Jon Katz is worried that steganography — hiding one set of information within another, such as with digital watermarking — may “determine whether the Net — and much of the data that moves through it — stays free or not.” I’d like to see this stuff work in the real world before getting all bent out of shape.
Katz seems impressed by this Wired article detailing a Microsoft demo of a digital watermarking technology designed for audio files. Microsoft researchers made a lot of claims about how good the technology works, but then again so did the Secure Digital Music Initiative. And, of course, even relatively secure systems can be compromised by boneheaded errors — just ask the people responsible for the DVD protection system.
Which brings me to my recommendation for people concerned about this stuff: do everything in your power to make sure Microsoft’s standards are accepted. Last week Microsoft had to publicize yet another security problem with their IIS server. A hacked copy of Office XP was on the Internet weeks before the supposedly secure system was to be released to the public.
And these folks are going to be able to provide a long-term solution for securing music? I don’t think so.