Managing Rights Management

Veoh Files Pre-emptive Law Suit

According to this AP story, online video sharing company Veoh filed a pre-emptive lawsuit in San Diego against Universal Music Group asking the judge to find that Veoh does not violate UMG's copyrights. Veoh argued that it is entitled to protection under the "safe harbor" provision of U.S. copyright law... Read more →

DRM Isn't Going Away - In-stat Report

As several media outlets noted, market research firm In-stat has published an update on DRM that concludes it's not going away any time soon. I typically don't review proprietary market research that is inaccessible to the average person. However, Michael Paxton, who wrote this report, was kind enough to provide... Read more →

YouTube Criticism Continues

A coalition of Japanese companies has critiziced YouTube for not doing enough to prevent unauthorized use of their copyrighted materials. The Associated Press reports that The group also expressed skepticism over an automatic video recognition and purging system being developed by YouTube parent Google Inc. (GOOG), questioning the reliability of... Read more →

Mom Fights Downloading Suit on Her Own

Jim Fitzgerald's piece for the AP regarding the battle of Patricia Santangelo against the RIAA is worth a read. Check out the Recording Industry vs The People blog site as well. Lots of useful information there. Snippets from the Fitzgerald article: Jon Newton, founder of an Internet site critical of... Read more →

Breaking TiVoToGo

Mark Diller has an article on gameinfowire.com explaining how to move files from TiVo to your Sony PSP or computer. In the interest of fair use, Diller also explains how to circumvent the DRM that protects TiVoToGo files using DirectShow Dump. Snippets: Step Two: Strip the DRM. TiVoToGo files are... Read more →

Ian Dixon's Interview Podcast

Ian Dixon produces the Media Center Show and blog. Ian has posted an audio interview with me and with Marcus Matthias from Microsoft. The topic is, of course, DRM. The show is nicely indexed by topic and time. Read more →

Bands Tell Fans How To Circumvent DRM

I'm all for rights management. I'm especially in favor of artists being compensated. However, according to CNN, a number of bands including Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters and Switchfoot are telling fans how to break copy protection. Seems SO unfair that individuals get sued by the RIAA and MPAA for... Read more →

Internet Archives And Copyright

Miriam Clinton's thoughtful article, "The Internet Library: rip, mix or burn?" merits attention. Issues addressed include the impact of technology obsolescence on preservation and access. Snippets: [Brewster] Kahle’s concern, like mine, is that through new Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems – software being used to “copy-protect” CDs and digital files,... Read more →

The Digital Consumers' Rights Act of 2005

The DMCRA of 2005 is short and worth reading. Introduced into the House of Representatives, it has not yet become law. There is much that I agree with, namely, the labeling requirements for copy protected CDs, especially if protected CDs behave differently than unprotected CDs. Consumers should clearly know before... Read more →

Dennis McDonald's Thoughtful Comments

[Apart from ad hominum attacks, comments are always welcome here. I have, however, disabled automatic posting; each comment requires approval, this to avoid "comment spam."] In his comments on my EFF/DRM blogicle, McDonald raises a number of issues that merit a response. 1. Context-based rules for addressing fair use concerns... Read more →