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`‘
`
`001
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`

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`information.”
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`002
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`002
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`

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`This material may be protected by Copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code)
`
`I
`
`Superdistribution
`
`By Brad Cox
`
`Stop selling software.
`Give it away. Get paid
`Meterware
`for its use.
`
`er as a broadcasting station whose "audience" consists ofa
`single ”listener.” First pioneered in 1987 by Ryoichi Mori,
`head ofthe Japan Electronics Industry Development Associ-
`ation, superdistribution is based on the observation that
`electronic objects are fundamentally unable to monitor
`their own copying but trivially able to monitor their use. For
`example, making software — whether it's Microsoft's Word
`or Mike's string-compare subroutine — count how many
`times it has been invoked is easy, but making it count how
`manytimes it has been copied is much more difficult. So
`why not build an information—age market economy around
`this difference? If revenue collection were based on moni-
`
`toring the use of software inside a computer, vendors could
`dispense with copy protection altogether. They could dis-
`tribute electronic objects for free in expectation of a usage-
`based revenue stream. (This, of course, raises the same
`hairy privacy issues that we trade offwhen we choose to
`use credit cards instead of cash or talk by telephone rather
`than face to face. The real risk to privacy here does not arise
`when usage information is used only for billing, but from
`any possibility that it might be used for other purposes.)
`Treating ease—of—rep|ication as an asset rather than a
`liability, superdistribution actively encourages free distribu-
`tion of information-age goods via any distribution mecha-
`nism imaginable. lt invites users to download superdistribu-
`tion software from networks, to give it away to their friends,
`orto send it asjunk mail to people they've never met.
`Why this generosity? Because the software is actually
`"meterware." It has strings attached, whose effect is to
`decouple revenue collection from the way the software was
`distributed. Superdistribution software contains embedded
`instructions that make it useless except on machines that
`are equipped forthis new kind of revenue collection.
`Superdistribution—equipped computers are otherwise
`quite ordinary. They run ordinary pay-by—copy software just
`fine, but they have additional capabilities that only
`superdistribution software uses. In Mori’s prototype, these
`extra services are provided by a silicon chip that plugs into
`a Macintosh coprocessor slot. The hardware is surprisingly
`uncomplicated (its main complexities being tamper-proof-
`ing, not base functionality), and far less complicated than
`hardware that the computer industry has been routinely
`building for decades. Electronic objects intended for
`superdistribution invoke this hardware, which provides
`instructions. These instructions check that revenue-collec-
`tion hardware is present, prior usage reports have been
`uploaded, and prior usage fees have been paid.They also
`keep track of how many times they have been invoked,
`storing the resulting usage information temporarily in a
`
`WIRED SEPTEMBER
`
`is so logical it could
`be the foundation of
`
`the new, networked
`
`economy.
`
`I t has becomea maxim: intangible
`
`electronic goods — software applica-
`tions, online magazine stories, clip art
`— are quite distinct from tangible goods
`like baskets, potatoes, and oil refinery
`machinery. Tangible goods are made of
`atoms; electronic goods are made of
`bits. While those who produce electronic goods must
`expend the same capital, labor, and knowledge as those
`producing tangible goods, their products can be copied in
`nanoseconds and transported at the speed of light.
`The hard—to-copy nature of tangible goods made the
`traditional pay—per—copy mechanism a natural choice. But
`an info product's ease of duplication so thoroughly under-
`cuts the traditional notion of pay-per-copy that the possibil-
`ity ofan abundant supply of pre-fabricated information—age
`goods is nearly nixed.
`But imagine a significantly altered market mechanism for
`electronic goods. instead oftreating ease-of—replication as a
`liability to be prevented — via |abor—intensive copy protec-
`tion and legal or moral restrictions — this new model treats
`ease—of-replication as the asset upon which a new founda-
`tion for software engineering could be based. In Japan this
`new way is called superdistribution. Superdistribution lets
`information flow freely, without resistance. Eschewing the
`|ow—tech property—rights mechanisms already widespread
`(shrinkwrap software, license servers, dongles, demoware,
`shareware), superdistribution allows miners, refiners, fabri-
`cators, assemblers, distributors, and marketers to cooperate
`and compete as producers and consumers ofelectronic
`goods within a global information—age society.
`Existing copyright law distinguishes between copyright
`(the right to copy or distribute) and useright (the right to
`"perform," or to use a copy once obtained). In the eyes of
`the law, when Joe Sixpack buys a record or CD at a store,
`he's actually purchasing a bundle of rights that includes
`ownership ofa physical medium along with a limited
`useright that allows use ofthe music on that medium only
`for personal enjoyment. Large television and radio compa-
`nies buy an entirely different bundle of rights. They often
`have the same media (whose only difference is a "not for
`resale” sticker on the cover) thrust upon them for free by
`publishing companies in expectation ofsubstantial fees for
`the useright to play the music on the air. These fees are
`administered by ASCAP (American Society of Composers,
`Authors and Publishers) and BMI (Broadcast Musicians
`Institute), who monitor how often each record is broadcast
`to how large a listening audience.
`Similarly, superdistribution treats each personal comput-
`
`003
`
`

`
`DE'Es FORTES
`
`tamper—proof persistent RAM. Periodically (say monthly),
`this usage information is uploaded to an administrative
`organization for billing, using encryption technology to
`discourage tampering and to protect the secrecy ofthe
`metered information. (Think of your utility bill.)
`Software users receive monthly bills for use of each top-
`level component — say, Microsoft Excel, Myst, or a Net—based
`rock video. When these bills are paid, payments are divvied
`up between the makers of the component and makers of
`subcomponents — in proportion to usage. For example, for
`the rock video, payment might go to MTV as well as to the
`artist. In other words, the end—user's payments are recur-
`sively distributed through the producer—consumer hierar-
`chy. The distribution is governed by usage metering infor—
`mation collected from each end»user’s machine, plus usage
`pricing data provided to the administrative organization by
`each component vendor. (The various rounds of payment
`resemble those made by Visa or MasterCard.)
`Since communication is infrequent and involves only a
`small amount of metering information, the communication
`channel could be as simple as a modem that autodials a
`hardwired 800 number each month. Many other solutions
`are viable, such as flash cards or even floppy disks to be
`mailed back and forth each month.
`Consider an author who wishes to distribute or sell a
`
`multimedia document that cannot be handled as a simple
`text file. Without superdistribution, the author's market is
`confined to those who have already purchased a program
`capable of displaying this document — a run—time version of
`Macromedia Director, for example. The same occurs at each
`lower level ofthe producer/consumer hierarchy. The market
`of a programmer who wishes to sell a reusable software
`component is restricted to those who have already pur
`chased the components and tools upon which the software
`component relies.
`With superdistribution, the market is no longer restricted
`to those who own Director, because it will be acquired by
`the customers’ operating system as if it were a part ofthe
`document. The creator ofthe document accrues revenue
`from those who read it, as does the creator of Director.
`
`The user's operating system acquires subcomponents of
`the document, such as Director and any subcomponents it
`relies on (QuickDraw, etc.), from the hard drive’s cache,
`automatically loading it as needed from the network. The
`operating system can do this automatically and transpar-
`ently because loading software involves no financial com-
`mitments when revenue is based on usage instead of acqui-
`sition of copies.
`Superdistribution addresses the perennial, implicit ques-
`tions ofthose who might potentially provide the smaller-
`granularity reusable software components upon which an
`advanced software engineering culture could be founded:
`Where do software components come from? Why should I
`botherto provide them? Why should I engage in such gritty
`activities as testing and documenting reusable software
`components sufficiently so that others might use them?
`What is in it for me?
`
`Where software's ease»of~replication is a liability today
`(by disincentivizing those who would provide it), superdis—
`tribution turns this liability into an asset by allowing goods
`to be distributed for free. Where software vendors must
`now spend heavily to overcome software's invisibility,
`superdistribution would thrust software out into the world
`to serve as its own advertisement. Where the personal com-
`puter revolution isolates individuals inside a stand—alone
`personal computer, superdistribution establishes a cooper—
`ative/competitive community around an information—age
`market economy.
`By separating revenue collection from acquisition of
`copies, hard drives and computers can disappear and
`becomejust part ofthe plumbing that conveys informa-
`tion—age goods between producers and consumers. Com-
`puters and telecommunications links become invisible, a
`transparent window through which individuals can com—
`municate, cooperate, coordinate, and compete as members
`of an advanced socioeconomic community.
`
`Brad Cox (bcox@gmu.edu) is founder ofthe Coalition for Elec-
`tronic Markets and a faculty member in George Mason Univer-
`sity’s Program on Social and Organizational Learning.
`
`Access to Education
`
`Connecting every
`public school class-
`room and library to
`the infobahn is a
`
`legitimate goal of
`public policy.
`
`ow to engineer the information
`
`H superhighway so it benefits all in
`
`our society has become a burn-
`ing issue.
`Critics would leave it to cash—starved
`
`By George Lucas and Sen. Bob Kerrey
`
`superhighway. In their model, communities can decide
`either to increase teachers’ salaries, buy new textbooks, or
`cruise the infobahn. This country should not accept such
`an either/or proposition.
`Such a course would hobble American education, espe-
`
`004