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TechnologyDaily Mobile
The Politics Of Copy Protection
by Sarah Lai Stirland
At $27,000 a pop, Kaleidescape's digitally networked home entertainment system is unlikely to become as ubiquitous as Apple's iPod media player anytime soon. Yet technology and entertainment industry players believe that Mountain View, Calif-based Kaleidescape represents the future of entertainment.
Kaleidescape's entertainment server enables consumers to store hundreds of movies, digital photographs and other media centrally and allows them to access that content from anywhere in their homes. The system is just one of an emerging category of electronics products that aims to give consumers the ability to digitally store and network home entertainment.
But according to industry players who gathered recently in Santa Monica, Calif., to network and assess the state of their businesses, a lack of synchronization between the entertainment and technology industries on copy-protection schemes could make that future a distant one. Others worry that a lack of coordination both among electronics manufacturers and among technology companies and the entertainment industry in general could hurt the entertainment industry. They worry that if copy-protection schemes make electronics devices too confusing, consumers will turn to illegal but easier methods of networking their home entertainment.
"We are where the music industry was in 1999," said Mitch Singer, executive vice president of the digital policy group at Sony Pictures Entertainment. "Every single time we miss an opportunity to deliver a new business model, we leave revenue on the table."
Toward A Networked World
Singer envisions a world where digital entertainment is available on any device. Consumers filling their cars with gasoline should be able to download movies onto their cars' hard drives, for example, he said. "The question facing us right now is: What's slowing it down and holding it back? All the pieces exist today."
One answer is that each company is developing a digital-rights management (DRM) system according to the business model at hand, according to panelists who spoke last week at the Digital Hollywood conference. "One size does not fit all," said Janet Snowden, the business development manager of IBM's digital media group.
Talal Shamoon, CEO of the copy-protection technology licensing and research company Intertrust, noted that movie studios, for example, may choose one kind of protection when delivering content through telecommunications networks but another for protecting copies of pre-release movies to movie critics.
And Scott Smyers, vice president of Sony Electronics' network and systems architecture division, said cross-industry negotiations over technical standards themselves can be laborious because industry participants get stuck arguing over basics, such as the best method to transfer content from servers to televisions.
Don Whiteside, Intel's vice president of legal and governmental affairs, agreed. "The belief that we're going to get all DRM vendors out there to agree to share everything I think is a wonderful goal, but it's a huge challenge," he said. "In the interim, we need to look for some of the existing technologies for rudimentary, bilateral interoperability and really get them deployed today."
Signs Of Progress?
Some in the industry are cynical about the future. Intertrust's Shamoon said Apple Computer's iTunes music service has been a success not because of consumer acceptance but because Apple chief Steve Jobs single-handedly convinced the recording labels of the security of Apple's proprietary system. Ultimately, the success of any system lies in the hands of copyright owners who give the green light for the technology to be deployed, he said.
But industry players should not be too pessimistic over the pace of progress and cross-industry cooperation, Whiteside said. In particular, he said the fact that close to 100 million devices now support the digital transmission content protection (DTCP) system represents progress. A group formed in 1998 by Hitachi, Intel, Matsushita Electric, Sony and Toshiba created the system. Its goal is to let consumers make home copies of digital content but to frustrate any attempts to retransmit the movie studios' products over the Internet.
In addition, movie and electronics companies are working to complete copy-protection standards for the latest digital videodiscs for high-definition television. The Blu-ray Disc Association, a group of electronics companies and content companies, is developing such discs and will announce later this year that it is incorporating technology to prevent mass copying, said Andy Parsons, a senior vice president at Pioneer Electronics.
IBM's Snowden also said that at a National Association of Broadcasters' show later this month, her company intends to showcase the progress of members of a group known as the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator.
At the Digital Hollywood conference, some attendees wondered whether a lack of coordination among industry participants on copy protection would trigger government intervention. Panelists were quick to say publicly that private industry negotiations ultimately would resolve the issues. But privately, some said they would not be surprised if the FCC intervenes.
It is not clear that the FCC has that authority. A panel of judges at the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is currently considering whether the agency can dictate copy-protection standards. After the agency started implementing the "broadcast flag" technology to inhibit the online distribution of digital television shows, a group of nonprofits including Public Knowledge and the American Library Association asked the court to address the issue.
Kaleidescape In Court
Kaleidescape's business, meanwhile, is under attack. The DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA), a group formed by large entertainment and technology companies, has sued company in California's Santa Clara County Superior Court.
Like all other legal electronics products that can read DVDs, Kaleidescape's system licenses the DVD CCA's copy-protection system. The DVD CCA's complaint charges that Kaleidescape violated the terms of its license by letting customers replay content without having the physical DVDs in their systems. The contract requires that electronics products use the original DVDs for authentication while the machines play the movies.
The suit argues that Kaleidescape lets consumers resell or otherwise share the contents of their original DVDs after they have copied the discs onto their servers. In addition to damages, the suit seeks to stop Kaleidescape from making its system available.
Michael Malcolm, the company's founder and CEO, has said his company has abided by the contract and has tried to incorporate a robust copy-protection regime into its system. In a filing with the court, the company said DVD CCA has no legal basis for its suit and asked the judge to dismiss the case. The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments May 3.
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