Viacom chief: We're sticking with DRM

WASHINGTON--Content creators and their digital distributors must unite against piracy by installing more "safeguards," Viacom's CEO said Tuesday.

Phillipe Dauman

(Credit: Dan Farber/ZDNet)

Through more widespread adoption of copy-protection features and filtering tools like watermarking, "we will usher in an unprecedented period of creative output across the globe," Philippe Dauman told a few hundred attendees at the first day of an antipiracy summit hosted here by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a pro-business lobbying group.

Dauman lamented that "all manner of intellectual property" can now be reproduced more easily than ever "at the click of the mouse." Interestingly, his comments come as a handful of major media vendors--most recently Amazon.com, in its effort to compete with Apple's iTunes--have taken steps away from use of digital-rights management (DRM) features, which have been known to breed disgruntled consumers.

But no one should accuse Viacom of being "media holdouts resisting change," Dauman argued. The conglomerate currently delivers more video programming to mobile devices than any other company, operates hundreds of authorized Web sites, just recently unveiled a social-networking platform called Flux and expects to pull in more than half a billion dollars in digital revenue this year, he said.

Dauman said his company supports fair use and would love to see its popular characters on "every nook and cranny of the Internet," but only if the "artists" behind the content are fairly compensated.

"It is obviously impossible to check every computer or look over the shoulder of every user to see if they have a license, and we don't want to," Dauman said.

Still, content aggregators, Internet service providers, hosting companies and site operators themselves need to help in the fight against piracy, he said, adding that several cable companies have already begun working "cooperatively" with Viacom to send notices to people who post its content without permission. He also applauded AT&T for "realizing the potential of new network tools" designed to detect pirated wares.

What Viacom doesn't need is new laws, Dauman said. In fact, evoking an argument made earlier this year by the movie industry, he said any new laws that restrict how ISPs manage their networks could stymie the fight against piracy. Letting the free market operate unfettered would be wiser, he added. (Although Dauman didn't mention it by name, he was obviously referring to Net neutrality, the idea that broadband providers shouldn't be allowed to prioritize content that travels across their pipes.)

Government could play a role, however, in rounding up more international allies against piracy through trade negotiations, Dauman suggested. (That's hardly a new idea in the copyright-lobbyist camp, by the way, with various U.S. copyright policies already exported to other countries by way of trade agreements.)

Dauman also couldn't resist getting in a few digs at two foes in the copyright sphere. He criticized The Pirate Bay, the BitTorrent file-tracking site based in Sweden, for what he characterized as making movies available online before they're "ever shown on the big screen." He also said his company's high-profile copyright suit against Google's YouTube filed earlier this year "promises to be a landmark case that will clarify the rights and responsibilities of all media and content owners in the digital age."

The Viacom suit and other copyright challenges against Google are "ironic given Google's own reliance on its software intellectual property," Dauman added. "Go figure."

[nicmart]

Sure, comrade

Dauman: we will usher in an unprecedented period of creative
output across the globe,"

Sure, just like the Sovet Union ushered in peace and prosperity.

[NickH]

They can stick with it...

But I'll stick to not buying it.

[bhushan bhaagii]

They Can...

Sure they can stick with it, and stick it
right there, where you know...

[bobby_brady]

All I can say is Good luck! DRM = Digital Restrictions Management

Basically I forecast Viacom going backwards to the days of having similar DRM as PressPlay.

Perhaps their group can develope DRM technologies that will force the end user to watch the content within a few hours and then, *poof* it's gone. Another force them to watch it within 2 days. Also, have all sorts of different pricing strategies and throw in certain content that can only be burned and watched once. Make it so confussing that nobody will want it.

So Good Luck Viacom. See ya when you're getting taking over.

[idsantos]

Message to music listeners.

"WASHINGTON--Content creators and their digital distributors must unite against piracy by installing more "safeguards," Viacom's CEO said Tuesday."

Music listeners must unite against big corporations like Viacon, now I have said it.

By not buying music from big corporations like Viacon.

[holycow]

Forget them

Best not to buy music from a Viacom brand. Best not to steal it
either, that would hurt them doubly.

[Renegade Knight]

Good Luck With That

I just bought my first digital song on Amazon. Yeah, the interface can use some work but it was easy and the song just works. That's the way I like it.

If they can make DRM work as well as that Amazon.com song, great.

Oh and Viacom has no right whatsoever to "fair" compensation. They only have the right to try to get paid for their work. The market determines the price. They don't have to like it, but they will live with it.

PS by Their Work I mean the work of the creative people who have placed their work in Viacom's hands since Corporations don't create content. People do.

[magnusdopus]

DRM generally doesn't work

At one point, I would have been considered the Viacom's ideal wmusic customer. I subscribed to a DRM based music service for over four years. I purchased CDs for albums that I really liked. But recently I've experience what Steve Jobs poignantly stated - DRM is fatally flawed. My change in this matter is due to generally a poor experience with DRM based services. Basically, the system will work great for a few months, and then the service will do an upgrade, and everything will be broken again.

[unknown unknown]

He doesn't appear to understand fair use

or the wording makes it sound that way.

"Dauman said his company supports fair use and would love to see its popular characters on "every nook and cranny of the Internet," but only if the "artists" behind the content are fairly compensated."

A fair use is a non-infringing use that can be made without permission or compensation.

If this how they (Viacom and other media companies ) think I have little sympathy for them when it comes to piracy. Regarding the new for new laws, I think what he means they don't want them unless they were written for and by Hollywood (like the DMCA).

[`WarpKat]

1984

My friends, each of you is a single cell in the great body of the State. And today, that great body has purged itself of parasites. We have triumphed over the unprincipled dissemination of facts. The thugs and wreckers have been cast out. And the poisonous weeds of disinformation have been consigned to the dustbin of history. Let each and every cell rejoice! For today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directive! We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thought is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on Earth. We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!

Wait a minute...

[Had_to_be_said]

So... no "net-neutrality"...

...Corporations, and monopolies, should be allowed to do whatever they want.

...But, consumers, should have "Trusted Computing" shoved down their throats.

Heres AT&Ts take on "Trusted Computing" (see the "insecure computers" reference in their new "TOS"):

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070930-att-threatens-to-disconnect-subscribers-who-are-critical-of-the-company.html

And, heres a few statements, made recently, regarding the proper future of the Internet... as the former U.S. "Cyber-Czar" sees it...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/02/richard_clarke_speech_trust_online_santa_clara_university_microsoft/


Be afraid... Be, very, afraid...

[Had_to_be_said]

Oh, and I forgot...

AT&Ts, and others, intention to deep-snoop all Internet-traffic:


http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070613-att-willing-to-spy-for-nsa-mpaa-and-riaa.html

http://www.mirror99.com/20060907/p2p_bandwidth_hogs_drive_network_operators_to_deploy_deep_packet_inspection_new_report_faia.jspx


http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/26/168202

http://origin.arstechnica.com/articles/culture/Deep-packet-inspection-meets-net-neutrality.ars

http://www.networkworld.com/details/6299.html?def