Content Lock-In and Corporate Authorship
It would seem that Kathryn Cramer has reached the same conclusion that I have about DRM quite independently - its not about preventing copying - it's all about content lock in or "corporate authorship" as Kathryn calls it.
If digital watermarking schemes for DRM are put into practice, they may have little effect on the problem of bootleg versions of mega-corporate products. However, as discussed in the comment section, they may be quite effective about keeping digital artistic productions by individuals out of the distribution system: in the end, what DRM may accomplish is forcing individuals to give big corporations a cut for distribution just to get the authorized watermarking.
I believe, and have done for a while now, that the DRM madness has a hidden agenda - and that hidden agenda is to make it impossible for anyone to produce music or films that have not got the corporate seal of approval on them.
By extending DRM to many devices the day will come when you can make as much music as you like, distribute it for free in MP3 or OGG format - and no-one will be able to listen to it because the devices will refuse to play it without the hidden watermark.
So watermark-style DRM may do very little to prevent the "piracy" about which the big media corporations are up in arms, it may be the killer app of corporate authorship.
I don't care whether its called "corporate authorship" or "content lock-in" - the effect is the same - to kill the new forms of distribution and freedom engendered by the web and to ensure that whenever something is popular - the big media companies will always get their cut.
The web has great potential for short-circuiting tradional means of distribution and killing the stranglehold that Big Media have over what we read, watch and listen to.
This is not about losing 100,000 sales of Madonna's new single because it is copied illegaly - this is to do with consolidating the total and complete control of Big Media over everything we call "entertainment" - magazines, books, music, films, television and games - and beyond - to control the way we think about eveything.
Tags: piracy pirates dmca drm big media copyright violation riaa free speech