DVD publishers add DRM to their movie releases so they can control whether the dvds can be copied and even what devices are allowed to play the dvds. In February 2007, Arnezami, a hacker on the Doom9 forum who was frustrated because his purchased HD-DVD movies wouldn’t play on his Linux-based computer (I believe), cracked the code and published the 128-bit number on the web. The Wired blog wrote up an article about what that meant for the future of DRM.

The AACS Licensing Authority recently took a stand against those who published the number on the web and set out a bunch of legal threats. In protest, Digg users began voting for sites that contained links to the crack.

The Digg staff, who had received one of these legal threats, decided to comply with the law and removed several links to pages with the published code. Digg users got mad and started a massive campaign to get every link on Digg’s front page to point to sites linking to the code. Eventually, Digg founder, Kevin Rose gave up the fight against its community members and posted his comments on the Digg blog.

So what’s the issue at stake here? Why all the fuss? First off, the AACS Licensing Authority isn’t trying to copyright a 128-bit number, like many sites proclaimed. (For an interesting legal perspective on if you can actually copyright a number, see Ben Manevitz’s post, You CAN Copyright a Number. But Not As Such.) They are simply claiming that the key violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s ban on any “component” or “part” of a “technology” that circumvents AACS, according to Fred von Lohmann of the EFF in a great legal primer on the issue.

And the user revolt hasn’t deterred Michael Ayers, the chairman of the AACS-LA, from threatening to go after all the sites that have published the code.

In all of this, there’s been talk about what this means - and a number of sites have cropped up poking fun at the issue. One of the more imaginative sites explains how you can get your own 128 bit number that you can claim violates your rights via the DMCA. The idea is that you can publish your own copyrighted stuff and then encrypt it with your own 128-bit number. Thus, if anyone attempts to publish that number, you can sue them (or at least threaten them) just as the AACS Licensing Authority.

And of course, it proves that Digg users wield a heck of a lot of power over the website.

I like Apple, but I’m not a raving fan who believes they can do no wrong, like some. I love my iPod Nano, and have considered purchasing an iBook in the past… but I never felt like they are a company that can do not wrong - especially when they sued bloggers (and lost).

So I admit that when I first read his memo, I didn’t believe he was sincere. If he really wanted to do something, he would remove DRM from all the indie artists out there who offer their audio on iTunes but would prefer their files not be protected by DRM.

Cory Doctorow responded in a Salon article late last month, saying

DRM’s principal effect is legal, not technical. Since the passage of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it’s been illegal to break DRMs in this country. It doesn’t matter if DRM restricts access to something you have every right to use (for example, a DRM that region-locks a movie you’ve bought so that it won’t play in the U.S.). You’re not allowed to break DRM, and corporations certainly can’t field products that break it. The results are ugly: Companies like 321 Studios (whose DVD X-Copy software lets you make otherwise legal backups of your DVDs) were sued into oblivion by the motion picture companies for trying such a thing.

So if you shellac a one-atom-thick layer of DRM over a product, you get the full power of the American legal system as a weapon to use against competitors. Apple may have created a successful “Switch” campaign by reverse-engineering Microsoft products like PowerPoint to make Keynote, an Apple program that lets you run old PowerPoint decks on your Mac, but Microsoft can’t create a “Switch to the Zune” campaign that offers you the ability to play your iTunes Store songs on a Zune, Microsoft’s latest abortive iPod-killer.

Although Apple’s DRM is wholly ineffective at preventing copying, it does manage to raise the cost of switching from an iPod to a competing device. Every iTunes song you buy for 99 cents amounts to a 99 cent tax on switching from an iPod to a Zune. That’s because your iTunes songs won’t play on your Zune — or on any other player, save those made or licensed by Apple. Jobs tries to skate around this in his memo, suggesting that only a tiny fraction of the music on iPods comes from his music store, and so the anti-switching effects are minimal.

So what, exactly, does Steve Jobs hope to get out of his memo? Maybe some good will - even though he knows that his appeal won’t change anything? It’s more PR than anything, I think.

There is some good news in all of this, though. A few weeks ago, Reps. Rich Boucher (D-Va.) and John Dolittle (R-Calif.) introduced what they call the “Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship” (or FAIR USE) bill, which may crack down on companies that use DRM. They say

“The Digital Millennium Copyright Act dramatically tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the public’s right to fair use,” Boucher said in a statement. “Without a change in the law, individuals will be less willing to purchase digital media if their use of the media within the home is severely circumscribed and the manufacturers of equipment and software that enables circumvention for legitimate purposes will be reluctant to introduce the products into the market.”

Let’s hope that Congress makes this an issue in the upcoming months.

While BitTorrent is still a P2P distribution network, it works differently from the others. For most P2P, a file (mp3, video, pdf, etc) sits on a server in cyberspace. You connect to that computer, request the file, and download it from that computer.

BitTorrent changes the model. Instead of one server holding the file and handling all the bandwidth transfer, it allows you to connect to a bunch of people and download the file from them - even as they are still downloading the file from someone else. You still need at least one computer to hold the completed file (called a “seed”) but as long as a bunch of other computers are also trying to download that file, you share resources and bandwidth among all connected computers. (see Wikipedia for a more in depth explanation.)

Admittedly, I first started using BitTorrent to download various Asian tv programming like anime and kung fu that hadn’t been launched yet in the US. Many others used it to download the latest tv shows, movies, and music - and because you can find virtually anything through BitTorrent, it’s not surprising that it soon had a reputation for piracy.

So, it’s somewhat interesting that in December, BitTorrent raised $20 million and decided to go “legitimate”. I suppose it was either that or be dogged by the MPAA, RIAA, and other Digital Rights Management (DRM) supporters.

Two weeks ago, BitTorrent launched its BitTorrent Entertainment Network. Now, you can use BitTorrent to access over 5000 movies, tv shows, and songs at a price between $1.99-$3.99 per download. Unfortunately, like iTunes, they’ve implemented DRM on their files, which limits their usage - and there have been all sorts of complaints by customers trying to download their content and not being able to because of the DRM.

I haven’t tried it - and don’t plan to, honestly. While I like the idea of digital content, I can’t stand DRM. I once bought an eBook on Amazon.com because it was out of print and impossible to find. It took me 2 hours to configure my computer to work with Microsoft and Adobe Acrobat’s DRM before I could even open the book. It was an absolute nightmare - made worse because Microsoft’s registration servers were down for about an hour and kept telling me to come back later to re-register.

I love iTunes for its free content - and subscribe to numerous podcasts - but would never buy music from it. I’d prefer to buy the audio cd, which I can do virtually anything with, than worry about what mp3 players I can and can’t play my music with.

I anxiously await the day when companies realize that DRM doesn’t work and stop trying to restrict my media consumption, but I doubt that day will come any time soon. Until then, check out Gizmodo’s Anti-RIAA manifesto.

The well attended event had a number of seminars you could pay to attend, keynotes, and a large expo hall. There was no shortage of camera gear, though I didn’t see some of the notable brands like Panasonic, Samsung, or Olympus. Nikon was heavily promoting their latest DSLR, the D80, while Leica was doing the same for their new digital camera, the M8.

Here are some highlights:

1. Lensbabies - The new Lensbaby 3G is now out, which allows you to lock your lens in place when you get it just right and then adjust the focus. Lensbabies allow you to compress and bend your lens to get a softer blur around your object of focus. They retail for about $270. www.lensbabies.com
2. I listened to a booth seminar by Mary Du Prie who gave a fascinating lecture on how to pose people for professional photography so they look natural - and if you’re photographing models, what modeling agencies are looking for in model photographs. She did a live demonstration on how to give directions to your subject, which was very informative. Check out her website at www.photographingmodels.com for her dvds.
3. Adobe was giving lectures throughout the day demonstrating the power of their Creative Suite 2 and handing out demo cds. For those of us who have yet to upgrade, they were giving out 15% discounts, so I think I’ll be taking advantage of that shortly. If you order through their online store, use code Q4DI which is good until 11/10/06.
4. Want to win a Leica V-Lux 1? Go Indie is having a photography contest. The deadline for submission is 12/15/06. Check out www.goindiecontest.com for details.
5. Sony has a new Digital SLR called the alpha 100. It’s a 10.2 megapixel CCD with in camera image stabilization and is roughly the size of a Canon Rebel XT. They boost it can “shoot without interruption at up to three frames per second until the memory card is full” and that you can shoot up to 750 shots with a single battery charge. www.sony.com/dslr
6. If ever you wanted a mini-tripod you could wrap around a pole or tree branch, check out the Gorillapod. They come in 3 sizes, with the largest sturdy enough to mount up to 6.6 lbs. www.joby.com
7. O’Reilly publishes a number of digital photography books. As of this summer, most of their Photoshop Cookbooks are finally available though their Safari online subscription service. If you prefer hard copies, they’re running a promotion - buy 2 books, get 1 free. Use discount code OPC141 when ordering from www.oreilly.com/digitalmediastore. I’m not sure how long that’s good for.