Open Media Network, with DRM
p2pnet.net News:- Today, Mike Homer and Marc Andreesen announced their Open Media Network, “a free public service designed to help you enjoy a broad selection of movies, public TV and radio, video blogs and podcasts while protecting producer’s copyrights”.
Founded by Homer with Andreesen as an advisor and board member, “Content producers can easily add their programming to the network, with unlimited free delivery of their shows and with digital rights protection,” say the two.
“Through the service, consumers can view the content on multiple devices, including PCs and iPods today and televisions and cell phones by this summer. “
Enter DRM
Looks good.
But then we learn OMN is powered by Kontiki, meaning content is centrally managed, with all that implies, and, “Programs which violate copyright or are unsuitable for viewing can be removed from the network,” says OMN, going on:
“Kontiki’s battle-tested technology has built-in digital rights management (DRM) through support of the Microsoft Windows Rights Manager and allows publishers to choose whether content can be shared, duplicated or viewed a set number of times."
Not at all coincidentally, Kontiki is owned by Homer, who’s also an ex-senior AOL vp.
“Future versions of OMN, due this summer, will offer producers a secure payment system for premium content,” says OMN.
At what point will OMN stop being free? – one wonders.
There’s no mention of lawsuits for “copyright violators” so presumably being kicked off OMN is punishment enough.
Or not?
Stay tuned.
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
<——My computer doubles as a power failure notification system——>
See:-
Open Media Network – Launched in Public Beta Today, April 26, 2005
April 26th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
Well, it’s clever stuff. but ugh! ActiveX! Ugh! IE only! Ugh! iTunes or WMP only! Ugh! DRM.
Just say no to DRM. OK?
April 26th, 2005 at 11:18 pm
Is anything ‘open’ if it’s got DRM? No. There’s plenty of ways to publish your content online without having to use something with DRM. The whole point of being open is to be inclusionary, not exclusionary.
These sites do the same thing, but NO DRM!!
http://www.ourmedia.org
http://www.prodigem.com
http://www.kedora.net
April 27th, 2005 at 1:27 am
April 27th, 2005 at 1:56 am
If the service gets launched in Canada you can submit a complaint to the Competition Bureau about this potential violation of section 77 (tied selling) of the Canadian competition act.
http://cb-bc.gc.ca/
I did this with the DVD CCA cartel, and did get responses.
April 28th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
a few years ago when i was using only grokster, kontiki came out and i tried it.
mostly it was trailers, garbage and a lot of good indie films that ar available on atomfilms for viewing online or download.
haven’t used it since then, but i’ll guess it hasn’t changed much.