Math Wiz Claims Piracy Solution

Risan's unorthodox museum is a Web site devoted to guitars and their role in music history, reflecting his personal interests as a collector, restorer and musician. The original version of the site boasted a virtual jukebox with thousands of songs from various musical eras and genres.

Then, early last year, the Recording Industry Assn. of America called to complain that Risan's site was letting users play songs on demand without the record labels' permission -- a no-no under copyright law. Worse, visitors could copy songs with just a few clicks of a computer mouse.

Risan, who had used his computing skills to make a fortune in the financial markets in the 1970s, was mortified.

So he fought back.

He unplugged the site's music and, dipping into his sizable bank account, put together a team of 16 software engineers in Santa Cruz. After more than a year of research and development, his venture -- called Music Public Broadcasting -- has developed a set of products that it says can give record companies, Hollywood studios and other copyright owners unprecedented protection against piracy.

Risan's conversion from guitar collector to software peddler illustrates something important about the battle over online piracy: It's a fluid technological arms race, with innovations coming from unexpected places on both sides of the fight. Just as entrepreneurs around the globe exploit piracy to build their businesses, so too do clever programmers try to profit by developing ways to protect copyrighted works.

Naturally, other anti-piracy companies are skeptical about Music Public Broadcasting's claims, and it remains to be seen whether any of its products will make a dent in the piracy that's rampant on the Internet. The company has just started trying to sell its wares, and it has yet to announce any customers.

Risan's museum is expected to show off one piece of the technology next month when it launches an online radio service featuring songs from 160 different genres and time periods. The music will be transmitted in a manner that Risan says will defy digital recording on today's computers, something that the leading vendors of anti-piracy software haven't been able to do for other services.