I don’t know about you but I am into portable devices and CTIA is just a mobile tech fanatic’s dream land. Of course you have to wash your hands every hour but it’s worth it.
If you are in Las Vegas at the 2009 CTIA Wireless show this week and want to discuss Microsoft’s new PlayReady technology and how it’s being used in mobile devices and in Silverlight DRM, let me know and we can have someone brief you on that and get your feedback etc.
See you there!
I got so much response about this post FTC DRM Town Hall and in email and conversation this week that I thought I would share what is now my long-held view on the forms of DRM technology.
Christopher Levy’s Propose Classification for Common Forms of DRM:
1. Multimedia DRM: This form of DRM is a file-level wrapper where objects like audio/video files can be remotely unlocked using license keys.
Examples: Apple’s FairPlay DRM, Microsoft Windows Media Rights Manager, Adobe’s Flash Media Rights Manager
2. Application DRM: This form of DRM covers installers/exe/msi files where someone buys or acquires a game/software application which is encapsulated in a key/token/authorization interface to access the program components.
Example: The DRM on the recent SPORE Video Game, SecuROM, and the DRM present on most forms of Microsoft’s software applications.
3. Physical Media DRM: This form of DRM is the most widely-deployed with DVDs around the world utilizing this technology.
Examples: The DeCSS DVD encryption standard used on most mainstream DVDs as well as the infamous Sony RootKit which utilized First4Internet’s Extended Copy Protection (XCP) and SunnComm’s MediaMax CD-3 technologies.
4. Image DRM: This form of DRM typically allows conditional access to encrypted images via a web-browser and attempts to prevent common forms of screen-capture or video buffer dumps.
Examples: The former SealedMedia DRM platform now Oracle’s IRM platform
5. Document DRM: This form of DRM requires a licensing plug-in for common office suites like Microsoft’s Office where documents like word docs, excel sheets, web pages and emails are all encrypted and manged by an intermediary encryption/decryption layer.
Examples: Microsoft’s Informations Right’s Management Platform for Office 2007.
The EFF announced this morning that they are hosting a “panel” titled: “Hollywood, Digital Rights Management, and the Future of Digital Video” but they just forgot to invite anyone from Hollywood, or anyone from the Digital Rights Management Industry or anyone in the business of Selling Digital Video. BUT they are having a panel.
I sat and listened last week as the spokesperson from the EFF spoke at the FTC’s town hall on DRM and I guess I was expecting a stronger fact-based arguement. She clearly respresents some viewpoints held by those wanting to lump all forms of DRM into one industry even though we have entirely different segments, technologies and for the most part, customer bases.
Once the online video is back up you can see my presentation. I will attempt to upload it here later tonight but in the meantime let’s be clear there are three different prevailing forms of DRM. Because they adress significantly different problems for entirely different industries, the discussion about DRM needs to fall with the confines of being relative to the problem it wants to have dialogue about.
Other than having her arguments completely shredded into confetti by numerous attendess she did receive a tennis clap from one guy who said he was a Harvard Fellow researching the “negative effects of DRM” only to later find out he:
a. Wasn’t an expert
b. Had no idea how a modern license delivery platform works
c. Was clueless about the actual business of delivering DRM-managed content.
Not to mention the EFF _conveniently_ didn’t mention one word about the Google Video Fiasco because Google is a _significant_ contributor to the EFF, but they felt it was proper to rail on MSN Music and MLB for doing exactly the same thing.
It’s hard to understand who at the EFF actually comes up with their agenda. They didn’t have a _single_ consumer on hand to testify about their perceived negative effects of DRM and after I made my presentation, they literally had not one question for me or the other panelists. Of course this may be because they left as soon as ARSTechnica posted their lame hit piece.
Hey EFF: If you are reading this, I am formally demanding you provide an open platform for the bi-directional exchange of discourse on the effects of DRM. Your shotgun attempts at assassinating an entire industry are wholely unacceptable and they just further the reality that your organization is not capable of engaging in constructive, fact-based dialogues with the industry and consumers you preport to represent.
The FTC is holding the first ever, DRM Town Hall later this week in Seattle. I have been asked to present on the panel titled:
Panel 5: The Future of DRM
This panel will discuss technological developments, marketplace evolution, and new business models involving DRM, and how they may impact consumers.
From the FTC website:
The Federal Trade Commission and the Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic at the University of Washington School of Law will host a conference on the use of digital rights management technologies, a widespread practice that is expected to become increasingly prevalent in the U.S. marketplace in the coming years.
If you have something to contribute in this process, please come and do so. If you are with the EFF and just coming to disrupt the event and generally annoy all of the attendees, do us all a favor and just go get a latte and whine amongst yourselves.
Late last week there was a big dustup about ad-supported music play SpiralFrog going belly up. Rumors had been swirling for months that they had burned throug their $34M [wow that’s a LOT of bubble money] bucket of flies and confirmation came over the weekend that this is the case.
This is a bummer announcement for users of the service. They were getting FREE MUSIC THAT WAS LEGAL which they could listen to while working or relaxing or traveling on their PC’s. $34M was a lot of flies and it’s hard to imagine they blew through it so quickly given their business model. It could have been the big ca$h upfronts that the labels are requiring. Those payments are surely a shake down of music startups.
On Friday, Greg Sandoval from CNet did an interview with me regarding the state of ad-supported, DRM managed music. While I did not get to plug our customer QTrax enough, Greg put together a good piece:
SpiralFrog DRM music to play for 60 days, then vanish
In the past, I have to admit hammering Greg on some of his stories but after speaking with him I found him to be an affable and in touch writer who seems to be really looking to find the center of the story here for consumers and content owners. With CBS buying CNet, I wonder if their anti-MS slant will tilt at all?
Meanwhile, SpiralFrog’s former #1 contender, QTrax*, continues to grow and has secured music licenses from all of the major labels and is looking to expand into the middle east.
Check out their most current offering at: www.QTrax.com
*Yes, QTrax is a customer of my company BuyDRM.
