The lines have been drawn and the two sides clearly demarcated. So why is it that the industries working so hard to prevent copying are their own worst enemies?

He points out that last year alone 684 million mobile phones were sold. If handset makers had put anti-piracy protection software in those phones, the $684 million in royalties would have exceeded total digital music sales on the Web last year.

[...snip...]

They are reluctant to sound too harsh, however, because the irony is that they desperately need the OMA’s anti-piracy technology which is the first open standard that can be used by all electronics goods makers. Other technologies are owned and controlled by individual companies such as Apple for its iTunes Music Store and Microsoft.

Too many companies, using too many standards, and charging too much money. If it sounds like a recipe for disaster that is because it already is. Look how much these “anti-copying” technologies have helped the music biz. Bittorrent already accounts for nearly one third of all internet traffic. Movies and TV are next.