[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Flash Memory That Prevents Piracy?

How about selling music on memory cards that prevent songs from being copied more than allowed? You know, if the music company says you only have the right to copy it five times, the TrustedFlash device would prevent you from copying it more than that.

The chip design company is introducing TrustedFlash, a memory chip with built-in security that prevents illegal copying. That could help calm the tension between the entertainment industry that wants strict controls on intellectual property and technology companies that want digital content to be freely transferable to cell phones, music players, computers and other gadgets.

I predict that the entertainment industry will love this, consumers will hate it.