MediaLoper points to an interesting reminiscence from the tail end of our college years — the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)’s endless succession anti-piracy “breakthroughs” that later turned out to be laughably inept.
In January of 1997, for example, the RIAA announced that it had developed technology that would prevent unauthorized copying of CDs on a CD burner:
At a meeting of the multi-industry DVD Copyright Protection Technical Working Group (CPTWG) in San Jose today, the Recording Industry Association of America unveiled a prototype software module to prevent the unauthorized copying of copyrighted CDs on computers. The RIAA’s system is designed to work with a CD-ROM recorder and implementing software to read the copyright flags already present in prerecorded CDs, thus preventing unauthorized copying, but can be easily adapted to work with other types of devices such as a DVD recorder coupled to a computer.
Bang up job, guys. As MediaLoper points out, the world could have been much worse had the RIAA not succeeded so brilliantly:
I can only imagine the sort of chaos the recording industry might have gone through over the last decade if the RIAA hadn’t been so sophisticated in its understanding of the Internet, and its use of technology.
So, next time you pop your favorite CD into your RIAA approved CD player, pause for a moment and thank the RIAA. Without them we wouldn’t have music. And pirates would rule the world.
Great Moments in RIAA History: January 1997, RIAA Develops System To Prevent CD Copying [MediaLoper]
