TriMark announces it will scan newsgroups and general websites for serial numbers and if discovered the original registered purchaser will be held liable.
Just when you thought Newsgroups were the last remaining file-sharing safe haven on the planet, along comes a company called TriMark to spoil all the “fun” and remind users that caution is always prudent no matter what method of file-sharing you use.
Though don’t panic too much just yet, it only applies to files with a “…mark that
transcends all forms of copying,” i.e. serial numbers and data encoded files such as that in Apple’s new iTunes Plus music store.
Thanks to Apple’s new iTunes Plus, new DRM-free music offerings are not so free after all, each being embedded with the username and contact e-mail address of the account which was used to purchase the tracks. Well, TriMark will apparently use a similar media tagging technology to bust people whose files end up on Usenet and other file-sharing networks.
TriMark bills itself as a “…state-of-the-art one of a kind encryption technology that will enter a market where an estimated $40 billion annually is lost to pirating. Annual revenues are projected to increase at high double-digit levels for the foreseeable future and will be the driving force behind the Company’s future earnings.”
TriMark says that “All attempts at anti-piracy have taken a defensive position without sufficient success. Trimark will assume an offensive position and will be enforced.” Hence, using an Apple iTunes Plus-esque approach, it will begin offering a music tagging “watermark” that will “…transcend all forms of copying.”
The company writes:
Although some Internet music-sharing sites have been stopped attempting to shut down news servers is not an option.
Newsgroups:
1. Number into the thousands
2. Share unauthorized music with millions of people anonymously
3. Are virtually impossible to regulate
They acknowledge that companies have attempted anti-piracy solutions in the past but, that pirates are often more knowledgeable than programmers who attempt to create anti-piracy solutions.
So TriMark intends to solve this problem by “watermarking” music so that the original purchaser can be held liable and therefore be hesitant to share the file in the first place. TriMark will then regularly scan newsgroups and other file-sharing websites for these watermarks and if discovered the registered purchaser will then be held liable for copyright infringement.
It sounds like a good plan I guess but, if it is to “transcend copying” what about if you rip a CD for a friend who then uploads it to the internet? Will you be held liable even though you weren’t the one who shared it? Of course but, can you imagine having to prove it in the meantime and then most likely being asked to rat out your friend whom you burned the CD for? It really raises more questions than answers and I think this is the silver bullet that they’ve been dreaming of.
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I've been interested in P2P since the early, high-flying days of Napster and KaZaA. I believe that analog copyright laws are ill-suited to the digital age, and that art and culture shouldn't be subject to the whims of international entertainment industry conglomerates. Twitter | Google Plus
"It sounds like a good plan I guess but, if it is to “transcend copying” what about if you rip a CD for a friend who then uploads it to the internet? Will you be held liable even though you weren’t the one who shared it?" Well, you shared it with your friend. He/she didn't purchase the CD and has no rights to it. YOU pirated a copy for him/her. You ARE responsible.
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