—— Forwarded Message From: “Gordon Mohr”
I’m especially proud of this piece I just posted to OReillyNet, so I figured I’d share it here too:
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/1540
# DRM Helmets: An Idea Whose Time Has Come # by Gordon Mohr # Jun. 7, 2002 # # The proposed CBDTPA law[1] could require billions of individual “digital # media devices” — every TV, stereo, speaker, PC, walkman, hard drive, # monitor, and scanner — to carry enforcement circuitry — but there # are only 300 million people in the country. Mathematically astute # readers will note that’s less than 600 million each of eyes and ears. # # Further, a single economical helmet can cover four of these analog # holes[2] at once! # # I humbly suggest the most cost-effective and reliable solution to the # copyright industries’ troubles will be DRM helmets, bolted onto each # dutiful consumer at the neck. When these helmets sense watermarked # audio or video within earshot/eyeshot, they check their local license # manager and instantly “fog up”[3] if payment has not been delivered. # # This will especially teach people not to listen to unauthorized copies # of music while driving. # # By fastening suitably-small DRM helmets onto children at an # appropriately-early age, the citizenry’s consumptive habits can be # “arrested” (along with cranial volume) at a revenue-maximizing # developmental stage. I’d guess this is around age 13, but I’m open to # the latest research. Give and take is what policymaking is all about. # # So step up to the plate, senators, lobbyists, and titans of industry. # Write this into the next rev of the CBDTPA. We can call it the # SNEHNEA: “See No Evil, Hear No Evil Act”. Why try to haphazardly plug # billions of analog holes, when you can just cap the problem at its far # fewer human endpoints? (The end-to-end design principle[4] is your # friend!) # # If we can put a man on the moon, then surely we can cage every # American’s mind. # # [Intellectual Property Disclosure: The “DRM Helmet” and the “Cranial # Arrest Adolescent DRM Helmet” may be covered by patents granted or # applied for by Gordon Mohr. Licensing will be available on # unreasonable and discriminatory[5] terms.] # # — # Gordon Mohr is the founder and Chief Technology Officer of Bitzi, a # cooperative, universal metadata catalog for all kinds of discrete # files. Gordon’s personal page is at http://xavvy.com. # # [1] http://www.digitalconsumer.org/cbdtpa/ # [2] http://bpdg.blogs.eff.org/archives/000113.html # [3] http://www.polytronix.com/pdlc.htm # [4] http://www.reed.com/Papers/EndtoEnd.html # [5] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#RAND
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