Toshiba's DRM lawyer - public talk at USC next Tuesday

Michael Ayers, the Toshiba lawyer who negotiates their DRM deals, will give a free public talk at the University of Southern California next Tuesday at 7PM. Michael started out as an engineer and switched to law. He was there when the anti-copying standards were set for DVDs, DVD audio, digital TV, Secure Digital cards, and he is the president of the DTLA consortium, which licenses out the DTCP control-ware from Hitachi, Intel, Matsushita, Sony, and Toshiba.

Michael is the chair of the "Business Group" for AACS, the technology that controls users of Blu-Ray and DVD-HD.

Your home and life are increasingly full of devices that seek to control, rather than enable you, and Michael is part of the negotiations for how those devices will function. As the representative of a technology company, he usually bats for the user, but we're still getting devices with more and more restrictions.

Michael has generously agreed to speak to my class and then give a public lecture, and I'm really grateful to him for it. He's always been candid, reasonable and level-headed in the DRM negotiations I worked with him at, and even when we've come down on opposite sides of the debate, I've been impressed with his honesty and flexibility.

When: September 19, 7PM-9PM
University of Southern California, Annenberg School, 3502 Watt Way
Room 207

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