Tuesday, March 23, 2004
New "Lightweight DRM" Proposal from Fraunhofer Institute
Posted by Pat Logsdon in "NEWS" @ 03:00 PM
The Fraunhofer Institute has proposed a new digital rights management scheme that may actually please both consumers and record companies.
"Like any other digital-rights system, it starts with a payment that gives consumers the right to use the song or video clip on their PC. But with LWDRM, from that point on consumers decide what may be done with it. They can copy the clip to another device like an MP3 player or distribute the file to a limited number of friends and relatives.
In order to do so, the buyer has to download a digital certificate from a certification authority. The certificate attaches itself to the file like a watermark and records exactly what is done with it. Record companies will be able to fine-tune Fraunhofer's system to adjust how many people can copy or borrow the product."
All that this seems to require is a) trustworthy third-party certifiers, b) buy-off from the record companies, c) buy-off from consumers. The impact it could have on P2P networks is also interesting. Could this be the final nail in the coffin of P2P systems? Do you think it'll even take off?
"Like any other digital-rights system, it starts with a payment that gives consumers the right to use the song or video clip on their PC. But with LWDRM, from that point on consumers decide what may be done with it. They can copy the clip to another device like an MP3 player or distribute the file to a limited number of friends and relatives.
In order to do so, the buyer has to download a digital certificate from a certification authority. The certificate attaches itself to the file like a watermark and records exactly what is done with it. Record companies will be able to fine-tune Fraunhofer's system to adjust how many people can copy or borrow the product."
All that this seems to require is a) trustworthy third-party certifiers, b) buy-off from the record companies, c) buy-off from consumers. The impact it could have on P2P networks is also interesting. Could this be the final nail in the coffin of P2P systems? Do you think it'll even take off?
