Could A Barcode Resolve The Digital Rights Managment (DRM) Problem?

Chris Matthieu at ESBN (Electronic Standard Book Number) has come up with a really great application that could lead to a DRM resolution.

You give DRM a Bad Name

ESBN.ORG has developed a 19 digit unique identifier called an ESBN (Electronic Standard Book Number). This next generation ISBN-like unique identifier allows authors, publishers, and artists to generate a unique identifier for their digital asset - not just per title but per distributed copy of their digital asset.

The ESBN is assigned to a person or company for fair use. This license can be tracked by the ESBN ID and even reassigned to someone else at a later time.

Imagine being able to legally sell or trade digital assets (such as music, e-books, or art) that you have purchased! You can do this with books, DVDs or CDs in the offline world. Why shouldn’t you be able to do the same in the online world?

ESBN.ORG’s online numbering system may be the simple answer to this complicated problem. Good companies can restore DRM’s reputation