I don't believe the entertainment industry has the capabilities to do this.
What do you base this belief on? Co you possess any facts that lead you to conclude the entertainment industry is incapable of providing a more secure delivery system for copyright protected expression than DVD?
The Content Scrambling System (CSS) on current DVDs was easily cracked. The DeCSS code is easily found.
Yes, I am aware of DeCSS. It got much press; I read the papers. If anything, this supports the hypothesis that DVD is not an acceptable medium to be distribute PREMIUM CONTENT in digital format down a cable or satellite downlink so it can be stored and copied, then distributed free in epidemic proportions across the globe.
Re: Scour
Another site I am aware of. Again, this is further evidence of any hesitancy by the producers of copyrightable expression to push their MOST VALUABELE content down a cable pipe or DBS downlink to satisfy consumer VOD appetite. The content on Scour is far from premium. What I am talking about here is not some short 15 minute video, but full length feature films.
Again, I'm not sure the studios and MSO have this in them, even if it was technologically advanced enough to survive the people who would love to destroy it.
I detect a little "us v. them" attitude to all of this. Lemme say, I really have no vested position in this matter. But what you allude to is an ever-present game that goes in many sectors of our economy, and is inherent in any capitalistic system. There will always be forces, legal, as well as illegal, that will seek to overcome obstacles placed before consumers in their quest to maximize satisfaction of personal consumption, whether it be of goods or services, or of the almighty dollar.
My basic point here is that the studios are no dummies, unlike the RIAA. They are certainly not going to let the cat out the bag (permit their IP to be distributed legitimately into consumer homes only to be illegitimately copied and distributed with the greatest of east in a voluminous manner all over the globe via the Internet. If they can't make delivery of their IP secure, the won't deliver it. And the references you make here, IMHO, provide support for the possibility that less & less sought after content will find its way, legitimately, onto discs. If DVDs prove not secure in protecting IP rights, than you can be certain that more secure delivery packages are now being designed.
No system in the world is absolutely fool proof so that someone cannot figure out how to overcome the obstacles incorporated into the delivery system in order to protect the IP. But what is important is that it will likely be more difficult, costly, and time consuming for the lion's share of the consuming public to expend much effort to circumvent the barriers put in place to protect against IP piracy. However, I grant you, there will always be a select few who will spend the necessary time, effort and expense to "breach" such security systems for their own personal satisfaction. |
