DRM has finally met the beginning of its end, it seems, as Sony BMG has announced decisions to sell releases without the attached copyright protection software – the last of the ‘Major 4’ labels to do so. For over a decade now DRM has been employed as a means to control the digital distribution of music over illegal channels such as peer2peer communities like Gnutella, however DRM has long been lambasted by legitimate music fans and buyers who wish for the freedom to house their music, that they lawfully own, across multiple platforms – an option removed via the inclusion DRM.
While the anti-piracy intentions of the DRM efforts were good, in principal, this has fast become another antiquated means of copyright that more often than not affects mainly those who acquire the product legitimately, while pushing others towards the very same p2p networks that it intended to put an end to, as the consumers look for the freedom they should be entitled to over how they listen to their music. “DRM is like going into your local stereo shop and having to purchase a DVD player for each movie studio.” Stated one disgruntled blogger, while many more consumers were subject to great frustration when, in 2005, Sony BMG embedded a form of DRM in their CDs that, when played on a PC, left the machines vulnerable to viruses. DRM, I can guarantee, will not be missed.
So it’s good news for the consumer. Or is it?
DRM was one effort to stem the flow of digital information onto p2p networks, but in its wake lies suggestions of new efforts to cut the flow, though this time not to the p2p communities, but from them. Presumably unrelated, but linked none the less to the DRM story, the RIAA and IFPI are looking at other means to control file-sharing. New preventative measures are being suggested, this time at the ISP level with both said organizations – alongside the likes of NBC, Microsoft, and communications giants AT&T – discussing the practicalities and facilitation of ISP filtering. What this means is that your Internet Service Provider could soon be screening the files you are receiving, at network-level, in an attempt to find copyright infringing items. The IFPI and RIAA wants ISPs to exercise more control and responsibility by starting to block unauthorized music transfers, as well as block any BitTorrent traffic. Further encouraged measures could even extend to ISPs completely blocking access to any “specific P2P services that are known to be predominantly infringing and that have refused to implement steps to prevent infringement”
While taxation at an ISP level may be more appealing to some it has weighty repercussions with regards to worldwide implementation, and when viewed against a screening suggestion, ISP filtering seems far more executable in the short-term. It’s success is by no means a definite and based on a trial basis, can be replaced by a taxation method if it fails to work.
I cannot say i like the sound of this allowance of information moderation that could be handed to the ISPs that have, up until now, provided me with the wide-open information super-highway that I have come to love, but the power lies with the money and the money lies with the big-hitters.
Watch this space…
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