Well, it's almost official: Broadcast flags to prevent you taping TV

[Deja Q]

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5094610.html

It's time to boycott the media. Time to boycott their sponsors.

Time to fight the power for real.

My friend in California thinks this would never happen. He's bright but naive. :-(

Corporate Fascist America strikes again.

And I'm fucking sick of it. x(

They whined about VCRs in 1980, but VCR taping didn't kill jack shit.

They are fascists, do not forget that.

[Deja Q]

1. I responded to their forum:

This is only the beginning

Expect your DVD recordable devices to not be able to record tv shows in the near future.

Note how VCRs are almost as scarce as ghost towns as it is.

The techno-fascists are redefining the industry in their own needlessly paranoid image.

If this atrocity passes, expect far worse to come through afterward.

I'll admit I once downloaded a TV episode, mostly because (a) I didn't want to spend $15 for the VHS tape unless I thought it was worthy of purchase, and (b) the tape is no longer being sold and I sure as !@#$ am not buying a $120 DVD set containing that one episode. The TV industry freely treats all consumers as thieves who'll capture and sell these episodes for their own profit (THAT is piracy, nothing else.) Given the no-returns-for-open-merchandise policies they also mandate on top of every "copy protection" scheme they can think of, methinks they are guilty of some thievery of their own. They want it all and they are ruthless.

I hope people do what they did with CDs, and stop purchasing TV shows and movies. Sheesh. that's another point - we consumers are dependent on the media industry to RELEASE these TV shows on DVD or VHS in the first place. How the !@#$ is it stealing when they won't even sell it because the product is too niche or not "economically viable"?! !@#$%^&*

So screw the industry. I've had it with their fascism and their greed.

Oh, it's going to get much worse if this passes and is adopted...

[trogdor]

11. if they were smart...

...they'd just release the stuff on P2P with commercials intact, but no other strings attached. It would be a piece of cake to calculate EXACTLY how many downloads took place, so you could bill advertisers directly. It would also be a no-brainer whose files would get downloaded 99% of the time; would you rather get a clean, error-free copy with DVD-quality picture (plus commercials) in five minutes, or someone else's piece of crap copy which might have other nasties attatched to it and wait two hours? Heck, the industry would OWN P2P within a couple of years.

[Newsjock]

2. They'll have to pry my VHS out of my cold, dead hands

There's always an analog solution.

[Deja Q]

3. FCC wants the whole broadcast industry to be digital by 2006

Current HDTV set owners may be SOL if they can't get their TVs up to the new fascist standards too.

No more VHS. No more analog. Not for anything new and once in a greeeeeeeeeat while something new is actually worth seeing.

Like I said, this is only the beginning.

[0rganism]

9. I find it hard to believe that some kind of D/A conversion won't be around

You can't just stomp on a nation of TV owners and say, "buy this $4500 device or stop watching TV entirely," without risking some serious revolt. No. There's going to be a cheap DSP solution for turning that HDTV digital signal back into good old analog. If the FCC doesn't plan for it, count on some enraged & unemployed electrical engineers to make a killing selling 'em on the black market.

Forced upgrading is a recipe for disaster, even when done with precautions and the best of intentions. At the very least, there has to be a period of dual availability, where the past and future standards coexist, in order to preserve goodwill.

[Syncronaut Seven]

4. I found the solution years ago!

I turned off my tv.

Harrad.

[arwalden]

5. MACROVISION For Cable TV?

Someone will come up with a hack, a crack, or a patch.

-- Allen

[alwynsw]

6. I have to disagree

Expecting a profit from one's labors is not wrong. People who make movies, videos, music, etc. have every right to be fairly compensated for their work.

I will grant this. The aritists (and I use that term VERY loosely given much of the inane drivel I've seen, read, and heard in my life) are usually the ones receiving the least amount from their creations.

Go after the record companies, distributors, etc. all you like. I'll back that attack all day long. Generally, those are the ones who gouge prices along with all the other sordid marketing ploys to line their pockets at the expense of both the artists and fans.

Last thought, if consumers refuse to pay exorbitant prices for materials, the prices must drop if the purveyors want to stay in business.

[SoCalDem]

7. Profit is one thing, but...................................

They make tons of money off of the inane advertising that we are subjected to.. They should be glad anyone even watches the crap they offer..

We rarely watch broadcast tv anymore.. Just got out of the habit, and never went back..:)

I don;t even miss it..:)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

10. They are paid whether or not they make a profit!

They're UNION for God's Sake!!
Duckie

[HEyHEY]

8. Fine, if they don't want me to tape a hockey game...

When I can't watch it live that's fine. I would have seen their advertising and everything....just three hours later and at my own convienence. Which would mean at my most relaxed and receptive because I hAve set aside time to watcht the game at my leisure...if they don't want that....fine.

[Atlant]

12. Curiously enough, the article implies you'll still be able to "time-shift"

You just won't be able to export to others any DRM-prohibited
content that you recorded.

And as someone else said in the ZD discussion thread, "given the
quality of what's on TV, I can see that it's any big deal."

Atlant

[VermontDem2004]

13. I will continue to tape and record

they aren't going to stop me! :evilgrin:

[Ratty]

14. I don't think that's what the article says

However I DO agree with you that this looks like only the beginning. I think it will come to them trying to prevent you from recording anything unless thay retain absolute control like preventing you from skipping commercials, or limiting the number of times you can replay something.

I *think* the article is only talking about transmitting over the internet. That is, if you rent a movie on DVD you couldn't upload it to a pirate site on the internet where other people can download it for free.