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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (12296)	2/16/2006 3:25:02 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 541518

They won't get popular support with that. I doubt they will get legislation or court decisions (at least not one's that stick on appeal) supporting that. But they may not have to. The RIAA and others with similar ideas (for example MPAA) are trying to force legal and technical requirements that content players read and follow flags on what can and can't be copied. They already have a law (DMCA) that says it is illegal to get around such restrictions, to build any device or program to get around such restrictions, or to help others get around the restrictions. They may get there "broadcast flag", and "audio flag" put in place by law, or even by pressure on device makers. Once they have that they can set any barriers they want, they don't have to respect fair use. OTOH if they crack down too hard they will just drive more people to pirate. I don't think the RIAA and their ilk will be able to stamp out pirating. Once an uprotected copy gets released a billion people can download it. Some will buy the content (to cover the idea of compensation for the producers) and then leave it on the shelf so they can get a non-protected copy they can use. Others will just grab the illegal copies without any attempt to provide any compensation. I think that organizations like the RIAA are working against the long term interests of their members, but its not a zero sum game. Harm to the producers doesn't have to mean harm to users. I think it will be a negative sum game in this case. Also see en.wikipedia.org "...One part of the announcement that had been anticipated by experts was Blu-ray's embrace of Advanced Access Content System (AACS), one version of which has also been adopted by the HD DVD Forum. This controversial technology would require that disc players maintain permanent connections to content providers via the Internet, making it possible for discs that fail a security check to trigger a notification process, enabling the provider to send the player a sort of "self-destruct code." This code would come in the form of a flash ROM "update" that would actually render the player useless, perhaps unless and until it is taken to a repair shop for reprogramming. The Blu-ray statement noted that certain elements of AACS have yet to be formally approved by the BDA..." tgdaily.com picker.typepad.com "A while back there was a mention that the next generation DVD format, HD DVD will use the sophisticated content protection system AACS. According to the AACS Pre-recorded Video Book Specification, in order for media and players to be AACS compliant, a disc can only be published if it contains a digital imprimatur and players for the media must reject any work that lacks a digital imprimatur. An imprimatur is the latin for "let it be printed", which means that a work cannot be published without first being approved by some central authority. Every disc that is published must contain an up-to-date list of revoked works and when ever a disc is loaded, the player must update its revocation list and prevent the playback of any disc that contains a revoked digital imprimatur. " cdfreaks.com Not directly on topic but still interesting - george.hotelling.net