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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“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.
Yeah everyone else will use common sense and find ways to remove the watermarks or check for them in the first place. This is n00b target practice for them.
This type of usenet anti piracy is geared towards the beginners of filesharing. Those that do not have a good grasp on what they’re purchasing from iTunes or other retailers that personalize their media to identify the buyer will definitely be the only targets TriMark will be able to hit.
I think trimark sounds cool i meen anything that stops piracy more powe to the company who does it because they are protecting their own profits. However i dont see this changing anything for me personnaly i dont have an ipod or itunes 9anapod explorer) and i have over 500 gigs of music on my pc already!!! rawr
It’s certainly not going to affect things ripped from CDs because all the CDs are the same. (And even if there was a way to serialize CDs vendors are not going to keep records of who bought which copy.) So it says “don’t buy music online”. Gosh what a great way to boost sales.
I expect to see sanitizer programs soon that will remove all ID from the files. It can’t be that hard to figure out buy two copies and compare them bitwise and you’ll see where the ID is.
I really cannot see people so stupid as to upload content to usenet that they KNOW is watermarked in the first place…without taking the stupid watermark OFF!
And it can be taken off I simply do not believe that this is somewhow a “silver bullet” for newsgroups. That idea is absolutely laughable. But anyway most stuff on usenet is not from itunes anyway but I think once word gets around the watermarks will be taken out or nullified. Either way I don’t think the sky is falling on newsgroups.
for once I have to agree with Miniver (I’m as shocked as you)
until this technology is wide spread the only users in fear of this will be users who have paid for content
not really the best thing for biz I suppose…lol pay us for that song/program and if you get hacked we’ll sue your ass off for it being cracked/shared
Well it really only concerns those that purchase music that’s been embedded with purchaser “watermarks” like iTunes Plus and apparently whomever uses this new technology.
This new technology will simply scan newsgroups for these watermarks. So it’s not that big a deal but it will still mean that people will be snooping on newsgroups for this “marked” content.
Absolute garbage! So funny it’s laughable.
I admit I do not currently know how to affect it but it seems to me–if information can be embedded in a file–it can also be altered or eradicated from the file. So as dreary as this seems on the surface I don’t see why counter measures will not evolve to meet this tactic.