January 2 -- First
International Digital, Inc. (FID) and Songdog Network, Inc have
announced a new twist to MP3 technology with the announcement
of MP3i technology. The new technology is reported to allow for
protective control over the file format, along with allowing
more advanced features in playback then a typical MP3. The technolgy's
"secure synchronized interactivity" of graphics during
playback allows for the display of the song's lyrics, images,
or advertisements as the song plays. The technology is reported
to also feature a robust but easy to use encryption/decryption
scheme along with unique user-specific transaction ID's, something
that may turn some users off to the new technology.
January 16 -- Word
has it that Princeton University computer science professor Edward
Felten, who recently participated in a group which claims to
have cracked SMDI (the Secure Digital Music Initiative), is now
being silenced over fear of litigation.
But who and what is Professor
Felton exactly afraid of? After all, the group working with the
professor flat out refused to participate in the recent "Hack
SDMI Challenge" so it would be able to talk publicly about
its results, and not be locked in a non-disclosure agreement.
It seems that even considering this, there still could be potential
problems if the professor goes public with his results.
Under the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act, the companies backing the Secure Digital Music
Initiative may very well be able to go after him and his team
if he publishes his results to the public.
For now, following the advice
of his legal counsel, Professor Felten stays silent.
January 22 -- IBM
has stated that they will be releasing a new version of their
anti-music piracy software, upping the ante in the ever growing
fight for a working digital rights management solution for the
recording industry.
While exact details are not
available at the time of this story, the service works in this
manner. IBM's new software solution still allows unlimited transfer
between users, but placed in effect built-in restrictions. These
"built-in restrictions" would permit the next person
in line attempting to listen to the peer-to-peer or otherwise
shared music to only play back the music once, or for the first
30 seconds of the song, a setting controlled by the digital music
copyright holder of the music being shared.
The new software also features
the ability to limit playback by region, much like that of current
DVD technology. IBM is wise to admit that while the software
offers quite a bit of that recording industry executives have
been demanding in a copyright protective digital rights management
software package, it is certainly not hacker proof.
The company has stated that
is working with several companies the likes of Real Networks
and MusicMatch Jukebox to offer built in plug-ins for direct
sales and various payback options to copyright holders directly
from the players in the future.
February 4 -- While
the management of digital audio delivery online is something
that Microsoft been aiming to control for sometime since the
inception of Windows Media, it seems Microsoft has been building
some new features into the Windows operating system which further
assist in giving copyright holders security.
The "Secure Audio Path"
technology scrambles the audio output from a PC's soundcard,
thus eliminating the ability to record the audio at that point.
This technology is already present in the "WindowsME"
or Windows Millennium edition of the Windows OS.
Existing users of Windows Media
Player have already seen some of what Microsoft has in mind for
their future digital rights management solution. The player features
an advanced level of security found in a lot of competitive DRM
solutions. Some of these features include the ability for a limited
amount of playback time and the ability to force users to obtain
licenses in order for digital media playback to be enabled. While
these are necessary evils in the ever growing digital entertainment
revolution, changing some of the hardware capability of the end
user's system may be going a bit to far, at least in the minds
of the end users I am sure.
One thing is for certain however,
whatever Microsoft has in mind to enforce for their digital rights
management solution they are already working on implementing.
Most likely, the resulting DRM solution is something that the
average user will certainly not be aware of at all.
The fine lines of privacy vs.
piracy are growing thinner.
February 8 -- Intel
has unleashed a new set of API's (application programming interface)
for their "Peer-to-Peer Trusted Library", allowing
developers to pack in support for peer authentication, encryption,
digital signatures and secure storage of files. Intel hopes to
provide the P2P (peer-to-peer) development community with a method
of securing applications being developed for P2P file exchange.
Thus, allowing the control of content distributed through these
systems.
Intel has been a large supporter
of P2P technologies for quite some time, recognizing the next
level of networking and online distribution as a large key to
the future of online business. Intel has been using internal
forms of P2P file sharing since the early 1990's, and has recently
formed the peer-to-peer group www.peer-to-peerwg.org to attempt
to draft standards for the future of the technology.
April 12 -- Microsoft
Corp. and RealNetworks Inc. are working to together in order
to steer music lovers away from the very popular MP3 format.
Instead, the companies are encouraging users to use proprietary
software formats. Microsoft and RealNetworks say that the audio
sound will be significantly better but will also make it harder
to share copyright-protected songs.
The Wall Street Journal is
reporting that Microsoft plans to severely limit the quality
of music that can be recorded as an MP3 file using software built
into the next version of its personal-computer operating system,
Windows XP. On the other hand, music recorded with the software
company's own format, Windows Media Audio, will sound clearer
and require far less storage space on a computer.
April 20 -- Record
labels and the RIAA were forcing Napster to make a move on their
current stand over blocking copyright-infringed songs. The pressure
worked because early today Napster Inc. announced it licensed
privately held Relatable's acoustic fingerprinting technology
to help filter songs in compliance with their injunction.
Relatable, an Alexandria, Virginia
based company, is a leading provider of advanced content identification
and personalization technologies for the digital delivery of
audio and video content. Relatable technologies help create a
new level of personalized commercial entertainment services.
"Digital fingerprinting
technologies are developing rapidly, and Relatable's new acoustic
fingerprinting technology shows great promise. We are now working
closely with Relatable's engineers to coordinate their technology
with our file filtering systems; we hope they will be a substantial
part of our overall filtering solution," said Hank Barry,
chief executive of Napster.
Napster officials also added
that they hope to incorporate Relatable technology into Napster's
current file screening system and into a new membership service
which can hopefully launch this summer.
April 25 -- Back
in September of 1999, the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI)
held a $10,000 contest challenging computer pros to hack into
copyright protection technologies. Now those computer aces, who
foiled four different copyright protection technologies, are
being asked by the record companies to suppress their findings.
Professor Edward Felten and
his academic hacking group from Princeton University were the
ones who answered SDMI's challenge and now they have been threatened
with legal action if they go through with plans to reveal how
they cracked the anti-piracy codes. The group had planned to
reveal the results of their efforts later this week at the Fourth
International Information-Hiding Workshop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
but now those plans are on hold.
Earlier this month, Felten
received a letter from SDMI and the Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA) urging him to refrain from discussing his findings
or face potential legal action. "Any disclosure of information
gained from participating in the Public Challenge would be outside
the scope of activities permitted by the Agreement and could
subject you and your research team to actions under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act ..." stated the letter.
SDMI had hoped their challenge
was a way to foolproof their anti-piracy efforts before adopting
it as an industry wide standard.
May 15 -- Users
of the retail version of Windows XP will be required to contact
Microsoft when first installing the OS, and on subsequent installations.
This is designed as an anti-piracy feature, as it will limit
the number of times the software can be installed on different
hardware. Microsoft is
refusing to tell customers what that cut off point is. Duncan
Reid, product services group manager at Microsoft, defended the
company's decision, and told silicon.com: "We are not being
explicit on details because we don't want to make life easy for
unscrupulous hackers."
September 10 -- With
the help of Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), the powerful chairman of
the Senate Commerce committee, the RIAA hopes to embed copy-protection
controls in nearly all consumer electronic devices and PCs. All
types of digital content, including music, video and e-books,
are covered. This means radios, televisions, cell phones, basically
anything with a microchip inside. Hard drives, CD-ROMs, floppies,
you name it. We're not just talking CD Recorders, but anything
that receives or uses an electronic signal. TIVO, Satellite TV,
Cable,
The Security Systems Standards
and Certification Act (SSSCA), scheduled to be introduced by
Hollings, backs up this requirement with teeth: It would be a
civil offense to create or sell any kind of computer equipment
that "does not include and utilize certified security technologies"
approved by the federal government. According to the draft, the
law would require all digital devices -- computers, software,
digital audio and video recorders, digital assistants and electronic
book readers -- to prevent unauthorized copying and playback
by using security technologies selected by the Secretary of Commerce.
The law would require devices to include all certified technologies,
not just one, and would require Internet service providers and
web sites to store and transmit data with them, too.
It also creates new federal
felonies, punishable by five years in prison and fines of up
to $500,000. Anyone who distributes copyrighted material with
"security measures" disabled or has a network-attached
computer that disables copy protection is covered.
