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Don't Smudge The Sensor When You Press 'Play'
mattyrobinson69 writes "According to The Register, 'The RIAA wants your fingerprints.' They've teamed up with VeriTouch, who say 'In practical terms, VeriTouch's breakthrough in anti-piracy technology means that no delivered content to a customer may be copied, shared or otherwise distributed because each file is uniquely locked by the customer's live fingerprint scan.'" No details, but the article talks about a locked-down "wireless media player" to prevent such passing around.
they just don't get it do they?
Locked down devices have no future. Witness Sony getting its but handed to it by apple, after years of walkmen, by making intentionally defective products
and I'll say it again:
If I can hear it, I can copy it.
These companies who are selling technology "solutions" to the piracy problem are like snake-oil salesmen selling cures to old ladies. It might make them feel better, but it doesn't make a damn bit of real difference.
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
Because we all know how terrible it is to let a friend borrow your movie or music. Jesus h christ.
The image is a dream, the beauty is real. Can you see the difference?
This is The RIAA's dream. Everyone has to buy new... it's no longer possible to sell your music or give it to your little brother.
However, the principle buyers of music, PCKs (Poor College Kids), won't bite because they sell their crappy cd's and buy used ones that they think they will like.
Disclaimer: I am a PCK.
You have to ask if mugshots are to follow. DNA sample to buy a CD ? This does tend to confirm that the music industry considers there customers criminals and feels they should be treated as such.
I can allready see the boost in music sales this will bring.
Or a piece of tape over the sensor....
The real question is what if they can individually mark the music you purchase, and hold you liable if that music shows up on the net?
Cash is going the way of the dodo. I imagine there will be some degree of outcry to this in general, but already almost everyone's using check cards, ATM cards, and what have you and the music industry just may decide to stop allowing the purchase of music with cash, effectively eliminating anonymous purchasing.
Copy protection is inherently breakable if you allow the person to play the music back. The same is not true for watermarking, and I wouldn't be surprised if they try to go this direction in the long run.
Does lending music to a friend not constitute as fare use?
What about when you die, if you have a sizeable music library (such could be considered an asset) how will your family be given access to it?
They are wasting their time.
Burn Bright or Fade Away
This is actually a great question the RIAA should ask. If this has no way of taking off in the porn industry, how the hell do they think they will pull this off to the general public. All great technologies of their time got their boost from porn (VHS, internet, etc)
If you can't sell it to the porn industry, aren't they just wasting their time?
From the linked article: "iVue: a wireless media player that allows content producers to lock down media files with biometric security. This week Veritouch announced that it had demonstrated the device to the RIAA and MPAA.
"In practical terms, VeriTouch's breakthrough in anti-piracy technology means that no delivered content to a customer may be copied, shared or otherwise distributed because each file is uniquely locked by the customer's live fingerprint scan," claims the company."
Now just who is going to buy this, a player that you can't let your mom or girlfriend (ok, that's not a problem for Slashdotters) or colleague borrow, that you can't use if your hand's in a cast or even in a glove (nobody plays MP3s on cold days?)?
And worse: how do you purchase tunes? Presumably, you'll have to present your fingerprint on purchase so it can be matched to the fingerprint when played. So will the media player lock you into purchasing only from merchants that process your fingerprint? How will you play free music -- like the legal live band recording at archive.org?
Perhaps it will also play fingerprint unencumbered music, but then what's the point?Why go to the extra trouble to purchase from a fingerprinting vendor, which at least will probably require hooking the player to your PC, providing the fingerprint, transmitting the stored fingerprint from the media player through the PC using some proprietary mechanism like an Active-X control?
again, who will want to pay extra to deal with having to provide a fingerprint?
The answer: no one.
So will it be legally mandated, or are the big record companies planning to stop selling CDs and sell only encrypted, DRM'd music? It has to be one of the two, or else this product has no market.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
It's funny -- you can lock down a player all you want, but not the output. Nothing stops you from running a standard audio cable from the output (headpone or speaker jack) of the DRM'd device into the input of an unrestricted device, thereby allowing you to copy the music.
Sure it's analog (unless you use S/PDIF), and there will be a slight reduction in quality, but it will definitely be a useable recording.
Yet another DRM technology defeated by a simply workaround.
-Jem
ALl they have to do is take a loss on it. if it's substantially cheaper than a iPod, people will buy it.
And I will publish a hack to circumvent the system on freenet, making in effect a super cheap iPod.
Everybody Wins!
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
Software should help people, bring people together, make stuff easier to do. It should not restrict us, seperate us, and make things harder to accomplish.
You might hate his music, but George Michael has released his LAST store CD release. Everything from now on will be available online only! This is a huge step forward for the artists themselves.
Bands like U2 and Aerosmith need to follow suit, drop their labels, do all their own production (which they do anyway) and sell their songs themselves. The day of the middle man making money off of the talent needs to come to a close. Our rights as consumers and fans are being infringed. The artists are the ones that need to step up.
Lars if you're listening, drop Electra and start doing it all yourselves. Control your own distribution!
Peace
You walk into the music shop.
You: I'd like to buy the latest... err.. Eminem single, please. Erm. As a present, you know. For my little brother.
Sales assistant: Certainly, if I can just take your fingerprint...
You: Fingerprint? I didn't know it was a crime to buy Eminem records. Yet. Although I'm sure somebody's working on it.
Sales assistant: No, no, it's just to stop other people from using it.
You: No, no, you don't understand. It isn't for me. It's a present.
Sales assistant: Sorry, we need a fingerprint.
You: He lives five hundred miles away.
Sales assistant: We can sell you a voucher? Or maybe you could get him to send his finger to you?