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Japan's Cell Phones May Get DRM, At Music Industry Behest

Posted by timothy on from the pleae-don't-say-anonymous-coward dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Japanese Music Industry is currently in talks with Japanese cell phone providers to introduce a new anti-piracy system in all cell phones in Japan. This new system would make DRM software mandatory in all cell phones; this would connect to a DRM server on the Internet whenever the cell phone user would try to play a song. The song would only play if the response of the server would be positive. Otherwise no song would be played. The system raises several questions and concerns that the Financial Times article did not address. These include ripped legally bought music and music that has been released under a CC license or similar. Who would pay for the costs of the DRM checks, and what would happen if no connection could be established?"

2 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Re:JASRAC Strikes Again... by rabiddeity · · Score: 4, Informative

    Some clubs faced retroactive fines in the tens of thousands of Yen and were forced to close down.

    Don't mean to break your stride, but you do realize that ten thousand yen is less than US$100, right?

  2. Re:Yet Another Sky Is Falling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, for most of the 1990s/early 2000s, personal computers took a distant second to mobile phones/PDAs in Japan for personal internet access. The degree of dominance changed while I was living there, but as late as 2007, most people people were still using their mobiles/cells for SMS/text messaging, email, and searching for information. It was just a very different set of expectations about what form data needed to be in to move to/from individuals.

    Most net cafes in Japan evolved from "manga-kissa": cafes where people could get a drink and read magazines in a semi-secluded booth for a bit. Rather than a single room with 15-40 PCs wedged into it, net cafes in larger cities in Japan have evolved into places where a person can rent a little bit of privacy with added amenities. It's not uncommon for people to pay JPY1500 for a package that allows them to stay from 11PM to 6AM in a cubicle with access to magazines, comics, PS2/3 games, DVDs, a net-connected PC, reclining office chair, and access to a shower. But for a lot of people the net access is far less important than the chance to sit down in a little bit of privacy, and maybe get cleaned up before they go back to the outside world.

    Aaaaaanyway, the point is that different people have different expectations of how tech and data should be presented, interacted with and controlled.