THE FUTURE OF ONLINE PIRACY      

Legal Future

        The future of litigation over music piracy is predicted to concern the issues of copyright, fair use, privacy, antitrust, and so forth.  Broadcasters will also probably be involved in litigation on copyright issues.  These radio stations will play an important role because unlike the music industry, which is mostly concentrated in New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles, the broadcasters are all over the country and consequently have a stronger impact on the political processes in their districts.  We will almost certainly see restrictions on the transferring of marketing information such as what music customers like and how often they listen to music.  Antitrust issues will in all likelihood revolve around new obligatory charges and who will be administering them.  They will also involve the review of industry structures.

Technological Future

          In addition to legal pursuits, the music industry is seeking help from companies who develop encryption technologies for digital media files.  These technologies are called Digital Rights Management (DRM).  Microsoft’s DRM software allows a content owner, such as a record label, to set rules on how the content can be used.  For example, the owner could restrict the time period or number of times a downloaded song can be played, as well as the capability of the song to be transferred by a listener to an MP3 player or a recordable CD.  The software protection system is fully imbedded into Microsoft’s Windows Media file format, and would only work if record companies distributed their music through this format.  On top of helping the music industry against piracy, implementation of Microsoft’s DRM would make the company a major force in the industry since all the files would be in Windows Media format.  The Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), which was originally created by the major music labels to develop a secure system of content delivery.  Eventually over 200 hardware, software, and content companies got involved in the process and after two years of proposals, meetings, and controversy, SDMI is nearly ready for the market.  Its goal is to have most, if not all, compact discs SDMI-compliant, meaning that each song will have a "watermark" embedded in it.  This watermark will govern how a song may be copied and played and whatever fees that may be incurred when songs are copied to a computer.  Of course these technologies have yet to be fully implemented and already are facing many obstacles.  One of them is hackers.  Microsoft confirmed the software code, written by a programmer using the pseudonym "Beale Screamer," can strip off the protections that prevent a song from being copied an unlimited amount of times.  Any encryption someone can build, someone else can break.  SDMI does not allow the playing of existing MP3 files on SDMI-compliant players. Consumers will find this unacceptable because they already have music libraries to which they listen.  SDMI may also be difficult for consumers to understand and use.  The appeals court recently released a decision overturning an earlier order that barred hundreds of people from publishing the code for a software program called "DeCSS" online.  The appellate judges argued that posting the code is just like publishing other types of controversial speech and is protected by the constitution.