Trusted Computing, Peer-To-Peer Distribution, and the Economics of Pirated Entertainment SUBMISSION — DO NOT DISTRIBUTE OR QUOTE

To better protect digital media from piracy, the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA) is introducing technologies to secure personal computers and the entertainment content with which they are trusted, from pirate software. We argue that these new technologies, designed to make extracting content from protected media and media players more difficult, may also be used to protect those who distribute pirated content. 1 Piracy and evolving technology The viability of pirated entertainment hinges on the costs of the three required steps: extracting content from its original media, producing copies, and distributing those copies. The legal liability incurred by participating in these processes may also be factored into the costs. The entertainment industry has collaborated with the computer and electronics industry to bring forward new technologies to protect digital content. We argue that these new technologies, aimed at making content extraction more difficult, may have the side effect of reducing the costs of, and potential liability for, distributing pirated content. The net result could be an increase, rather than a decrease, in the distribution of pirated entertainment such as music and movies. 1.1 The evolution of pirated entertainment Before the days of consumer audio and videotape all three of the steps required to pirate media were expensive. Both the recording equipment and the media itself were expensive, and even if pirated television content had been available, there was no equipment with which to view it. Audiotape and videotape made copying possible at reasonable cost, but quality degraded as copies of copies were made. In the video market, anti-piracy