RicRicho

Reviewing the tags for DRM and copy control on Technorati, the blogosphere search engine and other places it is clear that there is a real concern by users about Activation in terms of the longevity/ business viability publishers and the consumers rights to use their own software if the product requires re-activation but the publisher no longer supports the activation server or worse has gone out of business.

An idea I came up with spilling out of the discussion is that consumer supportive publishers, advertise that they have a copy of their software in an unprotected state and tell them how to get a hold of the un-protected version of the product in the event that something happens to their ability to provide activation…

Possibly a kind of voluntary escrow where a group of consumers can petition a 3rd party to release the unprotected version of the software citing the publishers inability to live up to their side of the bargain namely to ensure that the user retains reasonable rights to use their purchased software.

I can see a simple banner-ad system and an escrow account with a long legged law firm (one that will outlive most of the publishers) and even the option for the consumers to pay as a group to have the software released for a small stipend. And then possibly somewhere down the track, something reasonable like say 10 years, the lawyer is allowed to destroy the software.