[mythtv-users] Time Warner & Firewire

Lane Schwartz dowobeha at gmail.com
Thu May 19 19:23:16 UTC 2005


On 5/19/05, kim gross <kgross at jensalt.com> wrote:
> >If people want.  Frankly, I think discussion of the issues can be a welcome
> >break after endless volumes of messages on how to configure your pvr-350!
>
> I know this is a little offtopic, but I for one find this discussion
> very informative

I agree. I really appreciate hearing the additional info that Mark has
been able to provide.

While this discussion is somewhat OT of the original post, I think
it's highly topical for this mailing list. This list is about MythTV,
and the ability to record and play content from TV.

Knowing the technical and political background of the DRM that's used
in the TV and movies industries is very helpful. It helps us establish
the technical and legal boundaries of what Myth may be able to do
given the status quo.

I consider the two central issues of this discussion to be:

What are the technical and legal limitations of 5C and other DRM wrt
recording, modifying, timeshifting, archiving, and playing TV from
cable, satellite, and broadcast sources?

Given those limitations, what options are available to the Myth
community and developers to either (1) work around those limitations,
(2) work with the media industry to find an acceptable compromise
mechanism, or (3) change the status quo via litigation or legislation


Here are my observations so far based on the discussion we've had so far. 

It seems that option 1 is a long shot. Someone might eventually be
able to crack the 5C encryption, but given the technical
implementation of 5C, the rotating keys mean that it's unlikely that
we could watch TV realtime via this mechanism. If someone could, it
looks like the 5C spec allows for revoking cracked keys. And
regardless, attempting this would almost certainly be illegal in the
US under the DMCA.

Based on this discussion, it seems that option 2 is also a long shot.
If we follow the path that Mark outlined earlier, then at best we end
up with a system where Myth can record and play back content from
protected sources; ability to fast forward, rewind, mark commercials,
and further innovate are unlikely. And all this assumes that
interested Myth developers could get approval from the 5C guardians,
which I suspect is highly unlikely.

Which brings me back to option 3 and my question from many posts back.
Are there legal options we could pursue? Obviously there is always the
political path - trying to get Congress to change things for the
better. But I also think that's somewhat unlikely to happen.


I think that the discussion of original intent in the development of
5C is interesting. But I think what's much more relevant is the
question of where we go from here. Maybe someone else has some other
ideas...

Cheers,
Lane

-- 
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http://mythtv.info/moin.cgi/MUG


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