Institute For The Future

Media Execs Still Don't Get It

From CNet via ArsTechnica:

 

"If you look at studies about MP3 players, especially leading MP3 players and what portion of that content is pirated, and think about how that content gets onto that device, it has to go through a gatekeeping piece of software, which would be a convenient place to put some antipiracy measures," Kliavkoff said in an onstage interview at the Ad:Tech conference here. "One of the big issues for NBC is piracy. We are financially harmed every day by piracy. It results in us not being able to invest as much money in the next generation of film and TV products."

 

ArsTechnica interprets this statement as, "NBC would also like Apple to tighten up its DRM, however, in such a way that would block NBC's content from being transferred onto iPods." However, I read it a little differently. That statement sounds more like NBC would like to block pirated versions of its content from being put onto iPods by some magic gnomes monitoring the iTunes > iPod transfer—USB connection—that will keep pirated content from getting onto the device. But maybe there was something else in the interview that sounded a little more draconian?

What's clear is that the execs talking about piracy and the end of the world are confused about how technology actually works and, worse, how it is used by consumers. iPods aren't driving piracy; piracy is driven by the ease of online digital distribution and the subsequent availability of nearly anything you want. Portable devices only relate to piracy in that people want more content to watch in more places on more devices. Before iPods, people burned CDs of pirated content and popped them into Discmans. People watched pirated movies on computers. Portable devices are just another place to put the media and another way to use, watch, and listen to it. What they should really be afraid of are super portable terrabyte hard drives.