A Blow Against Digital Piracy
Risk is a familiar partner of technological progress. The increasing availability of digitally engineered picture and sound products presents a case in point. This is a high-speed advancement that will allow consumers broad access to near-flawless digital movies and music, for example, over a variety of media platforms such as satellite television and the Internet.
But the same technology could become a high-tech criminal’s dream. That’s because a digital version of a song or film can be copied endlessly without any reduction in quality. Talk about the perfect counterfeiting tool. Thus the recent announcement that five giants of the computer and electronics industries have agreed on a common solution that would scramble efforts to copy digital products.
Such open cooperation by highly competitive firms including Intel, Toshiba and Sony is a welcome development. Their agreement on a single technology, a “digital handshake” code that must be recognized before unblemished copies can be made, may set an industry standard. And it ought to keep the industry a step ahead of the pirates, at least for a while.
Unfortunately, the global piracy market is entrenched and lucrative, and law enforcement fully expects the pirates to spare no expense in trying to break the new digital protections. That’s why the fight must be waged on other fronts as well, in the form of international pressure and cooperation. There too some progress is being made. In Bulgaria, considered to be among the world’s worst hotbeds of piracy, police are making raids against pirates and the government is requiring new licenses for all CD producers. The Philippines and Brazil have also launched anti-piracy efforts.
The United States is not just waiting for other governments to act. Washington has recently threatened Paraguay with trade sanctions if it does not enforce its own recent copyright and trademark legislation. That kind of pressure can bring results long after the criminals have dissected the latest technological protections. But until other major trademark violators like China take enforcement more seriously, companies will have to develop their own protections.
Honest consumers of course pay in the end for piracy, in higher prices and slower product development. Companies have been leery of investing in digital delivery systems, so the new security code, especially if supported with increased global enforcement, should bring on a welcome flood of entertainment options.
