for instance, irrefutable and independently verifiable proof that you own a valid software, music, or visual art license and are therefore immune to prosecution for piracy.

A registry of licenses like this could shield creators from copyright claims on social media applications such as youtube. Could also automate revenue sharing and royalties for artists whose works are used in derivative media so the people who actually perform the work get paid. Would be nice to cut the publisher middleman out. And there is absolutely no reason there has to be anything like a "proof of work" system burning down entire fucking rainforests' worth of energy to verify every single gods damned transaction because this sort of system isn't for trading shit, it's strictly for proving a valid chain of custody between producers and consumers and you don't need megawatt-hours to just fucking LOOK SOMETHING UP.

imagine if, for instance, fucking warner brothers couldn't "takes backsies" content that they SOLD to end users through a distribution network; the license is yours, and anyone can look up the fact that the license was sold to the user id you happen to control.

imagine if, for instance, you buy a video game through a digital distributor like steam but then the store goes out of business and no longer exists to serve you a copy or recognize the sale, but on this massively distributed and decentralized database you can prove that you did indeed compensate the developers of that software and thereby legally acquire entitlement to access it in accordance with the end user license agreement.

imagine if ownership of stuff you bought fair and square can never be taken away from you

THAT'S what we could have had

instead of this fucking bullshit.

[–] trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I feel like here you get to the NFT problem of having proof of ownership of something doesn't mean much when that thing is being hosted on servers you don't control

so if you have an entry with a licence for a steam game, and steam gets closed, you are out of luck

[–] Draegur@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

it's that holding a license for a game entitles you to operating a copy of it regardless of where you bought it.

it's the whole basis for why emulation and ROM images were LEGAL

because you had a right to retain a backup of the software you own through the license.

with an independent licensing infrastructure, if GoG closes you can take your licenses with you, download the game from anywhere, and if anyone tries to charge you for stealing it, you can just present your license: "See, i bought it fair and square."

if i bought a dryer from SEARS, it didn't stop being mine when SEARS closed.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

NFT's don't show you have proof of ownership of anything other than the NFT. Think of all the people who got their metamask account hacked and lost all their apes with zero recourse.

Why would anyone want anything required for daily life attached to something so insecure and irreversible as that?

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It's like if losing your wallet automatically burns down your house. Sounds amazing, let's do it!

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

imagine if, for instance, you buy a video game through a digital distributor like steam but then the store goes out of business and no longer exists to serve you a copy or recognize the sale, but on this massively distributed and decentralized database you can prove that you did indeed compensate the developers of that software and thereby legally acquire entitlement to access it in accordance with the end user license agreement.

What you're arguing for is forcing the distributor to distribute in perpetuity, which has nothing to do with how you show ownership of your license.

Right now, I can show steam I've purchased, say Delistopolis, and they will agree I am indeed perfectly allowed to have and play it. But they are not required to provide me with a copy.

A blockchain system will not solve this.

[–] Draegur@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

no. you're putting words in my mouth. if the distributor wants to stop distributing they can.

they can take down their servers, they can even cease to be, but it would no longer affect the availability of product they sold.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Then I don't think I understand you. Are you suggesting we put millions of full games on a bloxkchain?

[–] Draegur@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Only the keys need to be stored cryptographically, really, because the game files themselves are nigh inevitably available on torrenting networks. it's inevitable that people are going to rip backups of all game files for the delicious delights of datamining and as long as enough of them will seed them (which shouldn't be a problem as long as there's any INTEREST in a game existing...) that availability never arises as an issue. And if it's not popular enough to put there, it'll probably end up on The Internet Archive.

Would be nice if there were an infrastructural 'backup of last resort' such as the library of congress, which is something the LoC already does for other audiovisual media. It'd just be nice if that service were extended to software.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

So more of a blockchain KMS then? I don't see how you could construct such a thing.

The requirements of allowing a publisher control of their game for some time (for example, allowing them to retract some keys when violating the EULA, but not all keys when "unpublishing" a game), but also allowing people to resell keys, which are somehow publically accesible but only for the legit owner, and the owner has to allow third-party acces without publically sharing a private key.

This is the age-old identity problem with blockchain. It's all well and good that Bob's name is written on a smart contract, but that doesn't remove the issue with how to identify Bob.

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 6 points 6 months ago

All such copyright licenses are rooted in local jurisdictional law, so your country's copyright office should be the authority because anything else means the courts can tell you that your on-chain transactions are invalid

[–] aesc@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Well, if those licenses are entries on the blockchain, they could be transferred on the blockchain. You could sell your game used when you’re bored of playing it. You can’t play it after you sell it but someone else can. Publishers hate resale markets though, when people buy used games they don’t make any money. So they’ll probably never go for this.

[–] jdeath@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago (5 children)

yeah on top of that, if your computer breaks or something now you lost all of your keys.

say goodbye to whatever you own on the blockchain when the keys are gone. poof!

this is the biggest problem with any scheme tying private keys (digital) to anything in the real world.

[–] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Once my mom threw out all the cases for my computer games and put all the disks into a cd binder to save room.

It was devastating.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

She wanted you to hear some of her favorite chiptunes but she didn’t know how

[–] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don’t know what this means

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Serial key generators would play chiptunes in the background - give a listen!

[–] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Now I regret not having this experience

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago

<3 never been a better time to relive it for the first time

[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 1 points 6 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

listen

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] aesc@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 6 months ago

As people said, you can backup your private keys to a flash drive. You can put them in a safe deposit box. You can give them to your lawyer or other fiduciary with a legal responsibility to act in your best interests (who also knows how to protect digital property if they keep digital copy). You could write it with lemon juice onto the back of the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives. You could have a laser thingie that displays it on a wall surgically implanted into your arm. Pretty much all the ways people protect gold or cash in the real world you can do with a piece of paper with your private key.

[–] S410@kbin.social 1 points 6 months ago

You can lose access to regular accounts as easily as to a blockchain. In fact, losing database of your password manager is even worse, because even if you have backups, they're not going to be complete.

With a blockchain all you have to worry is your private key. And you can write it down on a piece of paper, if you want, and put it away in a safe or a bank vault or something. Then, if you use it to restore your access years later, nothing will be lost.

"There are 2 types of people in the world: those who make backups, and those who don't make backups yet."

[–] NoiseColor@startrek.website -3 points 6 months ago

Not really. You backup you keys like a normal human. Or create any of those new account abstraction keys that are tied to another account, or anything else.

[–] NoiseColor@startrek.website -3 points 6 months ago

Not really. You backup you keys like a normal human. Or create any of those new account abstraction keys that are tied to another account, or anything else.

[–] hemmes@lemmy.world -4 points 6 months ago

With smart contracts on blockchain you can do exactly that. Everyone involved in the process can ensure they get their cut.