Background

Problems with digital products

This is a moral issue as much as a technical problem:

The reason for the proliferation of downloaded MP3 music files is that it is easier to acquire music that way than to download a digital copy or obtain a physical copy and the process is so transparent that it gives little cause for reflection on ethical issues.

Many smaller software products (shareware) are distributed using the honour system where satisfied customers are expected to pay. Often a stripped down or older version of a piece of software will be distributed in the hope that the customer will later buy the full version.

Protection for individuals:

Most current efforts to record ‘rights of use’ of a digital product (to date mainly software) requires the purchaser to register with the producer or distributor of the product. Many people resist this procedure because they worry about giving away personal information which may then be misused. At the same time there is no automatic means for a user to demonstrate their right to use a product.

Attempts to limit copying of  products by adding hardware keys to playback machines or the distribution media can be indiscriminate and infringe the rights of individuals using legal information. Taxing storage medium also indiscriminately penalises individuals who are making copies of their own work or extra copies of products over which they have rights of use.

The problem is not limited to music files:

In the future all information which can be stored and transferred in a digital form will suffer from the problems listed above.

There are few standards for adding descriptions or product identifiers to musical products and only a few proprietary Electronic Copyright Management Systems ECMSs for registering rights to these products. Standards across the entire spectrum of digital products (music, software, text, video,…) are non-existent, although there are serious attempts to establish global identification and CMSs such as the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) initiative.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) calls for the development of an Electronic Copyright Management System (ECMS) but at the same time recognises the problems of privacy and getting the market to embrace such a system (WIPO – Digital Technology – Issues of enforcement – Para. 96)

Encrypting files is not the solution:

Once the key is made public to some users  there is little to stop an unauthorised  person from obtaining the key, decrypting the file, and then distributing the information in an unencrypted format. (Encryption works its best when you want no one to see the information and the key is kept secret.)