Intellectual Property Protection by the music industry entailed many stipulations that support DRM. Music produced by record companies was considered protected intellectual property. Once it is released, competitors could not copy it. These restrictions protected profits and record label value chains. DRM referred to all assets or “copyrights” (ownership given to the creator and unauthorized duplication prohibited) and fell under “licensing structure” (works are used for performance and royalties go to the copyright holder) (Burgelman).
Some DRM alternatives include:- Filtering bandwidth/Traffic Shaping has been reportedly used as an alternative to protect Intellectual Property Rights. Recent reports over the last months indicate that Internet service providers (ISPs) were limiting the bandwidth of users who used Bit Torrent Technology. This act has been dubbed traffic shaping, which is the practice of disruptive P2P traffic to conserve bandwidth. There are many issues that come with this practice if supported. For example, the FCC and FBI is closely looking at these incidents to see if ISPs have violated any privacy laws.
This news report from CNETTV quotes the FCC chairman telling Comcast to stop blocking traffic. View the first 30 seconds
- Watermarking, a technology that tailors digital media to customers, using personal information such as credit card information on tags. A major advantage is that content will be playable and compatible on most devices, as the formats will be and open standard. as oppose to proprietary. Companies such as Streamburst have pioneered this technology combining it on most video formats. Many debate that this is a type of DRM and not a separate technology.
Alternatives to DRM protection, such as the ones mentioned above have not gained much attention from content providers. This is because there are many considerations that have to be debated before there are adopted for wide use. Altogether, a complete elimination of restrictions on digital media appears to be the general consensus from service providers and consumers alike.
References:
Burgelman, Robert A. Meza, Philip. Finding the Balance: Intellectual Property in the Digital Age. Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, 4th ed. Ed. Burgelman, Robert, Clayton Christensen and Steven Wheelwright. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2004.
Del Conter, Natali. (2008). Loaded. CNETTV. Retrieved July 1st from http://www.cnettv.com/9742-1_53-50001953.html
Wikipedia.Org. (2008). Digital Watermarking. Retreived July 3rd from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_watermarking
Wikipedia.Org. (2008). Traffic Shaping. Retreived July 3rd from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_shaping
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