p2pnet - rss feed: Morgan Freeman and Intel
p2pnet.net News:- Chipzilla and actor Morgan Freeman have come up with a, “cunning plan to distribute movies over the interweb before they become available on DVD,” says the Inquirer.
“The venture, which the RIAA normally call piracy, seems to have some backing from the Hollywood mainstream.
“Freeman … and Intel executives announced the new digital entertainment company at an annual retreat for chief executives of top media companies at a swanky mountain resort.”
Apparently, it’s called ClickStar and, “Freeman said his deal with Intel should avoid the piracy pitfall by giving customers a ‘simple, easy and attractive’ alternative to piracy," says the story. "He didn’t mention how that would be done.”
Bur we know, do we not?
At the Cannes love-in, recently, Freeman said the major studios, "were a little slow on the uptake of the inevitable," while Big Music, "wound up suing 12-year-olds".
His Revelations Entertainment would, however, remedy the situation by releasing a movie online at the same time it opened in theaters.
By way of a demo, Revelations and Chipzilla organized a "virtual digital home" in a hotel in Cannes, downloading flics to a PC and then playing them in different rooms.
But how will they make the scheme pay, at the same time avoiding certain ‘pitfalls’?
Yup. DRM.
An “electronic key system” would mean films couldn’t be seen by “unauthorized users,” said Intel’s Kevin Corbett at the Cannes demo.
And, "This technology can help us to stop the same chaos (as in the music industry)," Freeman was quoted as saying. "It is too late when the public is two or three steps ahead of you, and then you are playing catch-up.”
The Intel-Freeman venture will be run by former Sony Pictures executive Nizar Allibhoy, adds the Inquirer.
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See:-
Inquirer - Intel gets into the movie business , July 7, 2005
a little slow - Morgan Freeman and DRM, p2pnet, May 19, 2005
July 7th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
Congrats to mr Freeman for having a vision, but too little - too late…
People don’t want DRM! Give me HR quality media, cheaply and without DRM and I will buy it - and that’s a promise!
Selling it any other way - they loose at least 1 potential happy customer…
July 8th, 2005 at 2:21 am
Morgan Freeman is an incredible actor and equally gifted filmmaker and producer, but VeriTouch has spent almost ten years perfecting a simple, easy to use biometric DRM system that already makes distribution of digital films and music in a secure channel a reality today.
Our iVue Personal Media Player, which acts as wireless PVR and distribution hub for playback on any A/V device, secures movies by using our patent-pending Personal Encryption.
Simply put, every movie the customer wants to see is uniquely encrypted so that only their live biometric scan onboard the player device can unlock the secret content.
Further, the iVue embraces consumer’s current love affair with mobile entertainment, it will not force you to watch your movies on a PC or HDTV display in your living room, but the device is able to play content on that plasma screen if you wish.
In summary, we’ve made DRM that utilizes military grade security, but that is “cool”, easy to use and preserves a mobile lifestyle for end users.
Gary E. Brant, CEO
Staten Island, New York
July 9th, 2005 at 1:14 am
You don’t seem to get it sir.
DRM represents an unfair invasion of our right to personal property and freedom in that it gives entertainment conglomerates individual control of my computer.
It is not simply that, but that this control is remarkably rigid, refusing me even the basic right to transfer the video/audio into a compression scheme of my choice or to play back on a software of my choice, or to back up. These are basic fair use time shifting and space shifting rights.
Here is a checklist from this computer power user:
-I don’t want my files in closed proprietary formats
*the best codecs are xvid and h.264, and VLC is so far the best way to decode these formats. (DRM’d formats don’t allow these)
-I want the ability to swap formats,excerpt clips&audio, and upgrade the files for future compatibility or simple repairs (corruption does occur in file transfers) all without ever finding a “function not permitted” message.
-I want the files to be compatible with all future technology, not tied down to a small list of prprietary software (which is normally shoddily cobbled together with a terrible user interface and an astounding lack of features)
in short… i want REAL choice regarding what i do with my files on my computer, and I don’t appreciate hollywood limiting those choices either out of sincere lack of imagination or simply through deliberate malice. If they can’t stuff the internet genie back into the bottle without intruding into my life, then they should simply leave it be rather than tick me off by trying to micromanage me.
I’m a human being and a US citizen and am entitled to basic rights to life, liberty, and property. DRM is a slap in the face to my founding fathers, and quite frankly they would have set up a different government if they had been around to see this travesty.