Should I Care about Digital Watermarking

I'm having a hard time getting worked up about digital watermarking.

The most annoying thing about music with DRM "protection" was that it made it tougher to play on the device of your choice.

With watermarking, a song purchased from iTunes, for example, could have your email address embedded in the file, so if the MP3 you purchased ended up on a P2P network you'd have some explainin' to do.

DRM Is Dead, But Watermarks Rise From Its Ashes

Art Brodsky, of Public Knowledge, was quick to provide an answer.

"They'll do anything they can to get ammunition, including submitting the information to Congress, publishing research and whatever, so long as they can blame everything on piracy," Brodsky said.

EFF's Von Lohmann speculated that watermarks could even enable ISPs to filter out peer-to-peer traffic when they detect a copyright work in transit.

If those are the best arguments against watermarketing, I don't get it.

Couldn't watermarking also be used to show that major labels are selling less because they're putting out uninspiring music?

Wouldn't filtering copyright infringing content be a good thing?

What am I missing here?

Thanks, Kelly. Implementation plans, and understanding the value seems like something worth studying further.

No! Why should my ISP be filtering what I do with my internet connection? What happens when my sister records her kid dancing to his favorite music and it's flagged as "copyrighted material" and she can't send it? How do you protect fair use? If filtering is implemented, why can't they filter other "objectionable" materials, such as political speech, etc? Having the ISP act as internet cop is a bad idea.

I'm working under the assumption that copyright infringing content is different from fair use.

Comments

1. Posted by: kelly on January 27, 2008 9:26 PM:

Lots of things come to mind, but they are more of an implementation concern than an inherent problem with the tech.

First thought - Won't the people who put this stuff up in the first place just buy a pressed CD with cash? No ID, no benefit. It could have a generic watermark, but I believe most Bittorrent traffic is encrypted nowadays so that doesn't have a real advantage either.

If the file has information that can concretely identify a person, then the file could be considered personal information in some jurisdictions. This could conceivably cause legal issues. Would businesses forbid playing music at work if the machines are not physically secure? I've seen crazier liability concerns.

Considering the fines for file sharing, What kind of liability could innocent people get into if someone spoofs their identity when purchasing MP3s? To prevent this you could combine watermarking with catching the person while sharing the file, but then what's the difference between having watermarking and not having it?

Personally, I just don't see any real benefit to watermarking, but I do see significant risks depending on its implementation. As a result, I consider it a risky proposition and am very concerned.

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