Re: [projectvrm] An author's personal IP store in the cloud

[Dean Landsman < >]

Substitute "musician" for "author" and there are numerous attempts at 
doing just that.

The pervading problem is that once the material (writings or music or 
whatever) becomes accessible, it falls prey to duplication. Watermarks 
and other such tools exist to prevent misuse, but to read or to listen 
to content falls into a different category.  A watermark on a picture 
gives it a visual stamp.  Watermark on a page of written content is not 
a preventive measure.

Photoshop experts can deftly undo most, if not all,watermarks.

Other software to remove watermarks or encryption also render them 
useless.  Screen capture, video/audio capture, and then distribution via 
torrents, or all other manner of duplication and distribution exist.

In the music example there are some artists who have successfully 
prolonged their careers using what is often characterized as outreach to 
the long tail, meaning their fans, ever so dispersed throughout the 
planet.  Janis Ian, for one.  There are writers who charge for access to 
their sites or sell eBooks or both.

In either case it is an uphill climb.

--Dean


On 2/2/2015 1:15 PM, Crosbie Fitch wrote:
> Wouldn't it be great if an author could have some place in the cloud where
> they could put all their intellectual property, all their novels, poems,
> reviews, etc.
>
> And moreover, it'd be great if this place let them control who could access
> their IP, and control who could share it with whom.
>
> Obviously, it'd be important to ensure that if any sharing did occur by
> those the author had permitted to do so, that it was secured with
> unbreakable public key encryption technology - to prevent eavesdroppers
> obtaining their property without permission.
>
> Then, the author might make a living once again, instead of everyone
> stealing their property as they do today.