[mythtv-users] Broadcast Flag Article mentions MythTV and quotes Issac

[Brad Templeton]

On Thu, Mar 03, 2005 at 11:56:29AM -0500, Brian J. Murrell wrote:
> You are missing the point of the problem.  Software like Myth will not
> even get access to the content to strip/remove/skip/ignore the flag.
> The knowledge (i.e. programming specs) needed to get the information
> from the HDTV capture card will not be available to a project like Myth
> for those very reasons.
> 
> Sure, it could be reverse engineered for every device out there but
> that's a long hard road.

It's a very complex path.  Somebody could build a box using mythtv which
complies with the broadcast flag.  It would have to be a "locked" box
like the Tivo (which also is just a PVR application running on linux)
where the user does not have access to the OS or files, just the ability
to run the application.   It would have to store all video on disk
encrypted (as the tivo does) to prevent you from opening the box and
taking out the hard disk full of unencrypted video files.

Not only can this be done, but that's how all cable set top boxes and
satellite boxes etc. are going to be required to work if they want to
get broadcast digital TV and are sold after July 1.

Nothing stops such a box from running Myth.  The GPL only requires that
the vendor of the box publish the source to any changes they make to
myth or linux.    You will be able to read the code where they block
you from access, but not change it.

Like the Tivo series 2, such boxes will probably (if they want to get
approval from satellite companies or cable companies) have a ROM that
checksums the kernel before booting, to assure the user has not
changed the code on the disk.    Tivo users found a way around this but
it took them lots of work.  You can also replace the roms in some
cases.  Defeating some of these tricks may be a DMCA violation however,
especially if it gets you access to data that's supposed to be encypted.

As noted the GPL does not stop somebody from building a locked box, an
embedded system, using GPLd code.   It may or may not piss off the
developers -- and frankly I would not want to be building such a box with
the developers pissed off at me -- but that's to be seen.  For example,
linux core developers did not seem very bothered that Tivo comes with
a linux inside that users are unable to modify.


---------------

To another point in this thread, explaining to consumers why the flag
is bad.  Alas, it doesn't stop you from doing rewind/ff.  Locked boxes
can do anything they want as long as they don't leak out the unencrypted
digital video in full-res form.    Locked boxes get another big leg-up,
because for digital cable and satellite, they get access to the raw
compressed streams from those services, no need for any mpeg encoder at
all.  So consumers will buy them.

The real danger is more subtle -- it's the death of innovation.

Compare a DVD player from 10 years ago to one today, and look at the
features for playing videos.   They are almost identical, just a lot cheaper
today.  10 years and almost no innovation.  Compare that to all the other
technologies in media!

MythTV seems to add a new feature several times a week. Compare that to
the locked boxes like the Tivo, or Scientific Atlanta etc.

That's the real killer and it's hard to show folks.