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Debating DRM - January 14, 2008

The Bits blog over at NYTimes.com this week is featuring a running debate over copy protection between NBC Universal general counsel (and 2007 ContentAgenda Setter) Rick Cotton and Columbia University Law School professor Timothy Wu. Monday's question: Should creators insist on technology that will restrict the copying and transmission of copyrighted works?

Sample quotes:

Too often, the same people who enthusiastically and unreservedly sing the praises of the infinite and wondrous capabilities of digital technology in virtually every other respect pretend that technology has nothing to offer and no ability to reduce the massive trafficking in wholesale infringements of entire works (certainly in the area of video, film, TV, games and software). It is categorically and demonstratively untrue and unworthy of tech champions. --Cotton

Locks will be broken, and so a business model that depends on locking is very vulnerable. The creator must budget money, effort and talent for the arms race. That’s a weird role for an industry that’s supposed to be good at developing talent, not trying to out-geek every basement-dweller in the world.--Wu

The imperfect protection offered by anti-piracy technologies - “Every lock can be picked” - is no reason to give up on them. Despite the existence of lock picks, identity thieves, and hackers, cars and homes still have locks, e-mail accounts have passwords, and computers have firewalls. Our general approach — including most particularly in the digital world — is to put the strongest possible security in place and fix flaws and weak spots when they are identified through breaches, but not simply abandon the effort.--Cotton

Too often ignored is the fact that every lock makes the product less valuable, by disabling the product in some way. Imagine that your car was feature-locked so that it could only make left turns — you’d probably want a different one. The example is ridiculous but it shows that at their worst, bad locking strategies can destroy a market and hurt consumers.--Wu

Worth following.
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