[Infowarrior] - EFF on Zune: Risk of DRM/DMCA checkmate no longer a risk. It's reality

[Richard Forno]

EFF on Zune: Risk of DRM/DMCA checkmate no longer a risk. It's reality
Posted by David Berlind @ 6:58 am
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=3626

By way of Cory Doctorow, comes a pointer to the Electronic Frontier
Foundation's take on Microsoft's new Zune: a brand that has broken ranks
with the Redmond-based company's previous digital rights management (DRM)
strategy that attempted to establish an ecosystem of compatibility (under
the name "PlaysForSure") between content merchants (ie: AOL, Yahoo, Amazon,
etc.), the copy protection on the content they sold, and the software and
devices that could play that content.

Critics of DRM (including me) have long warned of the risks of strategy,
policy, and technology shifts amongst the various DRM stakeholders
(technology companies, entertainment companies, copyright holders, etc.):
namely that consumers could wake up one morning to learn that the rules
regarding legal playback of their content investments (audio, video, images,
etc.) may have changed to the point that they'll probably have to, at some
point,M re-buy their favorite music and video all over again. In the US, the
Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) has, with few exceptions (none of
which apply here), outlawed circumvention of content copy protection. So,
with Microsoft's Zune, now comes proof that these were not Chicken Little
warnings.  Wrote the EFF's Derek Slater:

    Microsoft's Zune will not play protected Windows Media Audio and Video
purchased or "rented" from Napster 2.0, Rhapsody, Yahoo! Unlimited,
Movielink, Cinemanow, or any other online media service. That's right ‹ the
media that Microsoft promised would Play For Sure doesn't even play on
Microsoft's own device. Buried in footnote 4 of its press release, Microsoft
clearly states that "Zune software can import audio files in unprotected
WMA, MP3, AAC; photos in JPEG; and videos in WMV, MPEG-4, H.264" ‹ protected
WMA and WMV (not to mention iTunes DRMed AAC) are conspicuously absent.ŠŠ

    Š..This is a stark example of DRM under the DMCA giving customers a raw
deal. Buying DRMed media means you're locked into the limited array of
devices that vendors say you can use. You have to rebuy your preexisting
DRMed media collection if you want to use it on the Zune. And you'll have to
do that over and over again whenever a new, incompatible device with
innovative features blows existing players out of the waterŠ.

    Š.The real culprit here is the DMCA ‹ but for that bad law, customers
could legally convert DRMed files into whatever format they want, and tech
creators would be free to reverse engineer the DRM to create compatible
devices. Even though those acts have traditionally been and still are
non-infringing, the DMCA makes them illegal and stifles fair use,
innovation, and competition.

    Š.May this be a lesson to those who mistakenly laud certain DRM as
"open" and offering customers "freedom of choice" simply because it is more
widely-licensed than other formats. With DRM under the DMCA, nothing truly
plays for sure, regardless of whether you're purchasing from Apple,
Microsoft, or anyone elseŠ.

Doctorow drove straight to the irony of the situation when he wrote
"Microsoft's iPod-killing Zune player won't play music that's locked up with
Microsoft's own anti-copying software."

Don't say you weren't warned.