been fueled by compatible MP3 players from Iriver, Creative and Dell. The company also cited a recently launched ad campaign for Napster to Go, its portable service."

Build your TV!

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 20:40:48 GMT

An article by Annalee Newitz, a policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation recently made its way into the pages of the San Francisco Bay Guardian. The article talks about a recent build-in by a group “made up of TV fans, civil liberties activists, and politically minded hackers – is outrage[d] at what the Broadcast Flag will do to the future of innovative, crazy-dream devices like MythTV. After the mandate goes into effect July 1, it will be illegal for anyone in the United States to manufacture a device that records high-definition television unless it's built to obey a special signal – the flag – emitted by stations broadcasting HD shows. The flag will tell PVRs and other equipment whether they're allowed to copy a show onto some other medium, like a DVD. In short, broadcasters and content owners will actually be able to control your recording habits.”

Study on digital rights management

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 20:01:23 GMT

RNIB is compiling a report on how Digital Rights Management (DRM) can impede access to information for people with disabilities and are looking for examples of how DRM based systems might prevent blind or partially sighted people from accessing content. If you can help, please contact David Mann or Dan Pescod at Europcampaigns@rnib.org.uk.

Expensive Anti-Piracyware Threatens Open Standard

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:05:18 GMT

Lucas van Grinsven (Reuters) reports that, “A handful of technology companies are overcharging for anti-piracy software needed for digital music stores on the Internet, preventing the emergence of open standards, electronics goods makers said on Friday.

Several consumer electronics makers balk at the $1 charge for anti-piracy technology proposed by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), they told Reuters. The OMA is a group of handset makers, wireless telecoms operators and other technology companies.

Mobile phone makers and consumer electronics makers said $1 per device is too high a price only to protect music and video against illegal copying. They will not be able to recoup that money through revenues expected from digital entertainment."

Music Site AllofMP3 Under Investigation

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 18:19:37 GMT

Nick Irelan writes "AllofMP3.com, a Russian music site that is famous due to its low prices, has been accused of copyright infringment. Although the site said it bought licenses, some record companies are claiming that the documents it purchased aren't valid. The Moscow Police Computer Crimes Division has investigated AllofMP3 and the Moscow Prosecuter's office must decide what it will do by March 7th."

Court questions FCC's broadcast flag rules

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:50:03 GMT

CNET Reports: “A federal appeals court on Tuesday sharply questioned whether the Federal Communications Commission has the authority to ban certain types of digital TV receivers, including peripheral cards, starting in July.“

Preparing for the Broadcast Flag?

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:46:57 GMT

Couch Potato asks: "I'm worried that, come next July, the FCC mandated broadcast flag will soon take away all sorts of fair use rights I have long enjoyed. Given that there are only a few months left to make purchasing decisions, how best can one prepare for the advent of the broadcast flag?"

Comcast HD-DVR Disables Fast-Forward?

Sat, 19 Feb 2005 03:42:46 GMT

One of lost remote’s readers sent them a couple screen grabs from their Comcast HD-DVR. The problem? The darn unit wouldn’t let him fast-forward thru the commercials while it played back American Idol. This could be a fluke, but if Comcast is deliberately doing this, we all might need to pull that old VHS recorder out from the basement. What’s the point of “time shifting” when you can’t fast-forward thru commercials. They (networks and cable providers) need to figure out a better way to get paid for advertisements. Maybe we will no longer see ads during our programs but instead we see them before, after and while we are scheduling recordings… almost like DVDs, where they make you watch certain parts (legal, trailers, etc).

Hackers Tune In to Windows Media Player

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 18:13:37 GMT

eWeek reports that Microsoft Corporation has issued an update for Windows Media Player 10 to correct a potential security issue that could allow an attacker to mislead users into downloading malware or viri instead of a license to playback DRM content.

"A spokesperson for Microsoft confirmed that the new WMP release, marked build 3802, was the promised update to take care of issues related to the players digital rights management functions."

CNET News.com expands upon the story slightly in the following article.

"The Redmond, Wash., giant on Tuesday introduced an update to its Windows Media Player, which included changes aimed at blocking the Japanese hackers' work, as well as a security update."

[…]

"The new update also addresses a problem exposed a month ago, in which the Media Player and its digital rights management software could be used to show ads--or even to lure unsuspecting Web surfers into downloading harmful software onto their hard drives, security researchers said.

The process exploited a feature of the Media Player content protection, which allows protected files to pop up a Web page with information about a video or song license. In such a case, that page could be loaded with automatic spyware download mechanisms, Spanish security company Panda Software said.

The new update to the Media Player software contains a setting that allows consumers to request that they be notified any time their computer is going onto the Internet to obtain a content license. By default, this option will be turned off, but computer users can turn it on, Caulton said"

C00D277F - Secure storage protection error.

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 16:45:31 GMT

Microsoft has released a KB article for customers receiving Secure Storage protection error messages when attempting to play DRM protected content.

The KB article councils you to restore your computer to its original hardware configuration or to the original BIOS settings to do a proper backup, to reset your DRM default directory and then to do a restore.

Note: If you are not able to restore your hardware configuration or BIOS settings to due to a “power glitch” you may still be able to regain access to your DRM protected content by contacting the original content provider.

New Tech Prevents DVD Copying, Kills "Rippers"

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 15:45:21 GMT

ExtremeTech reports that Macrovision has developed a way to eliminate the vast majority of DVD copying using a technology called "RipGUard DVD". The technology will be licensed to the companies partners who are part of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). RipGuard isn't foolproof, but the hope is that it will cut down on mainstream ripping, they said. The software will simply block exisiting rippers from working.

Users bypass copy protection on portable Napster

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 15:09:47 GMT

Users have found a way to skirt copy protection on Napster Inc's portable music subscription service just days after its high-profile launch, potentially letting them make CDs with hundreds of thousands of songs for free.

You can read more about the exploit on stuff.co.nz...