ip: Argent™ Digital Watermarks Show the

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Argent=99 Digital Watermarks Show the Money Trail
        The anticipated debate over rights between two very profitable
industries seems to hinge on an old concept.  To the shagrin of
computer-related interests seeking to "restrict" use of content on
digital platforms, media companies maintain consistence on the single
issue evident since the advent of consumer electronic devices--
responsibility over copies.=20
        With compact discs, the audio industry experienced the same profitable
boom of the silicon chip. Similar to the computer industry, even though
manufacturing costs dropped, retail pricing stayed fairly uniform.
Unlike computers, the typically analog device we know as consumers can
only process information, such as music, at relatively the same quality
level as at the dawn of history. Digital signal processing also allowed
for the quick introduction of a huge number of new acts and music
genres. Again, not all the flowers that bloom are roses, but the
cheapness of pressing a CD affords the artist a much larger potential
audience than even the best tour of sidewalks.=20
        Yet, no major media company was able to predict the huge success of
Hootie and the Blowfish and Alannis Morrisette, 1995 and 1996's hits.
        There are problems with the analysis that media is simply "intellectual
property". Instead of location, location, location, a better mantra
would go something like: recognition, recognition, recognition.
Recognition, and the ability to encourage it through advertising and
word-of-mouth, goes hand in hand with responsibility, which makes
necessary the technology of digital watermarks.=20
        What digital watermarks can do to assist in the furthering of
profitable electronic distribution is not limited to tagging copyrights.
Digimarc, NEC, BBN, FBI, ARIS and any number of so-called
"frequency-based" or "spread spectrum" watermark systems, by virtue of
limiting implementation,  can do little more than a listening test done
by humans: authenticate. A "multichannel, master-independent,
frame-based" watermarking system, as the demonstrated by the patented
Argent=99 digital watermark system, allows for a number of rights
(copyright, distribution right, ownership right, etc.) or even marketing
data to all coexist, unnoticed by the consumer, in a single instance or
copy of a media product. Various levels of responsibility can finally be
established. Those familiar with cryptography would label Argent
"public-key steganography."=20
        Perhaps best described as a superset of frequency-level filters, Argent
watermarks are not digital signatures, but actual text files accessible
only to those with the "keys" that assisted in the encoding. Any suspect
copy can be checked with the appropriate key, or keys, in the case of
multiple rights. The consumer can even authenticate a copy themselves
with an ownership key, just like a purchase receipt.
        The same way physical media companies seek to monitor materials and
distribution of goods by marking those goods with serial numbers
(Cartier, for instance) or limiting "authenticity" with "holographic
patches" (Levis, for instance), digital watermarks will allow media
companies to better track and differeniate between two seemingly
"identical" digital recordings. As is commonly the case with highly
sought-after goods, such as $US100 bills, Channel bags, and Nike
clothing, piracy will exist; but, tracking will allow the media
companies to continue to exercise a measure of control over their works.
Moreover, clinical approaches to rights management which ignore the
serendipidous nature of recognition and its big brother, fame, miss the
point that some works need to be "freely" distributed with their rights
intact to provide beneficial marketing data to emerging acts.=20
        The digital age probably cannot give the consumer too much more of what
is already a high quality sound; however, the potential in
microsegmenting marketing efforts, music genre "gurus" filtering vast
numbers of titles, providing virtual reality concerts, "afecionado"
pricing by sampling rate, real-time listening bars, better than
drive-to-Tower Records-download times, etc. is the ultimate challenge to
profitably benefit from electronic distribution. Any banter about giving
away music or other media for free misses the point: if you can charge
for it, you do! Electronic distribution with digital watermarks will
eventually force a reevaluation of the pricing of CDs and will lead to a
far greater number of profitable ways to reach consumers all clamoring
for that ... song.


Sincerely,
Scott Moskowitz
The DICE Company
scott () digital-watermark com=20
http://www.digital-watermark.com/