NYT on Audio/Video "Fingerprinting" (and a comment)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: February 19, 2007 2:08:36 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: NYT on Audio/Video "Fingerprinting" (and a comment)


Dave,

This new NY Times story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/technology/19video.html

gives a good summary of activities in the content control
fingerprinting technology arena.

I'd like to emphasize one point that is mentioned in the article.
Efforts to control content in this manner will push offending
material to sites that are not controlled.

I would take this analysis a step further.  Such efforts will
inevitably drive piracy more deeply underground into more and more
obscured forms, which will not be detectable by Web spiders or even
ISP-installed filtering mechanisms.  In fact, even determining the
actual level of piracy will be increasingly difficult under such a
scenario.

Is an encrypted stream of bits a VoIP flow, a database transfer,
a videoconference, or a pirated music video?  True, various
algorithms can be used to make assumptions, but there will
be a range of countermeasures to these as well.

I'm on record as being supportive of the concept of non-abusive
intellectual property rights.  But that doesn't change the realities
of digitization, encryption, and the Internet, with which I suspect
many people still haven't come to terms.

These are the same realities that doom DRM in the long run.  Bits are
bits.  In the end, we're likely to be faced with something of a
binary decision -- no pun intended.  We can either restrict Internet
access and low-level applications to an extent that cripples the
Net's usefulness and economic viability, or we can accept the fact
that some existing content-related business models will not survive
in the new technological world.

Rather than waiting for these models to go splat against the wall
sometime in the future, ultimately despite high-tech holding
actions (like content fingerprinting), we might wish to start
negotiating a framework for intellectual property that is based
on principles that are more likely to survive.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
   - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Founder, CIFIP
   - California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com




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