WebSitesOfNote

Predictions for 2006: "Each January, I have offered predictions for the upcoming year. This year, Alex and I put our heads together to come up with a single list of predictions. Having doubled the number of bloggers making predictions, we seem to have doubled the number of predictions, too. Each prediction is supported by at least one of us, except the predictions that turn out to be wrong, which must have slipped in by mistake.And now, our predictions for 2006: (1) DRM technology will still fail to prevent widespread infringement. In a related development, pigs will still fail to fly. (2) The RIAA will quietly reduce the number of lawsuits it files against end users. (3) Copyright owners, realizing that their legal victory over Grokster didn’t solve the P2P problem, will switch back to technical attacks on P2P systems. (4) Watermarking-based DRM will make an abortive comeback, but will still be fundamentally infeasible. (5) Frustrated with Apple’s market power, the music industry will try to cozy up to Microsoft. Afraid of Microsoft’s market power, the movie industry will try to cozy up to Washington. (6) The Google Book Search case will settle. Months later, everybody will wonder what all the fuss was about. (7) A major security and/or privacy vulnerability will be found in at least one more major DRM system. (8) Copyright issues will still be stalemated in Congress. "