[mythtv-users] Time Warner & Firewire
Michael T. Dean
mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Wed May 18 21:33:04 UTC 2005
OK, I realize that the broadcast flag, per se, does not apply to DVD's
and other non-broadcast material, but to simplify the below discussion,
I've lumped all the 5C technologies (DTCP, HDCP, D-VHS, CPRM--and even
future "Table A" technologies) under the term, "broadcast flag."
Brad Templeton wrote:
>On Wed, May 18, 2005 at 10:49:01AM -0700, Mark Knecht wrote:
>
>
>>On 5/18/05, Brad Templeton <brad+myth at templetons.com> wrote:
>><MASSIVE SNIP>
>>
>>
>>>...and this system doesn't stop that! So why?
>>>
>>>
>>All I can say is many people who wrote the spec disagree with you but
>>I support your rights to go understand their point of view better.
>>
>>
>So help me. Are you saying the technical people really felt that
>the DRM would keep the tv shows off the P2P networks? I have to
>believe they understood that a single cracked copy can spread like
>wildfire, so that a day after the single crack, it's no different from
>1,000 people having cracked copies to put up.
>
>
And, when you consider that most of today's movies distributed illegally
across P2P networks actually came from industry insiders (i.e.
reviewers, people hooking digital capture devices into the movie theater
projection equipment, marketing staff, people working at the studios and
pressing houses, etc.), the broadcast flag scheme is probably useless.
Note that the insider claim is obviously true of *all* movies available
before the movie is released in theaters, but many sources seem to
indicate that it is often true of movies released much later, also.
(See references below.)
The only way the broadcast flag regulations could protect from insider
copying is if the HD/Blu-Ray DVD's and "movie reels" (however they're
done in today's semi-digital movie theaters) distributed to these
insiders--and even the originals at the production houses and copies
used to create the masters at the pressing houses--include broadcast
flag protection. Distributing everything with broadcast flag
protection--such that the broadcast flag prevented insider
copying--would mean that--focusing only on theaters--every movie house
would have to upgrade all its equipment to support the broadcast flag.
It would also mean that studios would have to refuse to distribute
movies to theaters that don't have broadcast-flag enabled equipment. I
just don't see that happening. In very few cases (i.e. Star Wars/THX)
have studios refused to distribute movies to certain theaters. If done
on a grand scale, it may actually cause more lost profits on the
studio's theater take than "retrieved" income from would-be pirates.
Note that the insider copying may also apply to future TV shows.
However, since this year was the first season in a loooooong time to
have a large number of highly-popular shows, I doubt the TV insiders
have--up to this point--had much interest in making them available.
Also, since NTSC video is of such low-quality, much of the reason for
groups making content available via illegal online distribution--to
impress others with the "quality" of the rip (timeliness, size,
video/audio quality, etc.)--hasn't really been applicable. As HDTV
becomes more prevalent, this will probably change. (I can't say for
sure because I haven't seen any references to corroborate my theory, but
I would guess that the release of television episodes on DVD's has
contributed to an increase in the amount of TV coming from insider
sources--similar to the fact that a large percentage of movies available
on these networks are not ripped from DVD's purchased by the rippers.)
Therefore, once again, we have far-reaching legislation that focuses on
the 20% (or, according to AT&T, the 23%) while ignoring the 80% (77%)...
Mike
"Analysis of Security Vulnerabilities in the Movie Production and
Distribution Process;" Byers, Simon, Lorrie Cranor, Dave Kormann,
Patrick McDaniel, and Eric Cronin; AT&T/University of Pennsylvania; Sep
13, 2003; http://lorrie.cranor.org/pubs/drm03.html
"Covert online groups behind bulk of bootlegged movies, music,
software;" Veiga, Alex; detnews.com/AP; Jan 3, 2005;
http://www.detnews.com/2005/technology/0501/03/technology-47807.htm
"Film Piracy Still Steals the Show;" Dean, Katie; Wired News; Dec 22,
2003; http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,61673,00.html
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