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Microsoft Patents DRM'd Torrents
Anonymous Crobar writes "Microsoft has received a patent for a 'digital rights management scheme for an on-demand distributed streaming system,' or using a P2P network to distribute commercial media content. The patent, #7,639,805, covers a method of individually encrypting each packet with a separate key and allowing users to decrypt differing levels of quality depending on the license that has been purchased."
It makes it easier to pay than to steal. Nothing's going to stop thieves from thievery.
But some of us have bank accounts and jobs and would rather pay $4 than steal from someone.
Im sure everyone here knows your stance by now...but for those that dont, allow me to translate what you just said...
It's a great way of monetizing uncontrollable(by me) distribution channels. Easily allow anyone and their goldfish to distribute large content freely(at no charge to me), and effectively charge(I collect money from the freely given resources of others without compensation) at the codec level. Certainly solves a good half of the people-steal-everything problem.(except for the fact that you are 'stealing' others resources without compensating them)
First, how can you be 'stealing' others resources when you have no contact with them, no control over their actions, and they're the ones "freely" distributing your works? If they don't want to do it, they can delete that torrent. Or quit their torrent application. Or hit pause. Or any number of other ways. There's no 'stealing' of resources involved.
Second, you say "freely given resources of others", but you're referring only to the electricity and cpu cycles - there's also a copyrighted work involved, which they can't freely give, because they don't have the right to do so absent a license agreement.
1. patent something. 2. patent it "...on a computer". 3. patent it "...on a network". 4. patent it "...with DRM". 5. patent it "???". 6. Profit!!1!
[Citation needed]
There actually aren't any "X... on a computer!" patents because patents don't work that way. There are misleading articles and misleading summaries that characterize a particular patent as "X... on the Internet!" or "X... but on a computer!", but those bear as much relation to the patent as your post does to a funny joke.