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DRM Take II — Digital Personal Property

Posted by timothy on from the shhh-you're-disturbing-my-metaphors dept.

Diabolus Advocatus writes "Ars Technica has an article on a new form of DRM being considered by the IEEE. It's called Digital Personal Property and although it removes some of the drawbacks of conventional DRM it introduces new drawbacks of its own. From the article: 'Digital personal property (DPP) is an attempt to make consumers treat digital media like physical objects. For instance, you might loan your car to a friend, a family member, or a neighbor. You might do so on many different occasions and for different lengths of time. But you are unlikely to leave the car out front of your house with the keys in it and a sign on it saying, "Take me!" If you did, you might never see the vehicle again. It's that ability to lose control over property that is central to the DPP system. DPP files are encrypted. They can be freely copied and distributed to anyone, but here's the trick: anyone who can view your content can also "steal" it irrevocably. The simple addition of a way to lose content instantly leads consumers to set up a "circle of trust" that can be as wide as they like but will not extend to total strangers on the Internet.'"

3 of 356 comments (clear)

  1. dear IEEE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Dear IEEE,

    No thanks.

    Sincerely yours,

          Everybody

  2. Whoops by Microlith · · Score: 5, Informative

    The IEEE fails to take into account something rather major here:

    First, that sounds like a royal goddamn pain in the ass and I'm a freaking software engineer. There's a reason the iPod has been so popular.

    They can be freely copied and distributed to anyone, but here's the trick: anyone who can view your content can also "steal" it irrevocably. The simple addition of a way to lose content instantly leads consumers to set up a "circle of trust" that can be as wide as they like but will not extend to total strangers on the Internet.'"

    No it doesn't, it instantly leads to people who quickly and repeatedly lose access to things they pay for, as malicious script kiddies get into their machines that they've added to the latest and greatest botnet, copy the files off, and snag the key. I can see people jacking those keys being as popular as sniffing for world of warcraft accounts.

    And it gets even more confusing:

    . To access the content inside, however, you'll need the playkey, which is delivered to the buyer of a digital media file and lives within "tamper-protected circuit" inside some device (computer, cell phone, router) or online at a playkey bank account. Controlling the playkey means that you control the media, and you truly own it, since no part of the system needs to phone home, and it imposes no restrictions on copying (except for those that arise naturally from fear of loss).

    So this key is moved into a tamper-protected circuit (irrelevant, no?) that is device exclusive. So you stick it in your phone so your music files only work there, or on your desktop and they only work there, or online and it's not even in your hands (but useless if you're not online) and this license can easily be moved around and if taken, fucks you permanently. But also somehow is magically secure enough that I can't just use it to decrypt the files and strip the DRM? And I can't somehow duplicate this key? What about key backups?

    As dumb an idea as ever, I suggest the IEEE leave this one to rot in the dustbin, and stop letting the media companies push the tech industry around.

  3. Slashvertisement to another level by vivaoporto · · Score: 5, Informative
    Although it says "IEEE" in the summary, TFA name names:

    That's the dream of Paul Sweazey, who's heading up a new study group on "digital personal property" at the IEEE.

    A quick Google search brings his Linkedin profile, along with his current job position:

    President
    TeleBind, Inc.

    (Online Media industry)

    February 2009 -- Present (8 months)

    That leads us to his company homepage, Telebind Inc. Not surprisingly, their sole product is "technology and tools to create ownable Digital Property".

    This is nothing but a pitiful attempt to pass astroturfing as a peer (or standardization group) reviewed article. And it is more probable that not even he believe on his product, but want to suck a few into his scam, just like the ones who sold the rootkit to Sony.