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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (170914)	9/10/2002 8:54:44 PM
From: NITT	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

re: "I knew there was a catch...that idea should go over like a lead ballon" Jim, The issue is intellectual property rights. If digital content cannot be protected, then one of two things happen: 1)People don't waste their time investing in new things 2)Honest people pay more than they should have to. The argument that we have been able to copy content all along is a weak one when you look at how easy and fast content can be copied and distributed... and it's only going to get easier and faster without some kind of protection. My take in the music industry is that if artists could control their content then many would be willing to bypass the very inefficient distribution network that is in place today. They could go direct to the consumer. Would some choose to screw you anyway, yes, but we would have access to so much more content that market forces would prevail. "Bad" artists would be punished by the marketplace if they got out of hand. In the software world, if MS used it to jack up prices, then others would step in and corporations and consumer groups would lead the charge to replace MS. The bottom line is MS could probably lower prices a bit and still get revenue growth if everyone was kept honest (no I don't think they will actually lower prices without a real competitive threat). Also, it would be hard to introduce a technology that offers more secure computing to the user that could not also be used to control pirating of content. You just cant have it both ways. Nitt PS: Even with all the new controls, I suspect there will be some level of pirating of Music and Video content at least. A a minimum you can always play it (go analog) and then go back to digital. Today we have people who sell movies that were recorded in the theater with a camcorder... and people actually buy them!