[IP] Madonna to RIAA: file share watermarked MP3s?

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Rich Wiggins <wiggins@msu.edu>
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 11:50:23 -0400 (EDT)
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Madonna to RIAA: file share watermarked MP3s?


Dave,

Jon Pareles reports in the NY Times that Madonna is planting
fake MP3s on file sharing networks, taunting free downloaders:

  Madonna cursing fans who try to download her music free. She has
  introduced decoy versions of her new songs to file-sharing Web sites.
  Anyone hoping to listen to a track hears her annoyed voice instead,
  sneering, "What the [expletive] do you think you're doing?"

This raises an interesting question.  Why doesn't the recording
industry do this on a massive scale?  Why not set up servers that
offer authentic-looking file names and sizes, only the MP3 is
rendered unusable for full-length listening?

It'd be an audible watermark, analogous to the visible watermarks
you see on high-res stock photography for sale.  Instead of cursing
the listener as Madonna does, you could have the artist give the URL for
a for-fee download, give ads for concerts, whatever.

This could devalue file sharing networks tremendously.  If you make
free file sharing far less effective, you might drive people to
buy your authentic versions. So why not adopt electronic countermeasures?
I don't see how this violates DMCA; they'd just be offering their own
content (in altered form) for global peer to peer networks.

/rich


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