Interesting interview with the MPAA

This is an interesting interview with Dan Glickman.

If there is one thing I wholeheartedly agree, it is this:

The technology is a part of a balance that is struck with the consumer.

DRM can have many shapes and forms, and clearly the word balance is very important. While the market goes through a few iterations of those technologies, it's good to keep the word balance in mind.

On the same theme as before...

One step forward, one step backwards (or is it the opposite?):

A music publisher has issued an unusual mea culpa in the digital copyright wars, apologizing over legal threats that led a software programmer to pull an application he'd written that automatically scours the web for song lyrics.

This is exactly the kind of story you rather not read about. Why? Yes, the ending is a happy one, but how many inventions are not being created because the inventor is scared he will be sued? It's obviously hard to point to those missed opportunities because - well - they don't exist, but it's clearly not a very positive development.

Is that the market correcting itself...

It looks like Sony might change its course:

Sony BMG is rethinking its anti-piracy policy following weeks of criticism over the copy protection used on CDs.

I really wonder what prompted them to do this. Is it the bad publicity or the threats of lawsuits? How much were all those CDs worth anyways?

I think the best way to get this DRM system going is to really work with the OS makers to have this built in the system. At least this way, it will be the same rules and technology for everyone running on that platform. No company will try to go down an esoteric path that gives us stuff like XCP and the like. I think Microsoft and Apple should make a big push to ensure there is no need for these (failed) attempts...