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The Recording Industry's Failed Digital Strategy

Posted by kdawson on from the north-winds-of-change dept.

An anonymous reader sends us a link to the Toronto Star, where Michael Geist has a terrific article on how the record labels got the Internet completely wrong. While somewhat specific to Canada, the article' arguments are more broadly applicable. The article links together the misplaced reliance on DRM and the Canadian industry's advocacy for increasing levies on blank media to demonstrate just how wrong-headed this strategy has turned out to be.

3 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Network providers by MichaelSmith · · Score: 5, Interesting

    TFA:

    Indeed, there are better solutions out there - levies tied to network providers make more sense (and are already replicated by cable television levies for retransmission of content) - and there is a need to cover both peer-to-peer and the non-commercial use of content in user-generated content.

    So now what? A tax on internet access? Charging per port?

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  2. Ah, some are coming around... by skoaldipper · · Score: 5, Interesting

    EMI sounds like some smart CIO refreshed their memory on the failures of DIVX; introduced in part by Circuit City to negate the early years of an open DVD format. If you wanted to "own" your movie, you just purchased a "silver" status (at more or less the same cost of a DVD) but were only able to view it on your DIVX player (and other hoops to jump through). Sound familiar? You do not need these lock down schemes to part my money from my wallet. Just look at my DVD and CD shelf. Really, you don't need DRM.

    --
    I hope, when they die, cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.
  3. Article doesnt mention DE-AACS by plasmacutter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    AACS was the advertised poster child of "perfected" DRM. Everyone kept holding that up as the end of DRM cracking. It is dead now, and suddenly nobody in the media is mentioning it.

    Trusted computing is the last on the table, though I don't really classify it's completed implementation as DRM.

    Because the "ideal" trusted computing platform is built to refuse to run unsigned code period, a "trusted computing" compliant computer really cannot be classified as general purpose any more than a box wrench could be classified as a screwdriver.

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    VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!