Technological protections such as encryption, authentication, anti-circumvention, and anti-counterfeiting measures and devices thwart the appropriation of valuable content. Creative industries sometimes overlook the complex but subtle tradeoffs that adding technological protection to creative content or delivery systems may entail. Some technological measures, such as digital rights management, may result in new restrictions on content that may require some degree of buy-in from users. Several technological measures illustrate the cost-benefit calculus that underlies this approach. For instance, anti-counterfeiting devices such as watermarks and other identifiers are useful, but may function for a limited time period as sophisticated counterfeiters devise new workarounds, copying methods, or other means of subverting or avoiding detection. Equally dual-edged are anti-copying protections, devices, or measures, such as limiting access to paid content or forbidding reverse engineering of technological protective software and/or devices. These measures effectively cabin content but run the risk of alienating core consumers, thereby potentially jeopardizing key industry business models.