Macrovision responds to Steve

Fred Amoroso, president and CEO of Macrovision, has posted a public response to Steve Job's recent open letter on DRM. Amoroso[1] argues that DRM is of net-benefit to the consumer. It allows consumers to rent intellectual property, such as video, software and games as well as music, without having to buy it and stimulates the creation of high-value entertainment because it protects the rights of the creators. The problem, he suggests, is that DRM is not interoperable and open. DRM systems (like FairPlay, which is not mentioned by name except later in the letter where Amoroso offers to take it over from Apple[2]) prevent portability between devices.

Amoroso's statement is very much in line with the RIAA and Warner Music. The only new twist is the suggestion that companies like Apple force consumers into piracy by not opening up their DRM. He thinks piracy occurs because illegal content is more accessible and easier to use. As if people wouldn't pirate music if they could play iTunes purchases on a Zune. He proposes that abandoning DRM, moving say to unprotected MP3, will "doom" consumers to a more expensive "one size fits all" solution, a conclusion that I find hard to accept. Nothing says "interoperability" quite like a complete absence of DRM.

[1] A name eerily like, but not quite an anagram of, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth of Apprentice fame.

[2] In a statement that rings of "stand and deliver", Amaroso writes: "At Macrovision we are willing to lead this industry effort...[and will] assume responsibility for FairPlay as a part of our evolving DRM offering and enable it to interoperate across other DRMs, thus increasing consumer choice and driving commonality across devices."

Share