Broadcast Flag!
August 16, 2002 7:25 AM Subscribe
Broadcast Flag!
Why are the rights of the consumer constantly compromised? Technology may soon be governed by Hollywood Studios...
Why are the rights of the consumer constantly compromised? Technology may soon be governed by Hollywood Studios...
Smart Dalek: no, it's not, actually. The studios have already proposed that all analog-to-digital encoders produced or sold in this country be required to recognize a digital watermark and stop recording when it is recognized. That is basically all interesting technology- it's your VCR, your computer, your camcorder, your cellphone, your camera, your car (as those becoming increasingly voice-aware.) Sorry that I can't find the link ATM, but it's very real.
posted by louie at 8:11 AM on August 16, 2002
posted by louie at 8:11 AM on August 16, 2002
Again (with feeling), fer Pete's sake...
For people under the guidance of the healthcare system, medical devices certainly would count as "interesting technology", but I digress...
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:20 AM on August 16, 2002
For people under the guidance of the healthcare system, medical devices certainly would count as "interesting technology", but I digress...
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:20 AM on August 16, 2002
what if the adc's are controlled, but then you're using your camcorder in your house to record your kid's birthday party and you have the tv on in the background. what happens when you pan across the room and the flagged content gets into your frame of reference? does your camcorder explode?
posted by zoopraxiscope at 8:28 AM on August 16, 2002
posted by zoopraxiscope at 8:28 AM on August 16, 2002
Everyone that owns a HDTV capable tv set or is thinking of buying one should be following this closely (I think somewhere on the order of a million or two devices have already been sold).
Basically, if the hollywood goons get their way, your HDTV will no longer work, and you'll need to buy a new converter that understands the broadcast flag. I'm sure there will be a very large class action suit against hollywood, but they'd probably rather pay to replace a million tvs and get their way.
For more technical info, the EFF's blog devoted to this issue is a good thing to follow, as well as this other piece Cory wrote that goes into greater depth.
posted by mathowie at 8:39 AM on August 16, 2002
Basically, if the hollywood goons get their way, your HDTV will no longer work, and you'll need to buy a new converter that understands the broadcast flag. I'm sure there will be a very large class action suit against hollywood, but they'd probably rather pay to replace a million tvs and get their way.
For more technical info, the EFF's blog devoted to this issue is a good thing to follow, as well as this other piece Cory wrote that goes into greater depth.
posted by mathowie at 8:39 AM on August 16, 2002
Smart Dalek: and what makes you think many medical devices aren't covered? What part of 'all analog-digital converters' was unclear? What do you think medical devices are? Last I checked, the signals coming out of the various parts of your body aren't digital...
posted by louie at 9:17 AM on August 16, 2002
posted by louie at 9:17 AM on August 16, 2002
This is the last time I'll respond in this thread...
First of all, it's not fully enacted as law. Anyone whe is familiar with the processes necessary for a proposal to become enacted into law realise there will be successive drafts before it even reached the White House. That enatils a fair amount of lobbying and pork-barrel politics which define the terms of the propsal for real-world use.
What's being pushed is analog-digital conversion of media content - i.e., music, images, and text which may or may not be subject to reseller value. There is leeway in there for fromatting (presentation) of material, so that if it's encrypted (Magnavision, etc.) and a bypass is hacked, legal action can be taken to protect their assets.
What this does not entail is every analog/digital device in existence. One may wish to believe so, but there's no practical way it can be enforced. By that I mean every single analog/digital device, including tire pressure gauges, weight scales, compasses and timepieces (notice I didn't say time-based correction equipment, such as video signal encoder/color balancers, or even non-linear audio mixing consoles, but timepieces, like a cheap watch, or for the sake of analogy, a true analog/digital device, like a Sharper Image sundial with a battery powered thermometer).
Regardless of the studios' clamoring, and the likes of Joe Bidden to chime in support, there will be a great amount of refinement - not enough to provide as much "free" control of licensed material (which is what tv, films, printed periodicals and mainstream music actually are) as those on the consumer level would like, but the ultimate outcome would not ensue in any alarmist, dystopian FUD that would topple human civilization into a New Dark Age.
Of course, I don't expect you to believe me. But if you do have any doubts, you can check GovExec, C-SPAN, The THOMAS Register, and yes, the Federal Communications Law Journal for more insight.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:58 AM on August 16, 2002
First of all, it's not fully enacted as law. Anyone whe is familiar with the processes necessary for a proposal to become enacted into law realise there will be successive drafts before it even reached the White House. That enatils a fair amount of lobbying and pork-barrel politics which define the terms of the propsal for real-world use.
What's being pushed is analog-digital conversion of media content - i.e., music, images, and text which may or may not be subject to reseller value. There is leeway in there for fromatting (presentation) of material, so that if it's encrypted (Magnavision, etc.) and a bypass is hacked, legal action can be taken to protect their assets.
What this does not entail is every analog/digital device in existence. One may wish to believe so, but there's no practical way it can be enforced. By that I mean every single analog/digital device, including tire pressure gauges, weight scales, compasses and timepieces (notice I didn't say time-based correction equipment, such as video signal encoder/color balancers, or even non-linear audio mixing consoles, but timepieces, like a cheap watch, or for the sake of analogy, a true analog/digital device, like a Sharper Image sundial with a battery powered thermometer).
Regardless of the studios' clamoring, and the likes of Joe Bidden to chime in support, there will be a great amount of refinement - not enough to provide as much "free" control of licensed material (which is what tv, films, printed periodicals and mainstream music actually are) as those on the consumer level would like, but the ultimate outcome would not ensue in any alarmist, dystopian FUD that would topple human civilization into a New Dark Age.
Of course, I don't expect you to believe me. But if you do have any doubts, you can check GovExec, C-SPAN, The THOMAS Register, and yes, the Federal Communications Law Journal for more insight.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:58 AM on August 16, 2002
Well, silly me. of course by the time it made it through al the committees and interest groups it would have to be a just and fair law. Otherwise they wouldn't approve it.
Just like the DMCA.
posted by jaded at 11:24 AM on August 16, 2002
Just like the DMCA.
posted by jaded at 11:24 AM on August 16, 2002
FWIW, here is a somewhat interesting interview (from Blogcritics) with Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA. (via delawoffice)
Louie, I'm still working on the Litman info.
posted by anathema at 12:00 PM on August 16, 2002
Louie, I'm still working on the Litman info.
posted by anathema at 12:00 PM on August 16, 2002
Technology which "may soon be governed by Hollywood Studios" sure wouldn't include wristwatches, mass transit vehicles, medical devices, refridgerators, umbrellas, pay phones, or even lawnmowers, fer Pete's sake.
Actually, there's more truth in this than you think. The issue with the Broadcast Flag proposal is that it would require tech companies with output or recording methods for DTV (i.e., improved Firewire, DVD burners, etc) to seek approval from three Hollywood studios before those technologies would be legal for inclusion in DTV devices.
What that means is that if you invent a better DVD burner, it will be illegal incorporate into DTV devices unless you negotiate permission with Hollywood studios.
Now, DTV recording and output technologies, like DVD, are generic -- you might find them in commodity PCs as well as in special-purpose DTV devices. But before those technologies find their way into general-purpose computers, the patent-holders will have to negotiate with Hollywood.
Those negotiations are an opportunity for Hollywood to impose license restrictions on the patent-holders that are beyond the scope of the Broadcast Flag. You might not get the green-light to use your DVD recorder in DTV devices unless you agree that you will enforce Hollywood's arbitrary rules on any general-purpose technology firm that also licenses the technology. Hollywood may require that any drivers for your technology be implemented in proprietary, obfuscated code, that operating system vendors include a clickwrap license on the technology that makes you promise not to reverse-engineer the drivers (and deletes the drivers if you click "I disagree"), and that the drivers be set up to disable OS functions -- screenshots, network interfaces, debugger modes, etc -- while the device is active.
In fact, this sort of regime already exists through DVD-CCA, the licensing body that governs the right to implement DVD technology in CE and computer devices. Take an OSX box and insert a video DVD, then launch the player. Now, hide the player. There is no video present on your screen, but if you hit cmd-shift-3 to hit a screenshot, nothing will happen. That's because the licensing terms under which Apple acquired the rights to implement a DVD player requires them to disable perfectly valid parts of the OS when the DVD player is running.
Soon, every recording and output technology on your computer could come with its own licensing mandates. These mandates would be aimed at restricting distribution over IP networks and rendering of cleartext files on removable media. Expect these measures to require things like shutting down your network interfaces while you're watching a DTV stream, or to disable some kinds of disk-activity. What's more, expect the drivers for disks and network interfaces to be obfuscated and proprietary, in order to limit the possibility that you will be able to circumvent the restrictions.
The studios have already proposed that all analog-to-digital encoders produced or sold in this country be required to recognize a digital watermark and stop recording when it is recognized. That is basically all interesting technology- it's your VCR, your computer, your camcorder, your cellphone, your camera, your car (as those becoming increasingly voice-aware.) Sorry that I can't find the link ATM, but it's very real.
You're thinking of the Content Protection Status Report.
Everyone that owns a HDTV capable tv set or is thinking of buying one should be following this closely (I think somewhere on the order of a million or two devices have already been sold).
Three million, I think.
what makes you think many medical devices aren't covered?
Given that the thing that distinguishes one ADC from another is its bit-width and frequency, it's quite likely that you'd find identical, commodity ADCs in cellphones and seismographs, in DTV tuners and radio telescopes, in recording studios and CAT scans. Parts is parts.
First of all, it's not fully enacted as law. Anyone whe is familiar with the processes necessary for a proposal to become enacted into law realise there will be successive drafts before it even reached the White House. That enatils a fair amount of lobbying and pork-barrel politics which define the terms of the propsal for real-world use.
You're wrong. The original impetus for this came from Rep Tauzin's office, who asked for an inter-industry group to be formed. At the fall NAB meeting, the Copy Protection Technical Working Group of the MPAA chartered the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group, which negotiated until June 2002.
The final report of the BPDG was quite problematic. Thanks to agitation from groups like EFF, the report contained substantial objections from many of the critical parties in the DTV transition. The upshot was that Rep. Tauzin was ready to aabandon the project.
Then Sen. Hollings' office sent a letter to the Chairman of the FCC, Michael Powell, in which he argued that the FCC already had the authority to mandate a broadcast flag without an act of Congress, under the tuner reglaution powers that were granted to it during the transition from VHF to UHF. (Funny thing -- we got a copy of the Word file for that memo, and when we opened it up, we discovered that it was originally written with a copy of Word registered to the MPAA!)
On Aug 8, Chairman Powell and the FCC Commissioners voted to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to consider the Broadcast Flag. Deadline for comments is Oct 30. It's pretty close to being law.
posted by doctorow at 3:33 PM on August 16, 2002
Actually, there's more truth in this than you think. The issue with the Broadcast Flag proposal is that it would require tech companies with output or recording methods for DTV (i.e., improved Firewire, DVD burners, etc) to seek approval from three Hollywood studios before those technologies would be legal for inclusion in DTV devices.
What that means is that if you invent a better DVD burner, it will be illegal incorporate into DTV devices unless you negotiate permission with Hollywood studios.
Now, DTV recording and output technologies, like DVD, are generic -- you might find them in commodity PCs as well as in special-purpose DTV devices. But before those technologies find their way into general-purpose computers, the patent-holders will have to negotiate with Hollywood.
Those negotiations are an opportunity for Hollywood to impose license restrictions on the patent-holders that are beyond the scope of the Broadcast Flag. You might not get the green-light to use your DVD recorder in DTV devices unless you agree that you will enforce Hollywood's arbitrary rules on any general-purpose technology firm that also licenses the technology. Hollywood may require that any drivers for your technology be implemented in proprietary, obfuscated code, that operating system vendors include a clickwrap license on the technology that makes you promise not to reverse-engineer the drivers (and deletes the drivers if you click "I disagree"), and that the drivers be set up to disable OS functions -- screenshots, network interfaces, debugger modes, etc -- while the device is active.
In fact, this sort of regime already exists through DVD-CCA, the licensing body that governs the right to implement DVD technology in CE and computer devices. Take an OSX box and insert a video DVD, then launch the player. Now, hide the player. There is no video present on your screen, but if you hit cmd-shift-3 to hit a screenshot, nothing will happen. That's because the licensing terms under which Apple acquired the rights to implement a DVD player requires them to disable perfectly valid parts of the OS when the DVD player is running.
Soon, every recording and output technology on your computer could come with its own licensing mandates. These mandates would be aimed at restricting distribution over IP networks and rendering of cleartext files on removable media. Expect these measures to require things like shutting down your network interfaces while you're watching a DTV stream, or to disable some kinds of disk-activity. What's more, expect the drivers for disks and network interfaces to be obfuscated and proprietary, in order to limit the possibility that you will be able to circumvent the restrictions.
The studios have already proposed that all analog-to-digital encoders produced or sold in this country be required to recognize a digital watermark and stop recording when it is recognized. That is basically all interesting technology- it's your VCR, your computer, your camcorder, your cellphone, your camera, your car (as those becoming increasingly voice-aware.) Sorry that I can't find the link ATM, but it's very real.
You're thinking of the Content Protection Status Report.
Everyone that owns a HDTV capable tv set or is thinking of buying one should be following this closely (I think somewhere on the order of a million or two devices have already been sold).
Three million, I think.
what makes you think many medical devices aren't covered?
Given that the thing that distinguishes one ADC from another is its bit-width and frequency, it's quite likely that you'd find identical, commodity ADCs in cellphones and seismographs, in DTV tuners and radio telescopes, in recording studios and CAT scans. Parts is parts.
First of all, it's not fully enacted as law. Anyone whe is familiar with the processes necessary for a proposal to become enacted into law realise there will be successive drafts before it even reached the White House. That enatils a fair amount of lobbying and pork-barrel politics which define the terms of the propsal for real-world use.
You're wrong. The original impetus for this came from Rep Tauzin's office, who asked for an inter-industry group to be formed. At the fall NAB meeting, the Copy Protection Technical Working Group of the MPAA chartered the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group, which negotiated until June 2002.
The final report of the BPDG was quite problematic. Thanks to agitation from groups like EFF, the report contained substantial objections from many of the critical parties in the DTV transition. The upshot was that Rep. Tauzin was ready to aabandon the project.
Then Sen. Hollings' office sent a letter to the Chairman of the FCC, Michael Powell, in which he argued that the FCC already had the authority to mandate a broadcast flag without an act of Congress, under the tuner reglaution powers that were granted to it during the transition from VHF to UHF. (Funny thing -- we got a copy of the Word file for that memo, and when we opened it up, we discovered that it was originally written with a copy of Word registered to the MPAA!)
On Aug 8, Chairman Powell and the FCC Commissioners voted to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to consider the Broadcast Flag. Deadline for comments is Oct 30. It's pretty close to being law.
posted by doctorow at 3:33 PM on August 16, 2002
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The link in question refers to digital television. Technology which "may soon be governed by Hollywood Studios" sure wouldn't include wristwatches, mass transit vehicles, medical devices, refridgerators, umbrellas, pay phones, or even lawnmowers, fer Pete's sake.
I'm not saying that there aren't a surplus of corporate suits who are more than a bit greedy, but your post's relation of matters is, well, a bit over the top.
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:03 AM on August 16, 2002