Re: Another ECMS question

Stefan Bechtold <s-bes1[_at_]jfhp01.jura.uni-tuebingen.de> wrote:
>
> Just another ECMS question:
>
> One problem of ECMS is that once a copy of a work has
> been sold and distributed over a network this copy could be used
> to make subsequent copies without any payments.
>
> What are the possibilities to prevent this?
>
> You can use digital watermarks, of course, but that only
> helps to identify the original from which the subsequent
> copies have been made, it doesn't prevent subsequent copies.
> Also encryption doesn't help because once it's decrypted
> you can distribute this copy just as you want; and so on...
>
> What projects/techniques are used to prevent those
> subsequent copies (just like SCMS for DAT consumer tapes, e.g.)?
>
> Any hints would be greatly appreciated...

This is precisely the problem that the COPICAT project, funded by the EU under the Esprit programme, set out to address. It successfully demonstrated a model which prevented onward distribution. For more information on COPICAT, look at:

   http://www.mari.co.uk/copicat/

Edward Barrow
<edward[_at_]plato32.demon.co.uk> Received on Wed May 07 1997 - 10:51:26 GMT