At 11:59 AM -0700 2/1/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> Is anyone on this list familiar with what is going on with
>> Shoutcast/MP3/Liquid Audio? I heard that Liquid Audio was releasing
>> their watermarking technology into the open MP3 standard. Anyone know
>> about the technology, how strong it is, etc?
>>
>
>According to Liquid Audio their system works by watermarking any music you
>buy with your name, address, and credit card number. If you redistribute
>the music and the copyright owner finds it somewhere, they can check the
>watermark to determine who distributed it first.
I see a couple of interesting attacks on this kind of system. First the
no-tech attack. "Why officer, yes I did buy that recording. I had it in
my car and it was stolen. No, I didn't report it. I didn't think the
police would be interested in a $29.95 theft."
The other attack involves tapping the data stream near the point of
distribution. This attack should yield thousands of copies to average
together to either remove the watermark or at least point the finger in
many directions. The obvious counter is strongly encrypted distribution.
(There, I tied crypto in. Wheew!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz | Macintosh: Didn't do every-| Periwinkle -- Consulting
(408)356-8506 | thing right, but did know | 16345 Englewood Ave.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] | the century would end. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
