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05/26/2013 04:12:37 Daily, March 26Apple's Demand For A State-Sponsored Monopoly Shows That DRM Aims To Stop Competition, Not Piracy
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In This Issue:
1. Editor's Note: Apple's Demand For A State-Sponsored Monopoly
Shows That DRM Aims To Stop Competition, Not Piracy
2. Today's Top Story
- GAO: Sensitive Taxpayer Data At Risk
3. Breaking News
- Check Point And Sourcefire Scrap Acquisition Amidst Scrutiny
- Novell's New Products Aim To Rally The Linux Troops
- FTC Smacks Spammer With $900,000 Fine
- Strong Earnings Show Palm Is On A Roll
- Foldera To Launch Hosted Application Suite
- Alcatel, Lucent In Merger Talks
- Paper Battery Developer Gets Funding
- Flash Pet Collar Wins Invention Contest
- Franco-American Research Center Bows
- Holographic Firm Claims Data Storage Density Record
- Google Holds 75% Of U.K. Search Market: Survey
- Software Not Keeping Up With Multicore Advances: Panelists
4. Grab Bag
- IBM Researchers Build Molecular Circuit (Sci-Tech Today)
- Apple Computer Set To Mark 30th Birthday (San Jose Mercury News)
- Photo Gallery: Pricey PCs (Wired News)
5. In Depth
- Microsoft Delays Consumer Office To 2007
- Office 2007 Delay Sets Stage For Massachusetts Open Document Battle
- Some Microsoft Workers Call For Heads To Roll
- Microsoft Names New Security Chief
6. Voice Of Authority
- Use Wi-Fi--Go Straight To Jail
7. White Papers
- IBM--Bridging The Divide: Integrating PLM And ERP
8. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
9. Manage Your Newsletter Subscription
Quote of the day:
"Competition is a painful thing, but it produces great results." -- Jerry Flint, in Forbes
Companies touting DRM technology claim it's intended to
protect data from unauthorized copying. But Apple's angry
response to a French plan for iTunes interoperability has let the truth slip out: DRM is designed to lock in customers, not lock down
data.
Apple accuses France of "state-sponsored piracy" because a
copyright bill currently going through the French parliament
would require DRM vendors to open their technology to
competitors. In reality, France is just trying to avoid the
situation in the United States, where the lobbyist-written Digital Millennium Copyright
Act has made interoperability illegal. That isn't just the
opinion of the French or the EFF. Earlier this week, the Cato
Institute published a report that describes how the DMCA
is anti-competitive and hurts innovation.
Despite some work by
Sun Microsystems, all DRM technologies so far are
proprietary. If you buy a song from iTunes, it's encrypted using
Apple DRM, so you can only copy it to an iPod--not a standard MP3
player. Similarly, Napster and MusicMatch sell songs encrypted
using Microsoft DRM, so they can only be copied to players that
include Microsoft software. (As in the PC market, Microsoft is
content to monopolize only software and services, while Apple
wants to monopolize hardware, too.) To interoperate with the
Apple or Microsoft formats, other vendors need to license Apple
or Microsoft DRM, and neither will license to a competitor.
Even when a vendor does let others license its DRM, it can charge
as much as it wants and impose onerous conditions. For example,
DVDs are encrypted using DRM from a cartel called the DVD Copy Control
Association. To make a DVD player, hardware manufacturers
need to license the DRM. And to license the DRM, the
manufacturers must agree to restrict what their customers can do.
(The agreements have real teeth. Last month, a group of movie
studios even sued Samsung for accidentally
making a DVD player that gave users too much control.) That's why
DVD players sold in the United States can't legally skip through
the FBI warning, play DVDs from most other countries, or copy a
DVD to a laptop's hard disk.
The traditional route to interoperability is through
reverse-engineering. However, the DMCA makes reverse-engineering
of DRM a felony punishable by 10 years in prison and a $1
million fine. It's only a U.S. law, so programs to remove DRM
from iTunes purchases and DVDs are freely available on Web sites
hosted in other countries. (Most of them seem to be written by
the same person, Jon Johansen.) I wish I could link to them, but
even that is illegal under the DMCA.
This isn't just a consumer concern. Microsoft and others are
pushing DRM systems for businesses. They're usually rebranded as
something else ("Information Rights Management," "Document
Control"), but that's just PR. All are just as
proprietary as consumer DRM. Customers who fall for the sales
pitch could find themselves unable to access their own data
without either agreeing to the DRM vendor's licensing conditions
(which can change at any time) or relocating to France.
What do you think? Is Apple seeking to protect its intellectual
property, or stifle competition? Leave a message on the InformationWeek Weblog and
let us know.
Andy Dornan
GAO: Sensitive Taxpayer Data At Risk
Check Point And Sourcefire Scrap Acquisition Amidst Scrutiny
Novell's New Products Aim To Rally The Linux Troops
FTC Smacks Spammer With $900,000 Fine
Strong Earnings Show Palm Is On A Roll
Foldera To Launch Hosted Application Suite
Alcatel, Lucent In Merger Talks
Paper Battery Developer Gets Funding
Flash Pet Collar Wins Invention Contest
Franco-American Research Center Bows
Holographic Firm Claims Data Storage Density Record
Google Holds 75% Of U.K. Search Market: Survey
Software Not Keeping Up With Multicore Advances: Panelists
In the current episode:
John Soat With 'Damn Data!'
Paul Kapustka With 'VoIP Line'
Stephanie Stahl With 'Boss Button'
Can You Succeed With BPO?
Subscribe To Your Favorite Authors
-----------------------------------------
IBM Researchers Build Molecular Circuit (Sci-Tech Today)
Apple Computer Set To Mark 30th Birthday (San Jose Mercury News)
Photo Gallery: Pricey PCs (Wired News)
Microsoft Delays Consumer Office To 2007
Office 2007 Delay Sets Stage For Massachusetts Open Document Battle
Some Microsoft Workers Call For Heads To Roll
Microsoft Names New Security Chief
Use Wi-Fi--Go Straight To Jail
IBM--Bridging The Divide: Integrating PLM And ERP
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InformationWeek Daily Newsletter
1. Editor's Note: Apple's Demand For A State-Sponsored Monopoly
Shows That DRM Aims To Stop Competition, Not Piracy
adornan@cmp.com
www.informationweek.com
Despite some improvements, the IRS needs to do much more to
secure its IT systems, congressional auditors say.
Israel-based Check Point will have to seek other business
partners to add intrusion detection to its product lineup.
Despite the product bonanza at BrainShare, the most applause came
for the company chairman's announcement that Novell will support
NetWare through 2015.
According to the FTC, JumpStart Technologies has spammed
consumers since 2002, sending millions of messages disguised as
personal E-mails in an attempt to hype its FreeFlixTix Web site.
Quarterly profits jumped from $4.4 million a year ago to $29.9
million, while revenues increased 36% to $388.5 million.
Along with E-mail and instant messages, the Web-based software
will organize all types of content. For instance, it's designed
to route E-mails into folders as they arrive.
The deal would create a communications powerhouse, with combined
sales of more than $25 billion.
The SoftBattery is intended for use as a power source in
disposable gear, including cosmetics, greeting cards, sensors,
smart cards, and electronic paper.
The MicroID Collar, for cats and dogs, incorporates a flash memory
card and a USB controller into the pet's collar. The device has
an electronic journal for storing all pet and owner information.
The center is an extension of a former photonics research unit
opened in 1998 to focus on network security via fiber optics.
The first-generation holographic drive, to be delivered later
this year, has a capacity of 300 gigabytes on a single disk, with
a 20 megabyte per second transfer rate.
The search firm does better there than it does in the U.S., where
it typically garners a 50% share.
Challenges facing multicore processors include programming
difficulties and a lack of development environments.
Fidelity loses track of a laptop and mucho personal data for HP
employees in the bargain, New York AG Eliot Spitzer clamps down
on the sale of personal data garnered over the Internet, and
E-mail archiving is expected to grow into a big-bucks market.
Yahoo! for VoIP over IM.
CBS Sportsline offers an onscreen disguise for watching March
Madness at work.
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4. Grab Bag: News You Need From Around The Web
IBM researchers have created the first complete integrated
circuit built around a single carbon nanotube molecule, a new
material that promises significant benefits compared to
traditional silicon.
Silicon Valley's historic orchards have virtually disappeared,
but one notable fruit still stands: Apple.
If cost didn't matter, what PC would you buy? Would you go for
features or class? Check out our picks (and pics) for the most
expensive PCs out there.
Following the same track as Vista, the next version of Office
will be available to businesses by year-end, but the consumer
package will be released in January, Microsoft says.
The delay gives Microsoft time to challenge the Open Document
Format in Massachusetts. By January, Microsoft is expected to have
received approval from the ECMA standards body for Office 2007.
Writing on an anonymous blog, some employees are venting
frustration over the latest delays with Vista and Office.
Ben Fathi, who most recently served as general manager for
storage and high availability in Microsoft's Windows division,
replaces security technology unit chief Mike Nash, effective immediately.
Preston Gralla says: Next time you think about hopping onto your
neighbor's unsecured wireless network, think twice--you could
face jail time. That's the conundrum being faced by a Rockford,
Ill., man who had to pay a $250 fine and must endure a year of court
supervision for using the signal from someone else's Wi-Fi network.
The benefits of IBM WebSphere are available to companies of all
sizes. This brochure provides an overview of the value of using
SMARTEAM and WebSphere Business Integration Server to integrate a
company's PLM and ERP systems.
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