Andre Yoskowitz
26 Apr 2007 12:30
In an astonishing announcement by the MPAA at the LexisNexis conference this week, Dan Glickman has stated that the movie studios have fully committed to interoperable DRM and believes that consumers should be able to play their legally purchased video material on any item in their household. Glickman also surprisingly announced that a plan was in the works to allow consumers to rip their DVD's for use on home media servers and iPods.
The plan is still in early stages but is a huge shift from the normal movie industry mindset. Throughout the speech Glickman stressed that DRM must be in use but should not restrict the consumer.
He also stated that the movie studios were willing to have a technology summit where content producers, IT companies and academics could work as a team to get DRM issues resolved. He made a point to show off Movie Labs, a $30 million dollar project funded by the studios as proof that all in involved where committed to inoperability.
In response to questions about the ripping of DVDs, which is currently illegal under the DMCA, Glickman answered that consumers would legally be allowed to rip their movies but suggested that some form of DRM would still be necessary. He did not elaborate.
The MPAA, just like the RIAA has done recently, recognized that DRM progress needs to be made soon or consumers will turn back to piracy as a primary means for acquiring content.
In all, Glickman and the MPAA still believe that DRM is a necessary "enabling tool" but they have made a huge step forward in wanting consumers to be able to play their legally purchased content on any player, by any manufacturer. We hope to see more progress in the future, but the MPAA has made a very good first step.
Source:
Arstechnica