1. A method of controlling the use of data stored on a non-transitory media sample, comprising: creating a first media sample identifier at the point of data use using a consumer operable appliance, the first media sample identifier uniquely identifying the non-transitory media sample based on measurements of inherent physical, optical, electrical, or magnetic irregularities of the non-transitory media sample that are not correlated with the data stored on the non-transitory media sample; sending, via a communication network, the first media sample identifier to a server at a location different than the point of data use; storing the first media sample identifier on a computer readable storage module of the server; comparing, on the server, the first media sample identifier with one or more second media sample identifiers, the one or more second media sample identifiers having been generated by consumer operable appliances and stored on the computer readable storage module of the server, each respective second media sample identifier of the one or more second media sample identifiers uniquely identifying a respective second non-transitory media sample from which it was created based on measurements of inherent physical, optical, electrical, or magnetic irregularities of the respective second non-transitory media sample that are not correlated with data stored on the respective second non-transitory media sample; and sending data use control information to the consumer operable appliance to control the use of the data on the consumer operable appliance in response to the result of the one or more comparisons.