The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) today announced that it has published threshold standards for 'benefit denial technology' that would allow DVDs and video games to be shipped to retail outlets in an inoperable state and subsequently enabled at the point of sale.

The standards are designed to encourage the development of video game and DVD benefit denial technology and allow benefit denial technology providers to align or design their systems to the extent possible to the needs of retailers and content providers.

The threshold standards were developed by key retailers, home video divisions, and video game publishers brought together by EMA to examine the feasibility of implementing DVD and video game benefit denial technology. (Benefit denial is the concept of denying the shoplifter or internal thief the ability to use stolen goods).

The effort, nicknamed Project Lazarus, is also focusing currently on developing criteria for the evaluation of proposed systems and developing a cost-benefit analysis for the technologies, based on empirical data and forecasting.

In separate developments, the Entertainment Merchants Association is partnering with the Content Delivery and Storage Association (CDSA) and MEDIA-TECH Association (MTA) to coproduce the Future of Packaged Media '09 conference, to be held 3-4 February 2009 in Los Angeles.

Story filed 09.12.08