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A DRM that not only permits you to share your purchased files, but also encourages it? Is it too good to be true?
Marlin is the name of the DRM scheme, and it uses a domain model where a map of who you allow this file to be shared with exists, and anyone part of this map will be able to make copies of this file and use it normally.
Marlin is already mandatory on all TVs with Internet capabilities in Japan, and it's being adopted in Spain too, but it's still relatively unknown in the rest of the world.
While Marlin definitely sounds like a much more sensible DRM solution, Wendy Seltzer, a fellow at Harvard Law's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has this caveat to add, likening DRM restrictions to a maze:
And that's the problem with DRM. It's unlikely that copyright holders will let you freely create members of the domain, to share the file with an infinite number of users, so there will be limits. If it is sensible, then they might let you share the file with up to 10 people. If not, then it could be limited to just 1 or 2. And "people" might not even refer to real human beings, but just different machines, so if you have 3 PCs, they may count as 3 "people" to the "map". It will still end up being a system where you will be restricted in what you can do with the file, even if your actions are completely legal.
And then who's to say that once they've solved the piracy problem, the copyright holders won't then start using DRM to solve their "revenue" problem (micropayments for each playback?), because once you're locked into the maze, it's the masters of the maze that will determine your fate.
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Marlin is the name of the DRM scheme, and it uses a domain model where a map of who you allow this file to be shared with exists, and anyone part of this map will be able to make copies of this file and use it normally.
Marlin is already mandatory on all TVs with Internet capabilities in Japan, and it's being adopted in Spain too, but it's still relatively unknown in the rest of the world.
While Marlin definitely sounds like a much more sensible DRM solution, Wendy Seltzer, a fellow at Harvard Law's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has this caveat to add, likening DRM restrictions to a maze:
A maze with lots of gates looks more open than a maze with just one path through it. But in both cases, once you run in you're confined within the predefined path.
And then who's to say that once they've solved the piracy problem, the copyright holders won't then start using DRM to solve their "revenue" problem (micropayments for each playback?), because once you're locked into the maze, it's the masters of the maze that will determine your fate.
More:
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