The plans are initially likely to affect removable or portable data storage, such as Zip drives or the Flash memory cards used in MP3 players. But the standards could ultimately serve as a way to keep consumers from copying copyrighted files directly onto their hard drives, a daunting prospect for those who download music or videos from the Net though programs such as Napster or Gnutella.
Any hardware device that limits what consumers can do with their music or video files will face steep hurdles before being adopted. Previous devices with built-in copy protection have reached the market only to disappear under the weight of consumer indifference.
Current efforts are coming in two parts. An industry body that oversees hardware technologies is creating the new set of standards designed to let individual manufacturers add their own copy-protection schemes. Waiting in the wings to take advantage of the standards body's proposal is a specific technology jointly created by Intel, IBM, Matsushita Electric and Toshiba, dubbed Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM).
At least two big computer companies, IBM and SanDisk, are considering implementing CPRM, according to developers. If adopted widely, it and other hardware-based copy protection ideas stand a chance of easing fears among record labels and movie studios about selling content online.
"Moving to the hardware level would be a step in the direction of creating a fundamental (anti-piracy) infrastructure, which might put the content providers' fears to rest," said Steve Vonder Haar, an analyst with The Yankee Group.
