[Infowarrior] - Siggraph: Taking on fair use, privacy and DRM

[Richard Forno]

If industry viewed people as 'customers' or 'clients' instead of 'consumers'
they would provide more usable products IMO.  I mean, 'consumers' are in the
business of 'consuming', not 'using' ... Which leads to a very one-sided
perception of product utilization needs from business, I think.

Semantic whining, I know.  Still, the word 'consumer' irks the hell out of
me.

-rf


Siggraph: Taking on fair use, privacy and DRM

By Candace Lombardi
http://news.com.com/Siggraph+Taking+on+fair+use%2C+privacy+and+DRM/2100-1047
_3-6100680.html

Story last modified Tue Aug 01 06:16:31 PDT 2006

BOSTON--"More choice for you" is the argument a Sony executive repeatedly
made when questioned about digital rights management during an open-mic
panel at Siggraph, a computer graphics industry conference held here this
week.

The panel let conference attendees question Sony directly about its digital
rights management (DRM) policies, and attendees and panelists weren't shy
about expressing their views.
Given the ease with which music, video and other information is distributed
digitally, DRM in some form or fashion is necessary to ensure such material
is bought and sold fairly and copyrights are protected, said Mitch Singer,
executive vice president of the digital policy group at Sony Pictures
Entertainment.

"I think fair play protected Steve Jobs' ability to protect his hardware so
that he could sell it for a lot more money. To allow consumers to have
choice to listen, buy or (participate in) subscription models--there is no
way around it unless you have a new system of DRM," Singer said.

In addition to Singer, the "Digital Rights, Digital Restrictions" panel
discussion featured Karen Sandler, an attorney from the Software Freedom Law
Center; Emru Townsend, founding editor of Frames Per Second magazine and a
contributor to PC World's Digital World blog; and Robert Ryang, a film
student who has created satirical adaptations of copyrighted films for the
Independant Film Channel. But it was Singer who got the most questions.

"The music industry was successful in shutting down Napster and MP3.com, but
you have to ask yourself: Wouldn't they (record companies) have been better
off if they had done deals with them? We (the film industry) are not smarter
than the music industry; there but for the grace of bandwidth go us," Singer
said in his opening remarks.

A barrage from the audience
Singer repeatedly tried to emphasize that Sony plans to work with the
changing dynamic of content and consumers as technology makes content
transfer easier. But the audience, familiar with many of the arguments in
favor of digital rights management, was well armed with questions and
complaints.

Many expressed anger over Sony's use of "rootkit" anticopying software as a
means of protecting copyright.

""I am not here to talk about rootkit. Symantec had been using it before
Sony BMG, and there was not this outcry," said Singer.

Questions from Siggraph attendees also concerned their annoyance with
regional coding, which prevents people from playing DVDs from one region of
the world on a DVD player in another, even though the customer purchased the
DVDs legally.

"Your industry's argument for coding is to control the release dates of
films from one country to the next, but it's still there on a 20- or
30-year-old film," one Siggraph attendee complained.

A case for interoperability
Singer shared an anecdote of how he, too, had been frustrated by regional
coding. He took the question as an opportunity to point out Sony's support
of interoperability for content--an approach that would allow movies or
music to be played on more than one type of device, according to Singer. He
was critical of Apple Computer's iTunes when it came to interoperability,
something he said he believed was going to be the key to the future of
content.

"The problem with DRM now is that we have no interoperability. When iTunes
consumers realize that they just spent all this money and then a new gadget
comes out from Sony or Microsoft or Samsung . . . I think there is going to
be a revolt when they realize they will not be able to transfer that content
to that device. Protect content, but make it transferable," said Singer.

His main argument for digital rights management was that it allows consumers
greater choice in how they consume content.

"When I think of DRM I think of enabling new offerings to the consumer.
Maybe a consumer wants to watch a movie, and for that the price may be
$1.99, for someone who wants to own it the price will be $9.99, or around
there, depending on the product," said Singer.

But both Townsend and Sandler pointed out to Singer that technological
models without DRM already exist to provide that option, and that the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act may be overreaching in the ways it protects
copyright and the mechanisms designed to do it, even if the mechanisms
prevent fair use.

"DMCA means that even if a court agreed you can make a copy for personal
use, it's illegal to crack the code," said Townsend.

"I am deeply suspicious of DRM technology in part because the DRM we see now
says that it protects copyright law, but it also prevents legitimate use,
for parity, news and education. (It) is overbroad for legitimate use. As the
restriction stands now, when public material falls in to the public domain,
the DRM tech stays in place and does not fall away. DRM also has the
potential to compromise privacy and security," said Sandler.

Singer acknowledged that there will always be piracy from "those who have
more time than money," such as college students, but that Sony's aim is to
make content convenient and reasonably priced and reasonably restricted
enough to prevent general working consumers from going to other channels.

While most agreed that such an aim would probably work, Townsend warned that
Sony should take cultural attitudes into account. While anime fans stopped
burning and distributing the Japanese films once they were available in the
U.S., said Townsend, it was done in large part because the fan base had a
respect for the anime industry. The contempt held by most young digital
consumers for large corporate content providers may carry over into their
adulthood, he said.

"Every year, millions of analog consumers die and millions of digital
consumers come into the marketplace, and we have to deal with them," Singer
said, noting that it was his job to remind Sony executives of that fact.

The discussion went on for almost two hours and didn't often stray from
concerns about fair and personal use, privacy and rights protection for
digital content. The criticism of Sony and its industry was fierce,
considering the audience consisted of computer graphics industry
professionals, who themselves benefit from the protections of copyright
laws. There was one source of consumer irritation, however, that Singer did
not even try to defend.

"Why, when I buy a DVD, am I forced to watch commercials?" an audience
member asked.

"I know. I agree. I'm with you there," Singer said, laughing.