[mythtv-users] Time Warner & Firewire

[Michael T. Dean]

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