Apr 15

Apr 15 What the Heck is "Social DRM"?

Books, Copyright, DRM, E-book, Piracy, Publishing, ,

When I first heard the term “social DRM” in the context of e-book anti-piracy efforts — the link is to the RSS feed of my del.icio.us bookmarks tagged “socialDRM” — I thought it referred somehow to group peer pressure not to copy files without permission.

Jan 15

Jan 15 Social Data Portability, Privacy, and DRM

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright, DRM, Industry Analysis, OpenSocial, Personal Data Ownership, Privacy, , , Standards

When Bob Weber published his post-CES DRM 3.0 Has Arrived he made the point that, while DRM for music may be dying, the entertainment industry’s interest in Digital Rights Management is still quite strong. This got me to wondering whether this “next generation DRM” might have some relevance to current interest in social network portability.

Nov 19
Nov 19 Recommended: Command Line's Lessig Interview

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright, Corruption, Lessig, Podcast

Back in June of this year when I first learned that Lawrence Lessig had shifted gears I expressed some skepticism about the ultimate success of his decision to focus more on the underlying corrupting influences that are endemic to our legal and political processes.

Nov 12

Nov 12 Bill Would Force Colleges to be Copyright Cops or Lose Federal Aid

Dennis D. McDonald

Blacksburg, Copyright, Corruption, DRM, Disaster Response, Emergency, Homeland Security, Piracy, , , Virginia Tech

Sep 23
Sep 23 Fair Use Antics

Dennis D. McDonald

Business Models, Copyright, DMCA, DRM, Fair Use, Podcast, Publishing,

I'm listening to another one of Command Line's podcasts, this time Rant: Is Fair Use a Right? (Command Line produces one of my five favorite podcasts.) Despite the logical nature of Command Line's thesis (he believes that copyright Fair Use is a "right," not just a legal defense) I'm still skeptical about being able to unambiguously explain to people what their "fair use" rights actually are.

Sep 16
Sep 16 The CCIA's "Fair Use in the U.S. Economy" Report

Dennis D. McDonald

CCIA, Copyright, Fair Use

The Computer and Communication Industry Association (CCIA) has published a research report titled Fair Use in the US Economy: Economic Contribution of Industries Relying on Fair Use. This is how Fair Use is described in relation to copyright law:

Sep 6

Sep 6 Apple, iPods, and Personal Data Portability

Dennis D. McDonald

Apple, Copyright, Identity, Personal Data Ownership, , , , Web 2.0, iPod, iTunes

I've been busy lately. My blogging has suffered. I've tried to update my blog's "daily notes" (located on my home page and archived here) but that's about it. I'm working offline on some longer white papers, I'm starting a new client project next week, I've been involved in a non-stop series of proposals and statements of work, and I've had to keep my plants watered during the drought here on the U.S. East Coast. Meanwhile, there are some really interesting "tech" things going on.

Jul 25
Jul 25 Copyright Basics Explained by Disney Characters

Dennis D. McDonald

Cartoons, Copyright, Disney, Media, Pixar

From Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University comes this review of copyright law, explained in super-clever terms using snippets of video and dialog from Disney and Pixar animated films.

Jul 25
Jul 25 DC CopyNight, July 24, 2007

Dennis D. McDonald

700 MHz, Apple, Copyright, DMCA, DRM, FCC, Facebook, RIAA,

We met again last night at a downtown DC bar, a group of policy analysts, bloggers, lawyers, activists, and geeks. I reported on last month's discussion here. Last night's conversation covered several topics:

Jul 6
Jul 6 The Horror! My Tax Dollars are Supporting Microsoft DRM!

Dennis D. McDonald

Alexandria Virginia USA, Copyright, DMCA, DRM, Libraries

I’ve always been a frequent user of public libraries. In fact, I paid my high school and college tuition by working at the Bexley Public Library in Columbus, Ohio. We have a great public library system here in Alexandria Virginia. I’ve been using it steadily ever since my kids were little and we took them to weekly story hours at the Queen Street Branch.

Jun 27
Jun 27 "And what's on your iPod, Mr. President?"

Dennis D. McDonald

Associations, Copyright, DMCA, DRM, Patents

Last night I attended the monthly meeting of DC CopyNight at a bar within walking distance of the Gallery Place Chinatown Metro stop in Washington DC. Here’s the official description of the group:

Jun 21
Jun 21 Lawrence Lessig Shifts Gears

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright, Corruption, DRM, Lessig, iPod

Carey Lening (a fellow member of the group DC CopyNight) pointed out some news: Lawrence Lessig has announced he is “shifting gears” and moving on to devote his “next ten years” to a different set of issues from those that have consumed him for the past decade.

Jun 7
Jun 7 OECD Publishes Report on International Counterfeiting and Piracy

Dennis D. McDonald

China, Copyright, Cost Analysis, Counterfeiting, DRM, Piracy

The OECD has published the Executive Summary of a major report on international trade involving counterfeited and pirated products. The report, The Economic Impact of Counterfeiting and Piracy, estimates that international trade in 2005 involving counterfeit or pirated works totalled $200 billion US.

May 16

May 16 Followup to "Is DRM a 'Tax' on the Intellectual Property Supply Chain?"

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright, Cost Analysis, DMCA, DRM, iPod, iTunes

On May 2, 2007 I published Is DRM a “Tax” on the Intellectual Property Supply Chain? where I compared DRM (Digital Rights Management) to a “tax.” I’ve received several comments and emails with different perspectives and I wanted to follow up.

May 2

May 2 Is DRM a "Tax" on the Intellectual Property Supply Chain?

Dennis D. McDonald

Blogging, Copyright, DRM, Risk Management, SMRM,

Like it or not, the current controversy over the publication by Digg of a decryption key for unlocking DRM-equipped high definition DVDs might give some companies pause about how to handle threatening "take-down notices" in the event an employee blog or wiki is used to publish a protected or controversial work.

Apr 11
Apr 11 Remote Content Storage and Those Mean Ol' Copyright Blues (re: Cablevision DVR Decision)

Dennis D. McDonald

Content Management, Copyright, DRM, Enterprise 2.0, Remote Hosting, Risk Management, SMRM, , Strategy, Web 2.0, Web Office

Ed Felten, in Judge Geeks Out, Says Cablevision DVR Infringes, provides an overviw of how technology played into a recent court decision on a case where Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. was pitted against Cablevisions Systems Corp. (2007 WL 867093). The issue:

Feb 15
Feb 15 Belgian Court Reminds Google that Copyright Law Exists!

Dennis D. McDonald

Business Models, Copyright, Google, Newspapers

The Belgian court decision ruling that Google News violates copyright when it publishes information from contributing newspapers without first obtaining permission is a reminder of the precarious nature of much of the information flow we take for granted on the web.

Nov 8
Nov 8 Have You Been "Zuned" Yet?

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright, DRM

If you have not been following this story, the BBC has a good overview: Microsoft's iPod killer, the soon to be released Zune, uses DRM (digital rights management) technology that is not compatible with Microsoft's own PlayForSure technology.

Aug 12
Aug 12 DRM, File Sharing, and the Protection of Obsolete Business Models

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright, DRM, Digital Content Management

There's a great series of comments over on the Freedom To Tinker blog regarding Ed Felten's post DRM Wars: The Next Generation. The post and the comments provide good insight into where arguments and enforcement efforts are headed.

Jul 11
Jul 11 Court Judgement: CleanFlicks Infringes Copyright

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright

Blogger Joe Gratz on July 9 reported that United States District Court for the District of Colorado has found that a company called "CleanFlicks" infringes copyright. CleanFlicks, without authorization of copyright owners, has been creating and renting censored DVD-R copies of movies that it created through modification (censoring) of the original audio and/or video.