A Copyfighter’s Musings

This weekend, I’ll be speaking at FreeCulture.org’s National Summit in Swarthmore, PA.  The lineup of speakers also includes Professor Lessig, Alex Curtis from Public Knowledge, Holmes Wilson from Downhill Battle, and many more.  More information here.

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David Berlind seems to be changing his tune on Sun’s DReaM.  As usual, Cory comes to the rescue, savaging the initiative and explaining why “open” DRM is a sham.  Tim Lee is also on the case.

It’s also worth remembering that there have been plenty of consortia planning to “solve” the interoperability problems caused by DRM, as it if were just a matter of getting enough companies in the same room together.  Thus far, they haven’t come up with much, so why would we expect Sun’s plan to be any different?

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Much has already been written about major movie studios’ recently agreeing to sell downloads on Movielink and CinemaNow with remarkably high price points and ridiculous DRM restrictions. Buyer beware — these services are misleading about how little you’ll get to do with your media.

For instance, CinemaNow’s “How It Works” page says:



“Anywhere”? Read the fine print further down the page:

Movielink lets you burn to DVD, but those DVDs can only be played on a computer, not your home theater system’s DVD player.  And that’s just the tip of the movie store DRM iceberg.

As usual with DRM, the customer is always wrong.

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If you read me through Bloglines, you probably haven’t seen a post in quite some time – at least, they haven’t been showing up in my aggregator, even though I’ve been posting all the while. The problem seems to be fixed now.  Hopefully this blog will soon be moving to new blogging software and better server in the near future. Stay tuned.

Filed by Derek Slater at 5:14 pm under General news
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As the recording industry’s doom and gloom rhetoric continues in the face of ever increasing file sharing, the RIAA’s own statistics [PDF] tell a much different story. Wired’s Chris Anderson examined the recently published 2005 sales stats and found that “2005 may have been more profitable than 2004.” While CD sales continued to decline, online and mobile sales made up the difference.

The obvious lesson: the more the record industry focuses on giving fans what they want and embraces digital distribution, the more its profits will increase. Better services, not futile lawsuits and technological restrictions, provide the best way forward. If it can already halt declines through today’s online services, imagine how much more the industry would make if it got serious about competing with free by dropping the DRM and radically expanding the available catalogs. Indeed, there’s a veritable pot of gold waiting for the industry if only it would stop turning its back on the vast majority of online downloading and provide fans a way to continue file sharing legally.

Here’s hoping the RIAA takes this lesson to heart.

(This confirms my analysis at the mid-point of 2005.)

[Cross posted at EFF Deep Links]

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I will be speaking at the “Free Culture Forum,” hosted by Northeastern University this Thursday, March 23rd, 11:30 AM – 2:30 PM. Professor Lessig, Nelson Pavlosky, and Northeastern’s Associate Dean of University Libraries will also be on the panel.  More information here.

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Joe Gratz live–blogged the recent Cultural Environmentalism at 10 conference. He’s also provided a handy link guide to commentary from Rebecca Tushnet, who was also a presenter.  Commenting from afar, Mike Madison throws in his two cents.

PFF published a silly article by Stan Leibowitz entitled “Parasite Technologies and Non-Creative Destruction.”  So silly, in fact, that Adam Thierer takes it to task on PFF’s blog, while Tom Giovanetti criticizes it over at IP blog, a site that “cover[s] developments in intellectual property
protection from a property-rights, pro-market orientation.” Tim Lee has more. James Delong offers a defense – my favorite part is when he talks about copyright holders agreeing “not to put [TiVo] out of business” because it limited its commercial skip feature (yeah, they just ran to the FCC and Congress to cripple the device in every way possible).

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Sony BMG won’t be held accountable for infecting its customers’ computers with dangerous DRM if music fans don’t have an easy way to learn about the flawed software, the settlement, and how to submit claims. Along with creating an easy link to the Sony BMG Settlement site, EFF has created several banners that also link to the site. By posting a banner on your website or blog, you can help music fans protect themselves and get what they deserve.

To get the banners, click here.

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Adam Thierer celebrates HDCP and HDMI, which help ensure that your HD content can only be used with crippled devices that obey Hollywood’s commands.

Adam appreciates new software that allows him to make nifty uses of his own digital media, like (circumventing DRM to) rip DVDs onto his computer.  You’d think he’d be more sympathetic to the damage these restrictions will to early adopters of new tools.

You see, plenty of early HD equipment – TVs, projectors, graphics cards, receivers – doesn’t support this content production.  When consumers, for instance, get a new HD-DVD, they’ll get video of below HD quality (down rezzing).  They might not be able to watch at all if the HDDVD blocks the analog output (selectable output) — not because the equipment isn’t technically capable of playing HD, but because Hollywood doesn’t trust them.

That’s how Hollywood thanks its best customers, the early-and-often adopters.  It breaks their compatible devices and forces them to repurchase products they already own.  Contrary to Thierer’s suggestions, the migration to these devices is anything but “natural.”  What’s natural about consumers being forced to throw out their current HDTV and buy another with less features?  What consumer wants that?

Indeed, what is the social benefit of these restrictions?  Thankfully, Thierer doesn’t really try to pretend that these restrictions have anything to do with stopping piracy. Cracking HDCP or recording the analog video (even without using the analog output) will still be trivial for some people, and it only takes one of them to spread it on P2P.  Instead, these restrictions are about building “innovative”new business models around charging for personal uses. 

As I (and many others) have said repeatedly, it’s time people faced that that is the only justification for the DMCA.  All its collateral damage – to competition, innovation, and legitimate uses – need to be measured against that.  The DMCA is why DVD player manufacturers are forced to build equipment with restricted outputs that may break your home entertainment system. 

Given that Thierer feels so adamantly about his right to rip DVDs, I’ve never understood why he would celebrate restrictions like HDCP and HDMI without actively railing against the DMCA.  Regardless of what he thinks of DRM, the DMCA is a dangerous limit on legitimate competition and uses.

[Updated, on apr 13, corrected sentence about selectable output]

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News.com reports
that American Airlines has subpoenaed Google and YouTube, demanding the
name of someone who posted an airline training video online. This is
yet another abuse of DMCA 512(h),
which allows copyright holders to unmask an Internet user’s identity
based on a mere allegation of infringement without any due process.

You might recall that EFF helped Verizon limit the scope
of this dangerous statute when the RIAA attempted to attain the
identities of P2P file sharing users. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
held that the provision doesn’t apply to content residing on
individuals’ own computers.

But it still does apply to content on an online service provider’s
computer. So when you upload content to your website or blog, your
privacy is still at risk. Someone could claim copyright infringement,
and, without the notice, time, and information necessary to respond,
you won’t be able to protect your anonymity.

Until the law is changed to reinstate traditional due process
protections, online service providers should voluntarily notify users
to the best of their ability. Google regularly gives notice and
apparently will do so in this case, while YouTube has already turned
over the user’s name, according to the News.com article. Internet users
can also take privacy protection into their own hands by using tools
like Tor.

[Cross-posted at DeepLinks]

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I recently wrote about the possible blurring between a la carte and subscription music services.  News.com reports
that iTunes will start offering Multi-Pass, which lets you pay a $9.99
subscription per month to get all 16 episodes of the Daily Show shown
during that period.  Otherwise, you can buy each episode a la carte for
$1.99.

Some might see this as a shift in Apple’s strategy, moving them towards
music subscription services like Napster 2.0 or Rhapsody.  But this
subscription service is more like eMusic’s, and in that way it doesn’t
conflict at all with Apple’s current strategies.  Steve Jobs has always
said that subscriptions are silly because most consumers don’t want (or even
really comprehend) renting music.  For the moment, he’s basically right. 
Multi-Pass allows people to still own the music, and they pay less than
they otherwise would.  Rather than considering it a large upfront investment, consumer
might not mind a monthly fee, seeing as how it’s just another charge at
the end of the credit card bill, along with cable, Netflix, TiVo, et.
al.

Now, is there a market for Daily Show purchases in this form? I dunno,
but I think consumers might be willing to pay upfront to buy 2 or 3
albums / 20 or 30 songs (with rollover) a month if they got a slightly
lower price and it was convenient enough. (That last part is important,
since Napster 2.0 made it about as inconvenient as possible to buy
“track packs.”)

Filed by Derek Slater at 6:29 pm under General news
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I wonder if Guba has anything to do with the MPAA’s recent Usenet suits.  Guba indexes Usenet video and is accessible via a browser. You can then watch video using Flash in your browser or download the video file.  The service costs $14.95 per month.

Guess who probably wants a cut?  If the MPAA is starting to get concerned about YouTube having advertising, then this has got to concern them.  Guba certainly isn’t as popular a site, and MPAA had reasons to target Usenet anyway, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was meant as a warning shot across the bow of companies like Guba.

Note that Guba, like YouTube, has a takedown policy and they also use filters to screen out images reported as infringing if they get reposted.  Whether they’re planning something similar for videos, I don’t know. 

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Digital Music News reports on Pandora’s deal with Friendster.  I talked about this sort of combination a little on Berkman’s site last week and want to say a bit more here.

The connection between these two tools goes in both direction.  Chris Anderson is right that my friends won’t necessarily produce good recommendations.  But sometimes they might, and, at the very least, you might like to know what your friends are listening to, even if you don’t actually end up wanting to listen to it yourself.  You could tie that into finding out what concerts your friends are going to.

And when you find someone who produces good recommendations, you might want to make them a “friend.” Last.fm and MusicStrands do this.  They recommend similar people to you as “neighbours” and let you add “friends” or “influencers.”  This is similar to subscribing to an MP3 bloggers’ RSS feed, or, more on point, a playlist publishers’ feed.  At the same time, it allows the possibility for a little more sense of connection with the publisher.

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Washingtonpost.com’s Howard Parnell has written a fantastic article about playlist sharing as a form of self-expression that can generate rich interpersonal relationships and vibrant communities.  The article builds in part on my recent paper on playlists, co-authored with Mike McGuire. Parnell focuses on the story of Justine Saylors, a grieving mom who took solace in music after the death of her son:

“By the time another October arrived,
Saylors had amassed a sizable collection of some of the most
heartbreaking music to be found on iTunes. And nearly all of it had
been recommended not by professional critics or some sort of Amazonian
collaborative filtering bot, but by people who — judging from notes
posted with their iMixes or just the song selections alone — seemed to
Justine to be much like herself: hurting, missing someone special,
reaching out.

“The result was a personal playlist of songs that
[her son] Lance would sing along to, that were used in soundtracks of home movies
taken in his final months, that were played at his funeral, and that
she could cry to after.

“Today, Saylors is herself one of the more
visible iMix creators, and in recent months iTunes users have rated
hers among the best of the more than 300,000 lists available on the
service. In searching for a way to cope with her loss and create
awareness of neuroblastoma, the pediatric cancer that claimed her son,
she became part of a phenomenon that some researchers predict will
dramatically change the online music business before the decade is out.”

Read the whole thing.

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The folks at Yahoo! Music continue to surprise and delight.  They already have created Yahoo! Music Engine, one of the most innovative music software players (and apparently some of its designers contributed to the incredible Songbird).  Demonstrating an understanding that music sharing must be a part of the online store experience, they’re way ahead of the pack on features like playlists and boldly bought Webjay.

Now this: Yahoo! Music exec Dave Goldberg reportedly gave a talk at Music 2.0 advocating that the major labels give up on DRM.  Refreshing, isn’t it?  First off, no other music store exec has been willing to say this in public. What’s more, not every music store exec actually wants this.  Apple would keep its DRM regardless of the record labels’ decisions, and Microsoft seems pretty content to play DRM gatekeeper.  To create lock-in, they’re happy to sell customers less useful products.

I’d love to get a transcript of the talk, to see exactly what he said.  I hope Goldberg sincerely presses the record labels on this score.

Filed by Derek Slater at 1:03 am under General news
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