Digital Rights Management

Swedish prosecutors have finally begun prosecuting the owners of the popular Pirate Bay website. The peer-to-peer page is one of the leading websites for users of the BitTorrent system of downloading ; in theory the system can carry any type of ... file, though it's most commonly used for copyrighted material such as videos, music and games. The key legal point with such file-sharing systems is that websites such as Pirate Bay don't actually host the files themselves. Instead, they merely provide computers with the information needed to get the files from other users. Four men have been charged ... (view more)

A new version of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is being rolled out with the first "service pack" for Windows Vista, due in the first quarter of 2008. The new WGA will employ nagging alerts on computers suspected of using pirated software instead ... of disabling programs on the suspected computer. (Source: nwsource.com ) When computer users activate Windows or try to download software from Microsoft's web site, WGA scans their system for signs of pirated software. If WGA finds an unauthorized copy of Windows, in many instances the computer becomes non-functional, only allowing a user to connect ... (view more)

Music and movie retailers in the United Kingdom claim digital copy protection is hurting, rather than protecting sales. The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) says album sales are down 11% this year. Its director-general Kim Bayley said copy ... protection is "stifling growth and working against the consumer interest." The drop in CD sales is not matched by a rise in downloads. According to the ERA, only 150 million tracks have been legally downloaded in the UK in the past three years, fewer than one track per person each year. The ERA says consumer confusion over incompatible formats used ... (view more)

Getting tired of paying too much for your online music? Most iTunes fans are, what with the competition now offering Digital Rights Management, or DRM free files for under a buck. Finally, it seems Apple is ready to do the same, announcing that ... DRM-free music will soon be made available for $0.99. Yeah, we know...Apple has been offering digital music downloads for $0.99 all along, right? Wrong. It's been offering music with minimal transfer abilities for under a buck, and until this recent initiative that meant limited ability in copying tunes to different computers and digital media devices ... (view more)

Once again Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) has gone awry, penalizing legitimate Windows XP and Vista users. The problem occurred when unspecified server problems caused by an unknown automatic update from Microsoft created a Windows Validation ... meltdown making Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage servers incorrectly flag legitimate copies of Windows XP and Vista as pirated copies. The damage created quite a stir in the Microsoft Support Forums , with disruptions lasting for about 19 hours over this past weekend. Windows Vista users who rebooted their computers were blasted with WGA pop-ups, ... (view more)

At a time when Microsoft didn't need any more bad Windows Vista news, reports are beginning to surface about problems with the product activation system. For some users of the not-ready-for-prime-time operating system, updating some hardware drivers ... can cause the Software Protection Platform code in Windows Vista to require reactivation. No changes are made to the hardware itself, just the drivers. Software Protection Platform code in Windows Vista is part of the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). It's a program required by Microsoft as part of their fight against software piracy. It gets ... (view more)

A year after Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) was first introduced, it seems to finally be paying off. That's the case abroad, in the world's most populated nation. Chinese Microsoft customers there have steered authorities to a ... multi-billion dollar counterfeit ring and the arrest of 25 people. (Source: dailytech.com ) The Windows Genuine Advantage came under fire last year when it was revealed Microsoft's anti-piracy platform "phoned home" after being installed on a user's computer. Although the company had somewhat legitimate intentions in monitoring the growing number of ... (view more)

It seems Microsoft will have to take some time from preventing software piracy to reclaim the sanctity of its digital rights management (DRM) technology. Microsoft's DRM, the protective measure used to prevent hackers, or anyone for that matter, ... from using Windows Media files for purposes not condoned by the Redmond-based company, has apparently been circumvented. That's the word from hacker site Doom9.org, which recently boasted the forum post of one "Divine Tao", presenting download links to an updated version of FairUse4WM. The program effectively rips Microsoft's DRM from said Windows ... (view more)

Many music lovers were happy to hear that Apple would be using DRM-free music. However, smiles turned into frowns last week when it was revealed that Apple is labeling the unprotected music files with the buyer's details, including names and email ... addresses. If the user uploads the song to another file-sharing network, he could get into some seriously hot water. Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that Apple has remained mum about the reason for obtaining the information. However, defending their position is Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. Gartenberg said that there are numerous ... (view more)

Since last Wednesday, Apple's iTunes store is now selling DRM-free songs from the popular record company, EMI. Popular artists on the EMI label include Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra, Joss Stone, Pink Floyd, and John ... Coltrane. (Source: apple.com ) The new iTunes 7.2 (available for download on the iTunes site) will allow music lovers to download an iTunes Plus DRM-free version of a song. What is DRM? For those unfamiliar with the terminology, DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. DRM software prevents people from copying and freely utilizing a digital file across ... (view more)