Are you listening Hollywood? Because after years of listening to you go on about the impact of piracy on the entertainment industry I have a solution for you. A simple one, even. One that could change the game in just two simple steps. And here they are:
STEP ONE:
Acknowledge that we are no longer living in the 1980s and the business models built on the back of the VHS explosion are now doing you more harm than good. It is time, quite simply, for physical media to die. Completely. No more DVD. No more BluRay. And - most importantly - no replacements for either technology.
As a collector and packaging junkie it pains me to say this but think about it in objective terms. Is there a single other industry on the face of the planet that brings their product to market in a form that can quickly, easily and anonymously turn one legitimate copy of said product into millions of illegal copies available freely to all? Only film / television, music and software are this foolish.
In the world of rapidly expanding bandwidth there is no real defense for physical media at all. It's all risk with no reward. And with the reality being that physical media sales are continuously shrinking anyway it's time to stop fighting the trend and embrace it. Stop giving people the things that they need and use to steal from you.
STEP TWO:
All individual use video needs to be delivered digitally, whether that be through a computer interface or through a set top box. The infrastructure for this already exists. There's no real additional investment required. The only change you need to make is this:
All digital delivery systems already include some sort of delivery markers - IP addresses or otherwise - that tell the system where the video is meant to be delivered. All you need to do is take the information that's already there for traffic control and embed that information in the video file itself. Give every data stream an individual marker. A digital fingerprint. Then if a digital file makes its way on to an illegal file sharing service you simply track the fingerprint back and pound the person who uploaded it in the first place into the dirt. Do that a small handful of times and the message will get out and the problem is solved. Stop giving people the things they need to steal anonymously and get a better handle on your data streams and the issue is over.
So there you go. You're welcome.
STEP ONE:
Acknowledge that we are no longer living in the 1980s and the business models built on the back of the VHS explosion are now doing you more harm than good. It is time, quite simply, for physical media to die. Completely. No more DVD. No more BluRay. And - most importantly - no replacements for either technology.
As a collector and packaging junkie it pains me to say this but think about it in objective terms. Is there a single other industry on the face of the planet that brings their product to market in a form that can quickly, easily and anonymously turn one legitimate copy of said product into millions of illegal copies available freely to all? Only film / television, music and software are this foolish.
In the world of rapidly expanding bandwidth there is no real defense for physical media at all. It's all risk with no reward. And with the reality being that physical media sales are continuously shrinking anyway it's time to stop fighting the trend and embrace it. Stop giving people the things that they need and use to steal from you.
STEP TWO:
All individual use video needs to be delivered digitally, whether that be through a computer interface or through a set top box. The infrastructure for this already exists. There's no real additional investment required. The only change you need to make is this:
All digital delivery systems already include some sort of delivery markers - IP addresses or otherwise - that tell the system where the video is meant to be delivered. All you need to do is take the information that's already there for traffic control and embed that information in the video file itself. Give every data stream an individual marker. A digital fingerprint. Then if a digital file makes its way on to an illegal file sharing service you simply track the fingerprint back and pound the person who uploaded it in the first place into the dirt. Do that a small handful of times and the message will get out and the problem is solved. Stop giving people the things they need to steal anonymously and get a better handle on your data streams and the issue is over.
So there you go. You're welcome.