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.

Comments

Almost fair....

[wvitXpert]

Having your music locked to you instead of your computer almost sounds fair. I did say almost...

But seriously,

[Botchka]

how is it that this will benefit consumers in the slightest? If I understand this correctly, I would have to swipe my fingerprint on this device in order to listen to my cd????? WTF?? How is it that the RIAA continues to dabble in unfettered gestapo tactics and still have any artists to represent?? This is a joke. If artists really want to make more money, put out some decent music. I'm sorry but Britney Spears doesn't count as decent music and the RIAA needs to be stopped.

right from RIAA.com Everything that the RIAA is active on--fostering a viable music marketplace online, preventing piracy, fighting censorship--is based on one premise: It all starts with the music and the music starts with the artist. The artist creates the music that jolts you back in your chair, whisks you across the dance floor, or freezes you in reverie. Music marks key moments in our lives. Memories of first loves, bitter battles, and sweet triumphs are all brought back by that favorite song. You "own" that anthem now, but it started with the artist. They all create different music, yet with the same passion to connect. Different path, same goal. When the connection is made -- look out. Music moves us. Music unites us. Not many art forms are as expansive, evocative, poignant, or powerful. That's why, around the globe, the artist is embraced, honored, banned and sometimes feared. Nothing communicates like music does. To do his or her best, the artist needs a supportive environment. That is a goal of RIAA. RIAA fights to preserve freedom of speech, copyright protection, and a positive environment in which to create and distribute music -- on and off the Internet. No one drops from the sky a rock star. It's hard work. Breaking through is a struggle. You don't start at #1 on the Billboard chart. No one knows that better than the artist, which is why the artist is often his or her own best advocate in the public policy arena. At RIAA we do all we can to make sure those voices are heard in the nation's capital and in state capitals across the country.

So let's alienate the fans even more. Yeah, lets treat everyone like they're a criminal just because they want to listen to a cd. The RIAA could have jumped onboard the downloadable content bandwagon in the beginning AND promoted fair-use rights all along. Fuck them. I'm going to boycott ANY and EVERY artist that the RIAA represents because my hard earned money is exactly that, MY HARD EARNED MONEY. I'll support artists that are busting their chops putting on great concerts and selling cd's out of the back of a van and encouraging you to rip it to your computer. Screw all those so called 'artists' and the fifteen cars they have in their million dollar garages..bastards.

Re:Well

[HiThere]

A couple of weeks? I cut my thumb in college (stupid accident in a chem lab). It's now over 30 years later and the scar is still just starting to fade.

Re:It's been said before...

[Saeger]

I'm no snake-oil salesman, but I *do* have a surefire solution to copyright infringement... I mean piracy:

1. Accelerate the New World Order totalitarian government takeover conspiracy (hello my freemason brothers!).
2. Mandate fuzzy-sounding "Trusted Computing" and the "Secure Internet" infrastructure, effectively putting the internet genie back in the bottle.
3. Profit!

--

Re:Riaa's Dream

[orthogonal]

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.

No, the RIAA's dream is mandatory cochlear implants with attached DRM'd combination locks and a coin slot.

I mean, why should the music on someone else's boombox or stereo be free for you?

"Please deposit twenty-five cents for another minute of music."

Re:Not the point

[bryanp]

While Amazon may not accept cash directly they do accept money orders, which may be purchased with cash at your local post office without any form of identification being required. So effectively, yes they do accept cash, as money orders are an accepted way of paying by cash through the mail.

And yes, I do know someone who buys things online this way. A friend of mine is a little funny about his money - he doesn't use checks or credit cards or check cards or what not. He pays for everything with cash or money order. He orders things from Newegg quite regularly via money order.

Re:just watch...

[deacon]

I know you are just joking, but it is more likely that what will be made unlawful is sound cards or other recording devices with:

Line in

or

Mic in

8 ohm or 30 ohm resistors(whatever the impedance of a headphone speaker is), wire, plugs, solder, and knowledge are far too common to ban.

Interesting Technology, Wrong Application

[sloth jr]

Unless technology provides any useful upside for the consumer, it's not going to pan out. This technology could be used as a basis for global authentication, making tedium like PGP keys a thing of the past. Instead, the makers concentrate on protecting content providers.

Think small.

Great

[Pan T. Hose]

So now people will have to send digital photographs of their fingerprint together with digital content, so people could reproduce it Tsutomu Matsumoto style:

"His more interesting experiment involves latent fingerprints. He takes a fingerprint left on a piece of glass, enhances it with a cyanoacrylate adhesive, and then photographs it with a digital camera. Using PhotoShop, he improves the contrast and prints the fingerprint onto a transparency sheet. Then, he takes a photo-sensitive printed-circuit board (PCB) and uses the fingerprint transparency to etch the fingerprint into the copper, making it three-dimensional. (You can find photo-sensitive PCBs, along with instructions for use, in most electronics hobby shops.) Finally, he makes a gelatin finger using the print on the PCB. This also fools fingerprint detectors about 80% of the time."

I wonder how long before the first universal fingerprint starts circulating like proprietary software activation codes do today.

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.

Let me guess... Those geniuses from VeriTouch haven't read this 1998 essay by Bruce Schneier, have they? So... They have finally invented a working copy-prevention technique. Bravo. I've been waiting for literally decades. Have they also invented a lossless compression of random data by any chance? Because it would be great if they had. It would make my network faster. Also, I would like a pony. My God, what a waste of time...

Re:Not the point

[nolife]

Hire an independent contractor to do some type of tradesman job for you (home repair, etc.), and you'll find that they greatly appreciate it if you pay them in cash.

And the fact that if and when you find out they ripped YOU off, they are harder to track down. I know this is a somewhat common practice to want cash but I'd guess that a business owner willing to defraud the government is running a shacky business and more willing to defraud you also. I'd only pay cash for contracting/helping hand work to someone I positively know.

No need to do any analysis

[maxwell demon]

A perfect audio compression algorithm would remove exactly everything you don't hear. Since watermarks cannot be heared, an ideal audio compressor would therefore just remove them.

Although a perfect audio compressor doesn't exist (and probably won't ever), this shows that all watermark mechanisms are inherently fragile on improved audio compression algorithms. That is, algorithms which weren't developed with the intent of removing watermarks, but just with the intent of saving memory/bandwidth.