[mythtv] BBC Freeview HD encoded/licensed EPG content proposal - comments due 2nd April 2010

[Another Sillyname]

2010/1/23 Stuart Morgan <stuart at tase.co.uk>:
> On Saturday 23 Jan 2010 16:17:30 Another Sillyname wrote:
>> There is a school of thought though that once you've accepted the
>> principal of any encryption that the 'industry' will continue to
>> 'creep' further encryptions.
>
> Too late then, even ignoring the wide acceptance of encrytion in DVD, Bluray
> and other physical mediums. Sky, Virgin, BT, TopUpTV all encrypt their
> broadcast TV offerings and they are widely accepted, furthermore they can
> often afford to pay more for imports so the BBC haven't a leg to stand on. The
> BBC, even as large as it is has no power to persuade the studios to change
> their minds, that would take industry wide cooperation which will never
> happen. DRM will probably fail for video as it has already done for music, but
> until then the BBC are offering a very acceptable compromise.

I don't care about encryption in other mediums, we're talking about
encryption on the BBC here so let's stay on point shall we.  I
remember when Murdoch rumbled years ago that if the Beeb went free to
air they would pull all Fox programming (TV and Movies) off the Beeb.
It was a hollow threat then as I believe these threats of program
providers not selling their product to the BBC are now.  If the Beeb
stick to their guns I suspect few, if any, providers would decide to
deprive themselves of the revenue from a showing on the Beeb.

>
>> I have to say I'm against any encryption in principal, the 'studios'
>> that are saying they won't sell their movies to the Beeb cannot be
>> serious that it will prevent piracy. Between the number of stations in
>> North America, Canada and Oz that transmit HD in the clear, cracked
>> Blu Rays and other sources the HD version of a movie is often on the
>> net before the first Blu Ray has even shipped.
>
> Will it stop piracy? No. It will however improve the chances of conviction of
> pirates by taking away the naivity defence. It's the 'complimentary' apple
> defence - there is a bowl of apples in the reception area of a Hotel, they are
> intended for the guests, a man walks in off the street though the open door
> and tips the apples into his bag, when stopped by Police down the street he
> pleads innocence, "The apples were free officer!". It's an offence of theft,
> plain and simple but a jury may buy that the man was so naive that he really
> didn't know that.
>
> Well the BBC is license payer funded and they broadcast Free To Air. Someone
> will argue that since they've paid for it and there were no barriers which had
> to be crossed, they thought they owned the recording and had the right to
> distribute among friends. The obscuring of the EPG is not meant to be a strong
> measure, it's a _symbolic_ one, a physical barrier no stronger than the velvet
> rope in museums, but an important psychological barrier.
>

What?  The naivety defence?

Do you honestly think, with the amount of media coverage that piracy
gets in the UK and every time you load a DVD that anyone does not
understand copyright theft?  Anyone who tries to fly that defence in
the UK is rightly on a hiding to nothing.

Given you have accepted above it's not going to reduce piracy (because
mostly movies are released in the US before the UK) what purpose does
it serve?

Christ go to any car boot sale anywhere in the country any weekend and
it's usually stuffed with Chinese knock offs. But it's much easier for
the bonus motivated organisations to say "we got the BBC to implement
an encryption methodology" to get their payday.

It's difficult to take the screamings of an industry about copyright
theft hurting their numbers when revenues are up year on year, however
when you have a studio go into court and claim the the movie Forrest
Gump didn't make money to avoid paying a writer his commission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump#Author_controversy you've
got to ask what's the real agenda here.

Wikipedia even has a whole section titled Hollywood Accounting talking
about some of the nonsense that goes on, so who are the bigger thieves
here.

As I said in my original posting let the BBC name these companies that
are trying to force this on the UK and let the public decide, or are
you advocating that dirty deals done in smoke filled rooms is an
acceptable behaviour for a publicly funded body?

Regards