Quote:
Originally Posted by perversity
I believe digital files like ebooks, aac's, mp4's... should be watermarked for ownership. When the file is opened with a front-end program like iTunes, Reader, Cailbre... there should be some kind tracking on these watermarks, and reporting for A)Users who had too many files from different owners to be considered legit, B) Ownership watermarks that show up in too many places. That being said...
I like the B&N's idea of tying each file to a credit card number. You can loan it out to whomever you want, but you could only GIVE it to people whom you would trust with your current credit card # which lessons the potential list exponentially.
Of course, I happen to be a musician that sells(aspires to sell) music so that does color my opinion on this subject
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I wouldn't mind watermarks used to determine ownership, but I would object to the 'tracking' function you propose. I see no reason why either author, publisher, or seller of my book should be able to track my reading habits.
Of course somebody (publisher? seller? somebody) would need to manage the secondary market for used books in that case. Without that, your tracking will fail anyway-unless you propose prohibiting the secondary market, as DRM attempts to do. I scribe my SSN on many electronic items-but when I sell that, I scratch it out (and, if requested, scribe the buyer's SSN to replace it). Ownership watermarks would be similar-so you need an easy way to change them as copies are sold in the secondary market. If that method is available to the users (as scribing is) then your attempt at control fails-so it's got to be under the (tight) control of some 'registration' authority. Who? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?