A Study of the Secure Digital Music Initiative Brandon Sutler Vineet Aggarwal Sachin Kamath University of Virginia CS 551

In The Red Corner… Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)

RIAA – Who? $15 Billion Industry RIAA Companies – 90% all albums recorded and sold in US. “Big 5” – BMG, Sony, Warner, Capitol, Universal 75% of Market Share

In the Blue Corner… The Consumers (You)

The Problem Proliferation of Digital Media Distribution Storage Copyright Infringement Consumer experience

Where’s SDMI? RIAA The Consumers SDMI, Ideally SDMI, Actually

SDMI Introduction Deliver secure digital music to consumers Give good consumer experience Protect artist’s right to make money Protect label’s right to control industry

Discussion Overview The big picture SDMI’s plan Watermarking Technology Social implications Conclusion

The Big Picture Or, What Did We Do? SDMI Specification Phase I Watermarking SDMI Verance, 4Centity Phase II Legal Issues Consumer Acceptance

The SDMI Protocol Step 1: Determine if music is SDMI Protected Content Step 2: Decrypt Step 3: Check trigger Step 4: Play or Reject

SDMI Phase I Screen  Detect “trigger”  Based on watermarking technology  “millenium trigger”  Detect “Usage Rules”  Govern Copy, Move, Check-in/Check-out, Export, etc.  Not yet written!

Phase I Triggers SDMI Protected Content If trigger present reject content message to upgrade to Phase II displayed. No trigger: content admitted Unprotected Content If trigger present reject content message to upgrade to Phase II displayed. No trigger “no more copies:” rejected Otherwise, admitted

Digital Watermarks Awarded job for SDMI Electronic DNA © Interwoven tag Digital Noise 15 second interval Stored Information Copy permissions, Identifier tag, Additional Info

Digital Watermark Spec. Copy Permissions (4 bits) Content Owner Tag (8 bits) - Copy once, never, unlimited… Additional Info (optional 60 bits)

Phase II Content Phase II Mark presentMark not present Compressed Not compressed ADMIT Supposed to be ADMIT REJECT Not supposed to be NOT YET WRITTEN

Legal Issues Possible antitrust violations SDMI is a “specification, not an agreement” Neutral industry standards that benefit consumers are not inherently illegal But what is the benefit to the artists?

Legal Issues Fair Use Backwards compatibility Example Default limit: four copies No interoperability

Social Issues RIAA inspections Backwards compatibility Non-compliance Hacker tools would make circumventing copy protection routine No interoperability Consumer Cost:Benefit

Conclusions Although a decent attempt, SDMI will fail in the long run Three points of failure: Lack of consumer support Legal challenge just around the corner Failure to come up with “Phase II” Too much, too fast

Questions