Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
The security of these types of systems is exactly the issue. Its a privacy issue - how dare they decide to stick tracking devices all over every product that I buy - so they can track me - and then (adding insult to injury) not have any true way to protect this very private information?
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They do have ways of protecting the information. It's just not perfect... neither is the rest of the world. Your house can be broken into, and your phone conversation can be overheard. And there are better security measures possible... but they require controls over personal freedoms that people never seem to be willing to give up... so our lapse of security is
really our own fault.
I'd like to suggest that all of that is
a bit, but I know I can't. An ebook reading device that can report your copying and file-sharing becomes a security issue... this is why I brought the article up. The potential is already with us, in our computers, smartphones and in some other devices; it is becoming noticeable in office environments, especially where security is an issue, but not so much with personal devices... yet.
At about the time we're convincing booksellers to toss DRM systems, they may be preparing to put PIv6 capability onto our readers and other devices, and say to us: "DRM? Sure, we'll toss it... we don't need it any more." Because they'll have a protocol embedded in your device that does all the same things as DRM, and can't be removed.
(Hmm... I probably should have saved that last bit for Halloween...
)
Or... maybe... this protocol can be rolled out and used in a way that will actually benefit the use and security of digital files, both for the producer and the consumer, better than DRM ever could. Well, at least it may be better (it can't be much worse). We might even be part of the dialog that helps it along, much in the same way early dialogs at MR helped shape aspects of the ebook industry.