A new file-sharing standard designed to distribute copyrighted music and movies legitimately has been developed by a technology consortium. The system could deliver any content format to any computer, and users might even earn rewards points for sharing the files.
The Content Reference Forum (CRF), founded by Universal Music Group and backed by technology companies including Microsoft, released the first specifications for the standard this week.
Using the new standard, computer users could share small files containing information about music, video or other data, but not the content itself.
Someone downloading the file would then use it to retrieve the actual content from a “Content Reference Server”. The content would be in a copy-protected format, designed not be shareable.
Because the files contain no content, they could be distributed in any way without concerns about piracy. The files could even be distributed through the file-sharing networks such as Kazaa that have been blamed by the entertainment industry for encouraging widespread copyright infringement.
Most efforts to tackle digital piracy have concentrated on protecting the audio or video data itself using encryption, not preventing sharing.
Related Posts
- Illegal File Sharing Continues to Grow Despite Legal Action
- Napster Creator Touts Legal File Sharing
- Music sharing that’s free and legal
- Security Standards Boost File Sharing
- RIAA Files Proposed Wording for Madster Injunction
Loading ...
