Anti-copying CDs up the copyright ante

Livewire ^ | March 28 2002 | Rod Easdown

[js1138]

Since there aren't really different grades and qualities of "digital"

DSS broadcasts all shows in digital, but some in HDTV. This requires two channels, but the composit content delivered to the display really is different. In theory it could be one signal.

[July 4th]

They blame the 10 per cent drop in music sales in the US last year squarely on illegal copying.

So, what do we all think the drop in music sales will be because you can't play these things on your computer? 10 percent more? I'd guess even higher than that.

[steve-b]

hey blame the 10 per cent drop in music sales in the US last year squarely on illegal copying.

Yeah, right! With the crap they've been cranking out lately they're lucky it's a 10 per cent drop rather than a drop to 10 per cent of previous sales.

[Wyatt's Torch]

Yeah, DSS is heavily compressed. The main issue is that the native content, to be truly considered hi-def has to be shot: 1) in 16X9 format and 2) has to be 480P, 720P or 1080i. Standard digital DSS signals are none of these. The hi-def signals, from a different sattelite, are native hi-def signals. You are correct about digital but to be hi-definition it has to conform to those standards.

[steve-b]

It's also designed to enforce various infringements on fair use such as region coding (i.e. you can't use a legally purchased DVD from abroad), fast-forward lockout (i.e. you have to wait through the ads every time), etc.

[SamAdams76]

I thought they shut bad old Napster down last year. Could the 10% drop in music sales be because they are putting out total crap for music? Could it be that people just don't like Britney Spears and N'Sync?

At any rate, many people do not realize that the music industry receives royalties on blank recording media in an agreement years ago that stipulated that consumers had the right to record their CDs for personal use. In exchange, it was decided that manufacturers of blank media would pay a percentage of their revenues to the recording industry. Now that the recording companies are making it not possible to record CDs onto blank media, will the recording industries have to return the royalties they have collected on blank media?

Sounds like we got grounds for a massive lawsuit here.

Since the recording industry has taken this tack, I have drastically reduced my CD purchases and instead I am now getting most of my music from MP3s downloaded off the web. Mostly through FTP.

[SauronOfMordor]

wouldn't it be simple for every digital device to embed its own serial number as a watermark. Fair use would not be inhibited, since all copies would remain in the owner's custody. But wild copies with the same watermark would be traceable.

Yes, the watermark would show that all those copies were made by unit xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx, which was purchased from Circuit City by somebody who paid cash

[steve-b]

Could it be that people just don't like Britney Spears and N'Sync?

I'll admit that Britney is easy on the eyes, though not so much on the ears. I can't comment on N'Sync; Homey don't swing that way.

[steve-b]

Big deal -- if you can tie someone to one illegal bootleg copy (through an collection of quaint old-fashioned methods known as "police work"), that gives the link to all the rest. Thus, it makes it possible to make reasonable distinctions between petty bootlegging (which ought to be punished, but not to the ridiculous extremes written into current copyright law) and industrial-scale counterfeiting (which ought to be punished to a degree commesurate with grand theft).