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Philips Targets Wireless TV Retransmission At Home

cadfael links to this EE Times story, excerpting: "Philips is attempting to start yet another industry initiative to tackle digital rights management, this time focusing on the wirelessly networked home. 'At stake here,' said Leon Husson, executive vice president of consumer businesses at Philips Semiconductors, 'is the "free-floating" copyrighted content that will soon be "redistributed" or "rebroadcast" to different TV sets throughout a home by consumers using wireless networking technologies like IEEE802.11.'"

367 comments

  1. With Implied Oral Consent... by bhsx · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not Expressed Written Consent :)

    --
    put the what in the where?
  2. Wireless by juggla · · Score: 5, Funny

    Imagine! Video beamed right to your TV through the air. What's this world coming to?

    --
    Always encrypt with rot13 TWICE for extra security.
    1. Re:Wireless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah - incredible, all right. These people seem to think that RF bandwidth just grows on trees, too.
      Interesting, but it appears that the one thing that was omitted from the discussion was the frequencies to be used. Hey, I've got an idea - why not just re-use the currently allocated TV broadcast spectrum? That way, we can just pile more garbage on top of the garbage already in use and no one else will have to be moved.

      Think this isn't a serious issue? Look at all the horseshit the FCC (and the US Government) went through to cough up space for 3G Wireless. Imagine all of the RF pollution that will result from this proposal?

      WTF can't people just run coax to their TV sets??

    2. Re:Wireless by theancient1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Here's the story I've heard.

      Once upon a time, TV signals were only available over the air -- cable companies didn't yet exist. It difficult to get distant signals without spending a lot of money on a big antenna. One day, a guy who owned just such an antenna decided to offer service to his neighbours by running a cable to their homes. Thus the cable company was born.

      Sounds similar, doesn't it?

      While this isn't a perfect ananlogy (you have to pay for digital cable), recall the case of iCraveTV -- one person put up an television antenna and broadcast the signals over the internet. It's pretty much the same thing, but today, you immediately get sued for trying something like that.

      I guess back in those days, "rights management" wasn't such a big issue. ("Rights", of course, always refers to the rights of corporations to protect their business model.)

  3. I fail to see the issue... by NecroPuppy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    After all, I could just run coax to all the TVs in a house. Is this somehow different because it's wireless???

    I mean, whenever I buy a special package, i.e., a pay-per-view, I can watch it on all the TVs in the house...

    --
    I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
    1. Re:I fail to see the issue... by peterdaly · · Score: 2

      Well yes...duh. You don't have to pay per use fees to run coax.

      You gotta admit it's getting better...It's getting better all the time!

      -Pete

    2. Re:I fail to see the issue... by jdunlevy · · Score: 2, Funny
      " After all, I could just run coax to all the TVs in a house."

      Don't tell them that! Otherwise they might come after me for redistributing copyrighted material from my antenna to my VCR and television.

    3. Re:I fail to see the issue... by sam@caveman.org · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Is this somehow different because it's wireless???

      well, with coax, more than likely there isn't enough stray radiation from the coax to allow your neighbor to access your cable (of course we are all doing this anyway with splitters, etc, but that is beside the point).

      with wireless, you are rebroadcasting your cable signal to your TV. the rebroadcast will probably be available to your neighbors, at least in apartment complexes.

      ah, finally, free cable, without having even to drill a hole from closet to closet for the coax.

      -sam

      --
      burn the computers. go back to the abacus.
    4. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, in Canada, this is ILLEGAL.

      Why? The CATV industry (unlike the phone industry) controls the "inside wiring" in your house. Since every additional device adds noise and drains signal on the shared medium, they claim that this is why customers shouldn't be allowed to add extra TVs (and avoid the $8/outlet monthly charge.) Of course, these additional outlets are hooked up *before* descramblers.

    5. Re:I fail to see the issue... by warpSpeed · · Score: 1

      It is the neighbors problem if s/he decided to pirate the signal, not yours. If you put up a tramsmitter to view a video in another part of your house, it is not your problem if someone steals it.

      Who is breaking the law here, the person lawfully using the content, in the privacy of his home, or the neighbor listening in on it?

      ~Sean

    6. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Zeinfeld · · Score: 4, Interesting
      The problem with wireless is that other people in the neighborhood can free ride off your signal. One student in a dorm might subscribe to cable and rebroadcast it via 802.11 to the rest of the dorm. Or you might have your neighbors hooking into your 802.11 net without your consent and find out that you watch the porn channels or the 700 club.

      The Philips proposal sounds to me to be of the form 'what do we need to do to make this pass likely regulation' rather than 'what can we do to support the RIAA and MPAA'.

      While no DRM solution can ultimately be proof against a moderately determined attack it is certainly possible to produce stuff for the consumer market that does not support piracy without deliberate modification. For example you might see 'home media servers' being sold that store several hundred CDs and DVDs that can be broadcast to a number of access points in the house. These access points would initially be set top boxes but could be embedded in the TV if there was a recognized standard.

      I don't fault Philips for anticipating likely regulation here. I would much rather that Philips produced something that was a reasonable compromise than waited for the RIAA and MPAA to buy votes in congress to either impose something completely derranged or try to kill the field altogether.

      There are already attempts to kill off ReplayTV, the broadcast media would much rather support Tivo which has made it clear will roll over whenever asked. So we lose features like the ad-skip button.

      --
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    7. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i thought we were past the "What will the neighbors think?!?" 1950's mentality. come on people, everyone watches porn anyway. why get embarassed if the neighbors find out?

    8. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "You gotta admit it's getting better...It's getting better all the time!"

      ...Can't get no worse.

    9. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Computer! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Who is breaking the law here, the person lawfully using the content, in the privacy of his home, or the neighbor listening in on it?

      If you're asking me, neither. The current business model of creating content once, then minting currency by charging fees to view/broadcast/repurpose it ad infinitum is crap. Of course, anything else would require content providers to defend their IP with content worth paying for instead of lawyers.

      --
      If you fall off a building, go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will be like hey, free dummy
    10. Re:I fail to see the issue... by sam@caveman.org · · Score: 3, Interesting

      naturally the neighbor is breaking the law for listening in (if by law we define the cable companies policy, which may as well be as they will fine you, etc).

      but cable companies also hold the customer responsible with heavy fines for 'sharing' their cable knowingly (see my example of drilling holes between apartments to share cable: both parties would be in for some $$).

      and watch out, because probably it will become your burden to prove that you did not know your neighbor was listening in on your cable, not on the cable companies to prove that you did know. this isn't 'real law' here, folks, it is the cable company (read: monopoly in most areas) who sets whatever arbitrary policy they choose.

      -sam

      --
      burn the computers. go back to the abacus.
    11. Re:I fail to see the issue... by drsoran · · Score: 1

      "You gotta admit it's getting better...It's getting better all the time!"

      ...Can't get no worse.


      Well, it COULD be worse. The government could tax us for every TV we own whether you use it or not and use it to prop up a bloated public television company that nobody watches. :-)

    12. Re:I fail to see the issue... by baronben · · Score: 1

      I see that your under the assumption that the Goverment actualy fully supports PBS. IIRC from their last funding campaign, they get some were in the area of 8-9% of their overall funding from the goverment, the rest from corpret underwriters and viewers like you. And I wound't say that no one watches is, they have Ken Berns to make some of the best documentrys, and lets not forget the best children's programing avalible, plus some of the best commentary as well. If only America had a truely independent public meida alterintive, like the BBC's of England, then we would have a choice in the media, but right now we have Fox with its Chamber of Death, and CNN with its Don't comment on the bad stuff polocy.

    13. Re:I fail to see the issue... by smallpaul · · Score: 3, Insightful

      After all, I could just run coax to all the TVs in a house. Is this somehow different because it's wireless??? I mean, whenever I buy a special package, i.e., a pay-per-view, I can watch it on all the TVs in the house...

      This is about *digital* wireless. Perfect copies of movies and sound on the internet. The path from your coax to Morpheus is pretty circuitous and lossy. On the other hand, one could imagine a $100.00 "Morpheus box" that allows anyone on the Internet to listen in on any other Internet user's television shows and pay-per-views.

      Is the problem specific to wireless? No. The article says that there are already "solutions" for wire-based digital content. "One existing specification, called Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP), defines a cryptographic protocol for safeguarding audio/video entertainment content against illegal copying, intercepting and tampering as it traverses high-performance digital buses, such as the IEEE1394 standard." "Trying to apply the DTCP -- which requires high-speed encryption and decryption at every digital interface -- over a wireless network is not easy, said Husson."

      So the social "problem" they are solving is not unique to wireless. It is just that they believe that wireless requires a different solution for technical reasons.

    14. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Archfeld · · Score: 2

      not always true. Several cases have stated that the air waves are free. That might shift the burden to the party making the content available on the 'new' medium. Personally I think it is all horseshit but there is a legal issue, for the leeches...err Lawyers

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    15. Re:I fail to see the issue... by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 2

      Uhm - you do realize that the BBC *IS* what he was talking about with regard to the television tax?
      Independant media alternative my a$$ - they are funded by government taxation. No, the lesson we Americans can learn from this is that not everything the government does has to suck automatically just because it's the government doing it. Despite it's unfair funding scheme, without the BBC there'd be no Robot Wars, or Junkyard Wars, or Red Dwarf, or in earlier generations Monty Python and Dr Who.

      --

      Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

    16. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Zeinfeld · · Score: 2
      i thought we were past the "What will the neighbors think?!?" 1950's mentality. come on people, everyone watches porn anyway. why get embarassed if the neighbors find out?

      I don't know about you but I am always embarrased when people see me acting in films.

      Here in Cambridge MA porn is no biggie, if however your neighbors were to catch you watching the 700 club it would be social death unless you somehow persuaded them you were monitoring it to record eggregious instances of homophobia, racism or other bigotry.

      --
      Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
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    17. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You fail to see the benefits. Instead of running that extra line from your neighbors house, all you have to do is buy a reciever station to tap into their broadcast.

      Phillips. Making the H@x0rZ dreamz come true!

    18. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Mordanthanus · · Score: 1

      It is the neighbors problem if s/he decided to pirate the signal, not yours. If you put up a tramsmitter to view a video in another part of your house, it is not your problem if someone steals it.

      Isn't this the same arguement that the content providers (HBO, etc.) were talking about a few years ago?? I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly, HBO was sending the signal out over satelite, and then busting people for putting up pirate dishes to receive the signal.

      So, it sounds like a double standard to me. If a corporation wants to send a signal out, then it is ok as long as noone is receiving it that shouldn't be. But if it is Joe Shmoe, the he better not send anything that MAY be pirated...

      --
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    19. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Miguelito · · Score: 1

      see my example of drilling holes between apartments to share cable: both parties would be in for some $$

      Not just money... but possible jail time with your new best friend: Ben Dover. He'll laugh and realize he has a new bitch when he hears why you're in there too...

      Anyone else remember the old PSAs for stealing cable? (I say old because I don't think I've seen them in years) They showed a generic white guy in jail, dressed in a suit as if he were arrested at work. The others ask why he's there and he responds, "I stole cable." Then the nice big scary screen with "Stealing cable is a crime!" (or something else close to that) was shown.

      --
      - My favorite error message: xscreensaver, running on an old Sparc 5 w/ 8bit color: bsod: Couldn't allocate color Blue
    20. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " One student in a dorm might subscribe to cable and rebroadcast it via 802.11 to the rest of the dorm"

      That would be complete overkill to solve the problem you've described.

      X10 has solutions to rebroadcast TV now, and the world seems to keep spinning.

    21. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Zeinfeld · · Score: 2
      X10 has solutions to rebroadcast TV now, and the world seems to keep spinning

      Not quite the same thing. With X10 you can watch the same channel as your neighbor. Not exactly a major threat. With a media jukebox sitting on the other end everyone in the street can access your video on demand service.

      --
      Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
      Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
    22. Re:I fail to see the issue... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or you might have your neighbors hooking into your 802.11 net without your consent and find out that you watch the porn channels or the 700 club.

      I dont think this will happen, as wireless standards can be secured using various pki technologies. Reciever and transmitter can be set to negotiate this so that everyone else tapping the transmission would get garbled content. I dont think what you mention is really an issue.

      DarkSkies.

  4. Arrest by zhar · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Didn't someone in Canada get arrested for rebroadcasting someone else's signal? I mean if it is running in the 802.11 spectrum, and someone in the apartment below you tunes into your cable signal, couldn't they be arrested for cable piracy?

    --


    DRINK DUFF (responsibly) DRINK DUFF (responsibly) DRINK DUFF
    1. Re:Arrest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Arrested? - Yes
      Charged? - Yes
      Sued? - Yes
      Convicted criminally? - No, no Canadian laws were actually broken. (If he had _SUBSCRIBED_ to the foreign source he would have broken Candian and International law)
      Convicted civilly? - No, settle out of court - $ involved.
      Casee interesting? - No, unless you like have a bajillion pop-under-over&around ads crowding a badly re-encoded signal on your nice 1600&1280 screen/monitor into its 320*248 spot in the middle of flashing ocean of ads.

  5. Why I think this will work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I didn't used to think that people would pay for cable on a per-tv basis. Then along came digital cable and satellite programming which required installation of a decoder for each tv (or at least each tv that didn't want to watch what everyone else was watching at that moment).

    This tech will make its way into the market and content providers will quickly glom onto the idea. Customers will upgrade or face having 4 broadcast channels.

    1. Re:Why I think this will work by plague3106 · · Score: 1

      Actually people didn't want to, and thus it was made illegal for cable companies to charge cable per tv. What you're paying to get digital cable on each tv is for the rental of a digital converter. Thats why for one tv is more, and each additional tv is less.

    2. Re:Why I think this will work by bsartist · · Score: 1

      Then along came digital cable and satellite programming which required installation of a decoder for each tv (or at least each tv that didn't want to watch what everyone else was watching at that moment).

      The emphasis is mine. While you do need a decoder for each TV, you're not legally required to rent them from your cable provider. If you're paying for the service, you can purchase your own decoder. That's why the decoders you see for sale in the back of electronics magazines are not considered "illegal circumvention devices" - they have a legitimate, legal use.

      Customers will upgrade or face having 4 broadcast channels.

      Four! Luxury! When I was a kid we only had three, and we had to crank the TV antenna around by hand, because we could only get decent reception on one of them at a time. (Yes, I lived in the sticks...)

      --
      Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
    3. Re:Why I think this will work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everyone I know took the "Just Say No" approach to digital cable.

    4. Re:Why I think this will work by Jaysyn · · Score: 1

      I live in the sticks now, and it is still the same. 3 maybe 4 channels if you are lucky. Thankfully I can't sit in front of a T.V. for more than 15 minutes anyhow.

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    5. Re:Why I think this will work by fedos · · Score: 1
      ...If you're paying for the service, you can purchase your own decoder. That's why the decoders you see for sale in the back of electronics magazines are not considered "illegal circumvention devices" - they have a legitimate, legal use.

      In our house we only have one television with a decoder. All the rest are cable ready and can play any channel independent from the other televisions.

      Only problem with this is the TVs without a decoder can't play any premium channels. But that's not a problem cause we don't subscribe to any, they're not worth the money.

  6. Aww, How SWEET! by cliffiecee · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    What he really saying is this:


    "I'm tired of everybody disappearing into their own rooms to watch the same damn program. From now on we will sit together like a REAL FAMILY."

  7. Big Problem, I hear by merlin_jim · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is a huge problem. You know, I have friends who are all the time buying 802.11 gear ($200+), and content encoders/decoders ($100/each and requires a PC to run) just so they can broadcast cable from the living room to the bedroom.

    Oh wait, no that was a dream world. Sorry, I'm just not seeing how wireless piracy is a big problem, especially since, by focusing on wireless piracy WITHIN the home, there's an implicit assumption that the transmitter of the content has the rights to view it in the first place... otherwise, the focus wouldn't be in-home transmission, but rather how the content got to the home in the first place...

    --
    I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
    1. Re:Big Problem, I hear by smallpaul · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sorry, I'm just not seeing how wireless piracy is a big problem

      It isn't that it is a problem. It's that Philips wants to develop digital broadcast technologies that will not piss Hollywood off. Hollywood's nightmare is that you could by a $50.00 device that sniffs the packets being sent from your wireless DVD or cable broadcast box to your wireless TV.

      Is this a problem yet? No, of course not. But then MP3 ripping wasn't a problem when CDs were invented either. Now Hollywood wants to figure out the DRM issues but it is too late. The installed base of CD players is too large. Unfortunately, the big companies are now in a mode where they will not release new technology until after they feel like they've got the DRM security issues worked out.

      If Philips doesn't move on this in advance of the demand then the initial market will be captured a tiny little company that doesn't care about DRM. Remember the first MP3 players?

      Am I in favour of DRM technology? Absolutely not. But what they are trying to do makes sense from their point of view. And doing it sooner rather than later makes even more sense.

    2. Re:Big Problem, I hear by cruelworld · · Score: 2

      This isnt a problem looking for a solution, this is a bunch of Philips marketing drones trying to come up with a new revenue model. This is all about selling new Philips IC's and "solutions" to content providers, STB manufactures, etc.

    3. Re:Big Problem, I hear by puppet10 · · Score: 2

      Unfortunately, the big companies are now in a mode where they will not release new technology until after they feel like they've got the DRM security issues worked out.

      And in this comment is the clear reason that media hardware producers should be kept at arms length from media content producers.

      When the media content producers can dictate the hardware usable to view their content (which they do at the moment), then you can be sure that the end customer is getting a brain damaged product that isnt made to the most rational specifications that the end customer would most likely to want to purchase. Instead you get a weird amalgam of what the customer will tolerate and what the media content producer is willing to allow.

      --
      -------- This space intentionally left blank --------
    4. Re:Big Problem, I hear by jo42 · · Score: 1

      How truly stupid. About $5 worth of coax would do the same thing.

  8. So now philips is a bad guy again? by kilgore_47 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just when we were starting to like them for that whole red-book thing...

    --
    ___
    The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason. --Ben Franklin
    1. Re:So now philips is a bad guy again? by killmenow · · Score: 1

      Just a few days ago folks were harping about how great it was for them to stand up to RIAA and all that bull-crap.

      Props to Codex The Sloth. Who moderated this comment as a troll?!

  9. Is this the same philips?..... by stretch_jc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What is going on here? Didn't Philips just try to prevent 'digital rights management?

    1. Re:Is this the same philips?..... by J'raxis · · Score: 1

      No, they were just upset someone wasnt obeying one of their rules: that time it was their labelling standards. Now its something else. Then, it just happened that their objection happened to coincide with ours. This time it doesnt.

    2. Re:Is this the same philips?..... by Johnny00 · · Score: 1

      You make a black & white assumption. This is a very very gray area.

      Its not a matter of being for or against the blanket term 'digital rights management', it's a matter of application.

      --
      I live life on the edge ... of my desk.
  10. But should DRM always exist? by thesolo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Say I have a DVD player in my computer, which is in my bedroom. But my TV is in my living room. What's the difference between buying a DVD player and putting it in my living room, or streaming the content to a wireless receiver at my TV??

    Unless doing that is somehow illegal (which is unbeknowst to me), I don't see a problem with it at all. I own the media, so why does it matter if I stream it to a different TV in my own house?

    This seems like an attempt to get people to pay if they want to stream the content which they purchased to another location in their own home.

    1. Re:But should DRM always exist? by lynx_user_abroad · · Score: 5, Insightful
      What's the difference between buying a DVD player and putting it in my living room, or streaming the content to a wireless receiver at my TV??

      That depends. Am I the company that won't get to sell you the additional DVD player, or am I the company that won't get to sell you the wireless receiver?

      --

      The thing about things we don't know is we often don't know we don't know them.

    2. Re:But should DRM always exist? by BeBoxer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "This seems like an attempt to get people to pay if they want to stream the content which they purchased to another location in their own home."

      Smart guy. In fact, this is exactly why they want this technology. From the article:

      -----quote-----
      "we can help content owners create a new business revenue model." Content owners, for example, can start charging consumers every time their digital content is re-distributed within the home, or viewed several times during a certain number of days specified by them.
      -----end quote-----

    3. Re:But should DRM always exist? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is all about HIGH DEFINITION content, not existing content like today's DVD's which are:

      - standard resolution
      - digital content delivered via analog signals (for all consumer level DVD players at least)

      Until you have an HD set and HD dish/cable/OTA, this won't affect you.

      All future HD devices will have Intel's HDCP (the HD version of DRM) embedded, complete with certificate revocation lists so that devices which are hacked can be retroactively disabled. Believe me, this won't be a trivial hack.

      Welcome to the brave new world.

    4. Re:But should DRM always exist? by sphix42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >>Content owners, for example, can start charging consumers every time their digital content is re-distributed within the home, or viewed several times during a certain number of days specified by them.

      Sounds a lot like DIVX' game plan to me. If that's what they are really going for, I expect it to fail just as quickly.

    5. Re:But should DRM always exist? by imadork · · Score: 2
      "we can help content owners create a new business revenue model." Content owners, for example, can start charging consumers every time their digital content is re-distributed within the home, or viewed several times during a certain number of days specified by them.

      Call me crazy, but to me, that quote reads:

      "We can help content owners create a new business revene model. Content owners can start charging people to do things that used to be free! People will be lining up to pay, because they will be happy to finaly be paying for these things, after having it be free for so long."

      Is there something I'm just not getting here? Because to me, it sounds like the Business Plan from Hell, and one that has a snowball's chance of actually working!

    6. Re:But should DRM always exist? by gorilla · · Score: 2

      This would be the HD that consumers are staying away form in droves?

    7. Re:But should DRM always exist? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Guess I'd better put GPS devices in the books I sell you then - make sure you're not carrying them from your bedroom to the living room.

    8. Re:But should DRM always exist? by Mannerism · · Score: 1

      I don't care which electronics company you are; it's none of your business, because the issue isn't hardware. The issue simply is whether I can broadcast somebody else's IP, and, if I can do so for my own purposes, am I responsible if someone else intercepts it?

    9. Re:But should DRM always exist? by lynx_user_abroad · · Score: 2
      I wasn't trying to be funny.


      The content providers have already divvied-up the Internet, but no one yet owns the content layer on the network that runs within your own home. That's unacceptable to them. The home network becomes yet another marketplace for the proprietary technology vendors to fight over.


      And in that battle there will be two losers: you and whomeved doesn't get to "sell you the whatever...."


      When I want moderation as "Funny", I'll include the appropriate :-).

      --

      The thing about things we don't know is we often don't know we don't know them.

    10. Re:But should DRM always exist? by Tiroth · · Score: 2


      Most (virtually all) HD content though is analog at the point of connection to the TV. This is probably because manufacturers want to make "HD-ready" TVs without the added $500 cost of the ATSC decoders.

      I know of no progressive-output DVD player which delivers digital content. At least nominally, this IS digital HD content delivered over analog signals.

    11. Re:But should DRM always exist? by cmoney · · Score: 1

      Yes, and DRM is a big reason why Firewire/1394 hasn't progressed into consumer electronics as anything more than a way to get content into your computer. A friend saw a Mitsubishi demo of a home theatre system where Firewire was the only connector used: imagine one wire from your DVD player to your HDTV tuner, to the big screen TV, to the stereo receiver, etc. He was totally impressed but that system will never see the light of day until MPAA and MLB (major league baseball (Simpsons reference)) have been assured that I can't also plug in an Apple iMac and save all the various data streams to a hard drive. Phillips simply wants to start discussions on extending this protection to wireless transmissions.

    12. Re:But should DRM always exist? by rogue420007 · · Score: 1

      interesting... thx :)

    13. Re:But should DRM always exist? by Tiroth · · Score: 1


      I think Firewire is cool, but currently video over Firewire means DV. DV is a huge improvement over analog videocameras, but it samples below the 4:2:2 or better one would like to see in HD applications. Probably one needs 400Mbps firewire to do reasonably good HD digital.

      And the content controllers /still/ won't let us have it. Food for thought.

  11. wrong field? by trefoil · · Score: 1

    Sounds like an FCC problem to me, not Phillips.

    1. Re:wrong field? by lynx_user_abroad · · Score: 1
      Sounds like an FCC problem to me, not Phillips.

      No, but that's exactly the rub.

      802.11 is not regulated by the FCC. That's why everyone who wants to innovate in the Video Content delivery segment proposes sending throughout their home as some sort of 802.11b wireless signal. If the VHF or HDTV spectrum were unregulated, you'd see a whole slew of personal VHF or HDTV broadcast devices, so you wouldn't have to retrofit your television set, or build a seperate 802.11 to video translators.

      --

      The thing about things we don't know is we often don't know we don't know them.

    2. Re:wrong field? by sh00z · · Score: 1
      802.11 is not regulated by the FCC.
      Of course it is. Look at all these references. This one seems to have the most technical detail.
  12. Enough Already!! by MantridDronemaker · · Score: 3, Informative

    Enough already! This is getting ridiculous, soon we're going to get fined or executed or something if you're watching your TV and someone who does not have a valid MSNBC license to see that programming walks in the room and happens to look at your screen.

    1. Re:Enough Already!! by SirSlud · · Score: 1, Troll

      Or quoting shows with friends. Or thinking about an episode in your head. Or ... the joke is that all these companies seem to think there's a line in the sand. If anyone could please tell me where that line is, I could start my crusade ...

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
    2. Re:Enough Already!! by haizi_23 · · Score: 1

      yeah, f@%k all this multimedia crap! from now on, i'm just going to see plays and live music. intellectual property, me arse.

    3. Re:Enough Already!! by ProfMoriarty · · Score: 1
      You know ... hate to say but you're on to something here ... could it be that MSNBC License is encoded into your 'National ID' ...

      Of course, if they were smarter, the TV would then have a proximity detector and then the TV could just turn off if someone comes in that has not signed the EULA ...

      ... no need for foil hats now ...

      --
      Karma? Karma? I don't need no stinkin' karma.
    4. Re:Enough Already!! by Danse · · Score: 2

      But you can only go see small-time theater groups that sell their own tickets, lest Ticketmaster bend you over and have its way with your bottom.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    5. Re:Enough Already!! by Lonath · · Score: 2

      I was thinking about this. I was going to get a patent for Environmental Verification of Incremental Licensing, or the EVIL patent.

      The basic idea is that any Content Presentation Device comes equipped with environmental sensing equipment that can dynamically determine who's near enough to the Device to partake of the Content. The machine would be hooked up to a database of the sizes and shapes of every person in the world, as well as their voice fingerprint so that the machine will know who everyone is.

      Basically, every few seconds, the machine updates the list of everyone nearby who is partaking of the Content. Everyone who comes near to the Content Generator will be charged their licensing fee to partake of the Content (even if they just walked by in a hallway really fast.)

      Of course, everyone would have to have their Passport (or other approved account) to be able to partake of the Content. So if anyone came by who didn't have a Passport, the owner of the home and everyone currently watching would lose their rights to partake of any Content because it's clear that they were trying to give away Content to an Unapproved Person. If everyone has the ability to pay, then they get charged by the time increment, like maybe 25 cents a minute per person, although the fees may not be this reasonable.

      The sad thing is that this will probably come to pass some day. Although I hate software patents, I keep thinking that it might be a good idea to get patents like this (the EVIL patent) to prevent evil companies from engaging in EVIL.

    6. Re:Enough Already!! by morgue-ann · · Score: 1

      Theater companies have to pay for performance licenses. This is true even for non-profit companies & even in educational settings. High schools have been prosecuted for acting without a license.

      Bands playing covers are supposed to pay royalties to the songwriter (usually through the Harry Fox Agency).

      The only way to avoid this mess is to see music & theater that's 1) written by the performers 2) written by people that died a LONG time ago 3) written by commission from the performers (San Francisco Mime Troupe).

      Even public domain plays and scores can be a problem because a derivative work of a public domain work can be copyrighted (e.g. a modern arrangement of a jazz standard based on a Tin Pan Alley Tune (which might be barely old enough to be p.d. in the first place).

    7. Re:Enough Already!! by epsalon · · Score: 2

      You don't need to. I think this comment suffices to show "prior art" if anyone would now want to patent this EVIL, although it would not prevent them from using it...

    8. Re:Enough Already!! by Garak · · Score: 1

      Well there are already some hefty fines for using h-cards to hack digital satlite of companys like Expressvu. Thankfully, hacking DSS from other counties like DirectTV from the US here in canada is perfectly legal :)

      --
      God, root, what is the difference?
  13. Buy more phillips by Odinson · · Score: 1
    light bulbs and pdas and cdburners and dvd changers and cell phones and universal remotes and blank cds.

    What type of cdrom should I get? Why Philips of course. ATAPI is good, but philips is better.

    Or am I getting carried away?

    Remember, geeks recommend ALOT. Great products start with us.

    1. Re:Buy more phillips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dude, that was last week. this week philips is evil. get with it!

    2. Re:Buy more phillips by Sloppy · · Score: 1

      What type of cdrom should I get? Why Philips of course.

      Nope. I always get Toshiba, because you can get 'em in black. Let's not forget what's important.

      Or am I getting carried away?

      You're worried that you are getting carried away? Until you start buying stuff by appearance like me, instead of price/performance, you've got nothing to worry about.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    3. Re:Buy more phillips by Odinson · · Score: 1
      By appearance, thats the best way. The IBM p275 22" monitor has an awsome appearance (the screen) and it comes in black.

      Thanks for the link, I'm going black myself.

  14. ROI by corbettw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Here's something I'd like Hollywood and their friends to think about: at some point protecting one's IP becomes more expensive than stopping possible pirating. And while the cost will be passed on to consumers, that just makes entertainment devices that much more expensive, meaning fewer of them will be sold with a lower profit margin.

    --
    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  15. The Problem with... by iGawyn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The problem with this digital rights management solution, just like all of the others, is that they cannot force people to upgrade. Although there is a certain segment of the populace that will desire to own the latest and greatest everything multimedia, and therefore trip himself into owning devices embedded with DRM, the average American won't want to spend the extra money to upgrade.

    Therefore, unless you give them a major incentive, the RIAA/MPAA is foiled again. No upgrades means that all of the time they spent plotting up yet another scheme to control what we can and can't watch is ruined by consumer apathy.

    If they really wanted people to upgrade, they would (a) develop a new, proprietary format, (b) stop release of all current and future products on CD/VHS/DVD, (c) release ONLY on aforementioned proprietary format. Eventually, enough people would switch to make it worth their while.

    Even with this, though, people will find a way around the Digital Rights Management schemes, as they also do.

    To use a famous quote, "Where there's a will, there's a way." And when it comes to copying CDs, VHS tapes, or DVDs, there is most certainly a will.

    Gawyn

    1. Re:The Problem with... by bricriu · · Score: 2

      Your post kinda reads like it comes from 1997... because that new "latest and greatest multimedia" you mention is DVD. And it was the CD format in 1980-whatever.

      And just as you say, we have found ways around it. But I'm still not buying a DVD player. It's not that what I want to do is "illegal" under the DMCA, it's not that it's too much trouble to get around region encoding, I just don't want to put money into the hands of DRM schmucks. So until I get a free player and know of a reliable source of pirated DVDs, I'll stick with tape.

      The American public will swallow the "This is the same thing... but BETTER!" pitch over and over and over again. And don't you -- or anyone else -- forget it.

      --

      AHHHHHHH! I'm burning with goodness again!
      - Reakk, Sluggy Freelance

    2. Re:The Problem with... by Y+B+MCSE · · Score: 1

      If they really wanted people to upgrade, they would (a) develop a new, proprietary format, (b) stop release of all current and future products on CD/VHS/DVD, (c) release ONLY on aforementioned proprietary format. Eventually, enough people would switch to make it worth their while.

      If they really want people to upgrade then they should have equipped their device with Windows embedded then it wouldn't work with new media and they would have legislation that protects them from making it work.

    3. Re:The Problem with... by garcia · · Score: 2

      shh, they'll hear you!

    4. Re:The Problem with... by AntiNorm · · Score: 2

      The problem with this digital rights management solution, just like all of the others, is that they cannot force people to upgrade

      That is, until they stop providing content in the old format.

      --

      I pledge allegiance to the flag...
      of the Corporate States of America...
    5. Re:The Problem with... by alcmena · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even though DVDs are protected, every movie released on DVD is also released on VHS. Add to that the fact that not every movie available on VHS is available on DVD yet. The entertainment industry is not stupid. They know that a lot of voters will be very pissed if they suddenly stopped supporting VHS tomorrow. And pissed voters are much more likely to dislodge the MPAA's puppets.

      The same will be true about DVD. The MPAA cannot suddenly stop supporting DVD without a major backlash.

    6. Re:The Problem with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      DecVob, Xine, and Roger's Video Rental (or Blockbuster if you prefer, but I find Roger's caries much more Anime titles in DVD). Storage and archival is still a small issue if you rather archive in original format (Minus Annoying Encryption). Average 6 to 8 CD-R's per movie title. Well worth it I think though.

    7. Re:The Problem with... by Sir+Spank-o-tron · · Score: 1

      Of course they can force you to upgrade. In the old days, consumer electronics were sturdy pieces of equipment that would last for 30+ years. Nowadays, it's all crap assembled in botswana or some such, and will invariably break in 3-5 years.

      There's the upgrade they're waiting for.

      --
      -- Spankmeister General
    8. Re:The Problem with... by swillden · · Score: 2

      Although there is a certain segment of the populace that will desire to own the latest and greatest everything multimedia, and therefore trip himself into owning devices embedded with DRM, the average American won't want to spend the extra money to upgrade.

      Except that this segment contains nearly everyone who currently owns *any* Wi-Fi gear. Even if everyone that is already playing with this refuses to upgrade, that's a negligible fraction of the market. The point is to get DRM in place before the technology really hits the mass market.

      What they may be missing, though, is that if DRM is always getting in the way of people doing what they want, the mass market may never accept this at all. Look for hardware makers like Philips to change their tune as soon as the average person figures out that this stuff inconveniences them.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    9. Re:The Problem with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why can't I have a medium that the RIAA is not allowed to use so it can not get congress to mandate DRM 'features' on it. Not DVD but FreeVD ...

    10. Re:The Problem with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lmao, go read up on Botswana before making judgements

  16. Next on the plate... by Xenopax · · Score: 5, Funny

    Keeping aliens from infringing on copyrights. Engineers will have to figure out a way to track down all the radio signals that have left Earth in the last 100 years and block them as to prevent alien beings from enjoying content they have not payed for.

    This is related to the article too because phase 2 of the plan is to prevent all wireless transmissions of anything so aliens that have reached earth cannot use thier moon-transglobifiers to enjoy content they haven't paid for. The aliens will just have to rent a house and order cable like everyone else.

    1. Re:Next on the plate... by linzeal · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe the alien RIAA and MPAA have already done this and that is the reason that seti hasn't found anything.

    2. Re:Next on the plate... by twocents · · Score: 1

      Yeah, right on. All of those movies that depict aliens learning about us through "broadcast television"...track them down and make them pay up.

      Not only does this infringe upon copyrights, but it also could spell the end of humankind as we know it, as they always learn so much from this pirated material.

    3. Re:Next on the plate... by curunir · · Score: 2

      Well...I highly doubt that the aliens would be *enjoying* the content that is being sent to them. If ever there was a demographic that could gripe about being negatively portrayed in the media, it would be aliens.

      Would you enjoy movies in which some alien race that is wrongly persecuted/attacked by a group of humans (who are far more advanced than the alien race). Would you get that "warm and fuzzy" feeling when the small band of out-numbered aliens took on the hoard of humans and amazingly triumphed?

      Or perhaps you would enjoy the light hearted romantic romp where, at the end of the movie, the two aliens embrace and share a passionate kiss (except, due to differences in anatomy, their passionate kiss is much closer to our hard-core pornography).

      I think the true concern of the Content Mafia^H^H^H^H^HCreators is that the aliens, upon viewing the content sent out into space, will send new content back to the people of earth (how difficult can it be to create completely derivitive sequels?) and then we'd get all our content for free.

      --
      "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
    4. Re:Next on the plate... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All of those movies that depict aliens learning about us through "broadcast television"...

      I take it by "all those movies", you mean Contact?

    5. Re:Next on the plate... by Grishnakh · · Score: 2

      Would you enjoy movies in which some alien race that is wrongly persecuted/attacked by a group of humans

      I would! Haven't you seen all those Outer Limits episodes with this theme? There's one where humans put a colony on some planet, but had genocidally eradicated the indiginous aliens before, but in the end the aliens who know about the planet's sun's cycle of frying everything on the surface keep the humans from finding out. There's another one where humans have enslaved some helpless aliens, but a government official is saved by his alien slave after crash landing and sees the light.

      These themes are great. I can certainly envision humans hypocritically enslaving and murdering helpless aliens, the way they've done to each other throughout history. Humans never learn until it's too late.

      Would you get that "warm and fuzzy" feeling when the small band of out-numbered aliens took on the hoard of humans and amazingly triumphed?
      Certainly. Usually the theme is some evil humans, and a bunch of apathetic humans, committing some atrocity against helpless aliens. But there's some small group of humans that has the moral fiber to see the wrongness of this, and somehow help the aliens win freedom.

      These are excellent themes because they show that the enemy isn't out there, it's inside us.

    6. Re:Next on the plate... by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 1
      Not only does this infringe upon copyrights, but it also could spell the end of humankind as we know it, as they always learn so much from this pirated material.

      No, we know it's just brainwashing for the masses.
      Besides, the end of humankind as you know it will be brought about by humankind.
      Check out a great philosopher named POGO.

      --
      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
    7. Re:Next on the plate... by isorox · · Score: 2

      And Galaxy quest

    8. Re:Next on the plate... by Saeger · · Score: 2

      And Explorers

      --
      Power to the Peaceful
  17. got DIVX (the Circuit City variety) by TheFlyingGoat · · Score: 1

    "Content owners, for example, can start charging consumers every time their digital content is re-distributed within the home, or viewed several times during a certain number of days specified by them."

    This sounds so similar to articles about Circuit City's DIVX technology it's scary. However, since that failed miserably, one can only hope that this will too. :)

    --
    You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
  18. Surrounded by idiots.... by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 3, Insightful

    At what point will some create an analogy quick reference card for these people. This is so stupid I may have a stroke. How is this ANY different from sneaker netting a VHS tape? I know its technically a broadcast, but from a REALISTIC standpoint? Big deal, my neighbor just MIGHT be able to pick it up, or he could just ask to borrow a videotape.

    Apoplexy now!

    1. Re:Surrounded by idiots.... by Tasty+Beef+Jerky · · Score: 0, Insightful
      Hmm, maybe it's the fact that if your friend sneaker-nets the tape, your neighbor can't have that tape at the same time. Sure, they can sit together and watch it in the same room, but Person A and Person B can't watch the same tape at the same time in their respective apartments. Under this scheme, they can.

      I believe your strawman is on fire. You may want to put him out.

      --

      I'm the tasty treat nobody can resist!
      IM Me! AOL IM:Tasty Beef Jerky

    2. Re:Surrounded by idiots.... by smallpaul · · Score: 2

      At what point will some create an analogy quick reference card for these people. This is so stupid I may have a stroke. How is this ANY different from sneaker netting a VHS tape? I know its technically a broadcast, but from a REALISTIC standpoint? Big deal, my neighbor just MIGHT be able to pick it up, or he could just ask to borrow a videotape.

      Your neighbour has nothing to do with it. They are trying to "protect" digital content flowing around your house. There are already standards in place to "protect" digital content media (CSS) and content going over wires (DTCP). Now they are going to close the wireless "loophole."

  19. This will eventually have to be regulated... by tommck · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Does anyone else remember when AT&T (in the old monopoly days) used to charge people for each telephone in the house??

    This certainly seems analogous to me. How can they justify this. It is effectively telling me what I'm allowed to do inside my own house!

    That's crap.

    T

    --
    ---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
    1. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You still pay per TV, right? Same idea- multiple hand/tv sets are more valuable to you, so you should pay more. I guess the cable folk have better lobbyists.

      It is effectively telling me what I'm allowed to do inside my own house!
      My gripe exactly! I've got three women tied up in the basement, and now someones going to tell me I can't use them as sex slaves anymore? That's crap.

    2. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by BitterOak · · Score: 1
      How can they justify this. It is effectively telling me what I'm allowed to do inside my own house!

      Why do they need to justify this? They're putting a product on the market, and you can choose to buy or not buy it.

      --
      If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    3. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by theCoder · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      I don't remember (too young), but we used to have a phone with no ringer. Apparently, the phone company used to call their customers and test the voltage used by the phones for ringing (or something like that) to tell how many phones were in use. The phone still worked, it just didn't ring. Gotta love that circumvention technology!

      I don't remember what happened to the phone. Either it finally broke and we got rid of it, or it's sitting somewhere unused since we don't have any phone jacks that support it (it's cord looks like a power cord except it has 4 prongs).

      --
      "Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs" -- author unknown
    4. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by sphix42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >>It is effectively telling me what I'm allowed to do inside my own house!

      This has been a battle cry for pro-recreational drug use for a long time, yet it's still illegal.

      On a more on-topic note....I think this may be an attempt to prevent copying of digital content...not viewing.

      Who cares if you pick up your dvd and take it into the bedroom? I think what they really care about is if you transmit a dvd movie/whatever strait to your computer.

    5. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They needed to justify it because they were a privately held monopoly allowed by the US government. Because the government artificially limited the competition in the telecom industry to promote effeciency, they required the telephone companies to abide by regulations that prevented them from financially raping their hostage customers. They needed to appraoch the government and get approval for rate hikes, additional fees, etc. Given that, yah, I am curious how they managed to justify charging a per-phone fee when you (a) owned the phone (bought from them at a ludicrous price) and (b) owned the interior wiring in your house.

    6. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by justinstreufert · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      You can get an adapter for that. My grandparents' home has those crazy 4-prong outlets all over the house and they have a great deal of adapters to plug their modular (RJ-11) phones into them.

      It's funny to see archaic telephone outlets and broadband in the same house.

      Justin

      --
      "Why would God give us a waist if we wasn't supposed to rest our pants on it?" - Rev. Roy McDaniels
    7. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by ebonkyre · · Score: 1
      That was back when it was illegal to connect your own devices to the phone network - I dimly remember my parents getting a bootleg Sony answering machine and having "a friend" come wire it in with RJ-11 jacks (most phones were still hardwired) so that it could be unplugged and hidden if Ma Bell's not-so-secret police came snooping. The upshot of this was that you had to LEASE phones from the phone company instead of just buying them like we do now. This is also why old-timey modems used acoustic couplers to interface with the phone's handset instead of simply plugging into the wall. Fortunately they were deregulated around the time I got into computers, so my first modem (300 baud on a Commodore 64) didn't have any funny couplers to deal with.

      Some of these regulations regarding how many phones you are allowed to connect to one line still exist, but they relate to the amount of power the ringer can draw, and since most everything has electronic ringers (with a "ringer equivalency" of 0.3 or less; ie the load = 0.3 x draw of an old mechanical bell ringer) you'd need like 10 phones on one line to hit any snags.

      (PS to young'uns - this wasn't that long ago - I'm under 30 - but if you're under 18, then yeah, it was before you were born)

      --
      "Time is an abstract concept devised by carbon-based lifeforms to monitor their ongoing decay." - Thundercleese
    8. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heh ... Years ago my parents had a new home constructed. At the time, the phone company deal was that they would provide the wiring for free, depending on how many phones you leased.

      Yep. My dad considered the terms, realized that there was no downside, and you could cancel immediately, and ordered 15 phones, one for each room, and three for the living room. The phone company dutifully ran about a mile of wiring through the house, plugged in all 15 phones, and left.

      That lasted about three days. When the phone rang, it sounded like an air raid alert. Then, you would pick up the phone, and hear,

      Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello?

      as 5 people answered the phone at once. All but two of the phones went into a big box by the front door, and were returned the next week. But we got the house wired for free!

    9. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      My gripe exactly! I've got three women tied up in the basement, and now someones going to tell me I can't use them as sex slaves anymore? That's crap.

      All we're asking is that you share.

    10. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by Lysander+Luddite · · Score: 2

      "On a more on-topic note....I think this may be an attempt to prevent copying of digital content...not viewing."

      Not according to the article:

      "By putting the SmartRight technology in place, which enforces rights management in the home, said Lafaye, "we can help content owners create a new business revenue model." Content owners, for example, can start charging consumers every time their digital content is re-distributed within the home, or viewed several times during a certain number of days specified by them."

      This is the outcome of DRM technology: controlled access and pay per view. If you can't see that then you are either a Congressman or watch the TV news.

    11. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by Prong · · Score: 1

      Uhm, you're gonna have to define a potential public health or crime issue to make the recreational drug use analogy stick. But then again, my mom always told be I was gonna go blind from watching to much TV. Wait, maybe that was something else.

      This is an attempt to control viewing of content. Big media would like very much to charge each an every person for every time any content is used, and Phillips is proposing something that would aid in that. Next thing you know, they'll be proposing biometric chips embedded in every consumer so if you are in the vicinity of a broadcast, your account can be automatically debited. Of course, the advertisers will want to know whether you were actually awake.

    12. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The young'uns could watch War Games to catch a glimpse of one of those old dinosaurs you're talking about.

    13. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by greenrd · · Score: 1
      Cuts both ways. They need to justify it to people who are angry about it, otherwise they are likely to boycott it. Duh!

    14. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is no need to justify the priceing scheme used. The telephone company can charge however these please, as can the municipality that rents out the road's right of way.

      W/ any service (gas, electric, water) that requries extensive connections to be extablished from a central location to individual houses towns must face a choice:

      1. Don't allow the service

      2. Allow free market competition and invite everybody to staple-gun their wires to the telephone poles

      3. Create a monolopy and a "benevolent dictator" called a regulatory agency; assign the later the task of telling the former how much it would be able to charge if there was competition.

      Option 1 makes phone calls hard, option 2 makes the sky hard to see. Option 3 is the lesser of the evils, and the reason local telephone services have to "justify" their actions and in general kowtow to the whim of the regulatory agency.

    15. Re:This will eventually have to be regulated... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the olden days there was a good reason to regulate phones in this way:

      Phones drew a lot of power when they rang. Each additional phone entailed a substantial cost to the company. Look at the back of your telephone, there is a number called REN, or ringer equivalence number. It is a measure of current drawn when the phone rings, where 1.0 is the "standard ugly Bell phone."

      Mechanical switches and operators were very sensitive to abuse. The phone company didn't want to risk damage to their equipment by allowing the use of non-standard phones or wiring mistakes.

      Of course, as technology improved, AT&T wasn't quick to let go of these archaic justifications due to the advantagious financial situation they provided ...

  20. gosh by waspleg · · Score: 1

    and i thought they were supposed to be the good guys after that bit about evil copy protected cds ;/

  21. why though? by garcia · · Score: 2

    I can see the point of a wireless computer network, especially if you are using handheld devices or laptops. What I really don't see the need for is basically stationary devices needing wireless connections. Even most apartments have cable connections already accessable from any point in the room or allow you to make the changes to do that. If you are super neat and tidy and you had seeing any sort of cabling running around, I am sorry for you.

    I just don't see the justification for all the work (as far as rights go on "redistributing" this) and I really don't see the necessity of investing large amounts of money into something that is ridiculous.

    Use the cable line. It isn't that big of a deal. Unless you have a room that you want to put the TV in the middle of the room I don't see the feasability of this.

  22. Here we go by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now the MPAA and Philips can get pissed again when somebody breaks this feble encryption scheme they're trying to cook up. DeCSS for TV? I wouldn't be surprised.

  23. Pretty fucking idiotic. by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 1, Troll

    Basically, what Philips wants to do is prevent you from watching something you've recorded on one device in your home in another room (presumably on another device) in your home. In the analog world, this is tantamount to shooting you if you're caught carrying a VHS tape from one VCR to another.

    Once Hollywood creates something worth stealing, they should start worrying about copy protection.

    - A.P.

    --
    "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
    1. Re:Pretty fucking idiotic. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, in the analog world, all VCRs would have different-sized tape slots from each other and you could only use tapes that matched your particular VCR. If you recorded something on one VCR, it could only be watched on that VCR because the tape wouldn't work anywhere else.

      Talking about shooting people is just dumb.

  24. Note.. by AnalogBoy · · Score: 2

    This is the same phillips, I believe, that just a few short days ago was championed for saying that copy-proofing CD's was against the logo rules.. I love how fast this community can change its mind about someone, based soley on them attempting to protect their interests.

    If you want to see a place where other peoples intellectual products belong to the community, move to a communist country. (Not that there are/were ever any truly successful communist countries, in the true sense of the word communist..). I still prefer capitalism.

    1. Re:Note.. by arkanes · · Score: 3, Informative
      Well, there aren't any successfull capitalist countries, either, in the true sense of the word capitalist. So get off your high horse.

      You may now finish patting yourself on the back for pointing out a non-existent hypocracy amongst slashdot readership.

    2. Re:Note.. by curunir · · Score: 2

      This is the same phillips, I believe, that just a few short days ago was championed for saying that copy-proofing CD's was against the logo rules.. I love how fast this community can change its mind about someone, based soley on them attempting to protect their interests.

      When your kid makes the honor role, you support them. When they plow the family station wagon into a telephone pole, you get mad. Same kid, but it's the actions that we react to. If you want to point out a double standard, point out that we never give MS credit on the rare occasions when they do something good.

      If you want to see a place where other peoples intellectual products belong to the community, move to a communist country. (Not that there are/were ever any truly successful communist countries, in the true sense of the word communist..). I still prefer capitalism.

      Hmmm...I'll take Democracy over Capitalism. Remember, Communism was a fusion of a type of government and an economic system. In America, we have a type of government which (theoretically) keeps checks on our economic system, but is a seperate entity. DRM is the perfect example of where the checking should occur (by affirming fair use, etc). The idea that We have rights is pretty fundamental to the principles of our democracy, but seems laughable to your average corporation/content syndicate.

      --
      "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
    3. Re:Note.. by JabberWokky · · Score: 2
      I love how fast this community can change its mind about someone

      I have a friend who will drop his plans to go pick someone up who needs a ride. He's a good guy. He also is loud and opinionated, and will shout you down if he thinks he is right. He is an asshole. Yup, he's both, and he's my friend, and I can easily balance the contradiction in my mind.

      Is it any wonder that a corporation made up of thousands of decision making managers would have some good aspects and bad aspects? They made a good decision (in the average Slashdotters opinion) a few days ago, and a bad decision (in the average Slashdotters opinion) today. But even that is using a mythical "average" Slashdot opinion. I'm sure you can find some users here that support copyprotected CDs (or see nothing wrong with them).

      Incidently, on this issue, I have to say - they wish to be able to make you pay for each instance you watch the content during the day. Wow. That's a phenominally new concept isn't it - you pay for each time you view it. Some sorta "Pay-Per-View" idea. Groundbreaking, indeed.

      --
      Evan

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
    4. Re:Note.. by CrazyDwarf · · Score: 1

      You'll take Democracy over Capitalism? Those are two separate things. One is a form of government, the other is an economic system.

      --
      It's easy to stand out when the general level of competence is so low.
    5. Re:Note.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Under the terms of the Constitution, copyrights and patents are not a recognition of any form of property rights in so-called IP. Thomas Jefferson made it quite clear in one of his letters why ideas cannot be property, and US Supreme Court rulings have shown that the Court understands the Founders' intent in this area.

      So take your Red-baiting elsewhere.

  25. Is this the same Philips? by owlmeat · · Score: 1

    That banned the use of the CD trademark on CDs that were copy-protected? Makes you wonder...

    --
    They stab it with their steely knives,

    But they just can't kill the beast.

  26. DRM == defect by dfenstrate · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One existing specification, called Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP), defines a cryptographic protocol for safeguarding audio/video entertainment content against illegal copying, intercepting and tampering as it traverses high-performance digital buses, such as the IEEE1394 standard.

    Once again, we are shown that digital rights management hardware is by definition defective. They seem to think their only protection from profit stealing pirates (gasp! seeing stuff on another TV?) is to make broken equipment.

    I, for one, will be voting with my wallet. F*** phillips, and anyone who follows them. I thought the hardware guys where on the side of logic and fair use...

    Maybe I'll write to them and tell them that I won't buy crippled equipment from them that purposely interferes with radio transmissions- and I think the FCC would also take issue with this.

    --
    Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
    1. Re:DRM == defect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One existing specification, called Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP), defines a cryptographic protocol for safeguarding audio/video entertainment content against illegal copying, intercepting and tampering as it traverses high-performance digital buses, such as the IEEE1394 standard.

      Are you a complete moron? What part of "safeguarding ... against .... tampering" do you not get? Wait till you finish 3rd grade and you will understand concepts such as words and sentences and how those combine together to have specific meaning.

      Read the sentence you quoted again. Illiterate idiot!

    2. Re:DRM == defect by donutello · · Score: 2

      What morons moderated this post up? The sentence quoted states:

      One existing specification, called Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP), defines a cryptographic protocol for safeguarding audio/video entertainment content against illegal copying, intercepting and tampering as it traverses high-performance digital buses, such as the IEEE1394 standard.

      The post is not +4 Insightful but -1 Illiterate.

      --
      Mmmm.. Donuts
    3. Re:DRM == defect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, thats what I get for posting drunk. I make a dumb ass statement and get modded up for it. Twice, no less.

      But that doesn't change the fact that I had sex with your mother.

      and somebody else pointed out the same thing, so at least I had the decency to misread the relevant information, rather than not read it at all.

  27. Buy Now or Pay Later... by Iguanaphobic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is it just me or is now a really good time to start buying uncrippled hardware? I've noticed that the current generation of devices (PVR, MP3 Players, DVD+RW, CD-RW, Hard Drives etc.) do not have DRM technology included. I've also noticed that the next generation of hardware will have this technology included, possibly at gunpoint by the content providers. I will be buying lot's of tech soon to avoid the DRM cripples that are due in all our hardware. I will also be closely monitoring the computer situation to buy my next machine just before they encrypt the BIOS and only allow DRM enabled operating systems to run on these systems. If you don't think this will happen, you have learned nothing from 100 years of corporate behaviour. If they can, they will. Usually just because they can.

    --
    Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.
    1. Re:Buy Now or Pay Later... by Refrag · · Score: 2

      Most MP3 players are SDMI compliant which means they have DRM built-in. The iPod does not.

      --
      I have a website. It's about Macs.
    2. Re:Buy Now or Pay Later... by Tiroth · · Score: 2


      In a sense, TiVo units do have DRM. They detect Macrovision on the incoming signal, strip it out, and add a flag to the recording that says "this had macrovision." Then when they output the signal they add macrovision encoding to content that has the flag set.

    3. Re:Buy Now or Pay Later... by ookla_the_mok · · Score: 0

      "don't steal music."
      - Steve Jobs

    4. Re:Buy Now or Pay Later... by Danse · · Score: 1

      So has anyone come up with a way to automatically set that flag to "no macrovision?"

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    5. Re:Buy Now or Pay Later... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't steal music by copying it -- showing that Apple is either unaware of the legal distinction between infringement and theft, or that they don't care.

      The iPod does have some copy restrictions (it will only auto-sync to one computer at a time, in the downwards direction, to keep you from copying MP3s from one Mac to another via auto-sync). But as far as I know, it doesn't implement the bletcherous SDMI watermarking and checkin/out scheme.

    6. Re:Buy Now or Pay Later... by Tiroth · · Score: 1


      I think it is a register that is set in the NTSC encoder...so you could set the bit with a PIC or similar. You'd probably have to intercept the control signals to the encoder and only pass the ones you wanted to pass.

      I guess if you *really* needed to strip it out you could this way. Sounds like a good bit of work though.

  28. greedy bastards! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Copy once/copy never? Charge for every viewing? Charge for every node in your home? Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em till they bleed and die. Sheesh! My old VCR looks better all the time- tape a program, then watch it as many times as I want for free. Sheeesh.

  29. When did phillips become a friend of Open? by actappan · · Score: 1

    This is the second pro-open standard, seemingly anti copyright "thing" that phillips has come up with in the past couple weeks. Wow.

    --
    \Drew National Data Director, John Edwards for President
  30. Another victory for geeks' rights by uncle+isaac · · Score: 1, Insightful
    The responses from many members of our community to this sort of development is as predictable as it is passionate: "how can they dare to take away our rights to the content we pay for?" Well, the truth of the matter is a little bit more complicated. Let's take a look at what Phillips and the IP holders are trying to do here before we jump to any conclusions.

    Basically, the large media companies want control over their content because they want to "keep the honest people honest." Though this sounds very Big Brotherish in nature, keep in mind the fact that if 80%, 90%, or 100% of the population could make unlimited, perfect copies of digital media to share with their friends, it would likely put the entire industry out of business.

    The part of DRM that many people here miss is that it is always breakable. And we geeks are the ones who will always have access to the knowledge, technology, and software that allows us to circumvent these schemes. And you may be surprised to hear it, but the media companies really don't care whether or not a few of us slashdot geeks, living in our parents' basements, can copy a DVD or decrypt a wireless feed from our satellite system. They care about tools, like DeCSS, that could potentially be used by millions of Windows-using lusers to rip them off, and that is the only reason why they cared enough to sue 2600 into oblivion.

    So, this is yet another area in which we can enjoy our superiority to average non-geeks. While they "pay per play" on their new HDTV sets and are forced to pay for content, we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. We've worked hard for this right, and there's nothing "they" can do to take it away from us. We deserve it.

    -Isaac

    1. Re:Another victory for geeks' rights by SirSlud · · Score: 2

      >it would likely put the entire industry out of business

      You talk about it like it's a bad thing. I was wondering if content producers have entirely different economies in their heads. Ie, when push comes to shove, and we have to pay for as much as we're consuming, is Hollywood truely a viable business given the percieved amount of revenue-generating touchpoints the future holds for entertainment consumers?

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
    2. Re:Another victory for geeks' rights by Iguanaphobic · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So, this is yet another area in which we can enjoy our superiority to average non-geeks. While they "pay per play" on their new HDTV sets and are forced to pay for content, we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. We've worked hard for this right, and there's nothing "they" can do to take it away from us. We deserve it.

      Until they start to cripple the computer hardware that your tools run on. Encrypt the BIOS, only allow DRM enabled OS's to access hardware, legislate open and free alternatives away as "enabling" devices that cost producers their IP. Forget fair use, that is already history. Welcome to the future, where you either work for a corporation or you're part of the problem. Get used to it!

      --
      Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.
    3. Re:Another victory for geeks' rights by schon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      it would likely put the entire industry out of business.

      You mean just like Libraries put the publishing industry out of business? (If millions of people can borrow books *for free*, why would they ever pay for them?)

      Or the radio station will put live performers out of business? (Why would *ANYONE* pay to see a live performance, when they can listen to it for free over the airwaves?)

      Or the home VCR put the movie industry out of business? (Why would anyone pay $5.00 at a movie theatre when they can watch it at home?)

      This argument has been used for decades, (every time a new technology comes out, IIRC) and so far it's proven false every time. Stop crying wolf, nobody's buying it.

    4. Re:Another victory for geeks' rights by Masem · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Basically, the large media companies want control over their content because they want to "keep the honest people honest." Though this sounds very Big Brotherish in nature, keep in mind the fact that if 80%, 90%, or 100% of the population could make unlimited, perfect copies of digital media to share with their friends, it would likely put the entire industry out of business.

      Except that for those 80-100% of 'honest people' have no idea how to make copies, much less record stuff typically in the first place. The VCR, as a prime example, without tools like VCR+, is very hard for average people to program, though I'm sure most geeks know their way around it. It took the intervention of this VCR+ system or things like TiVo with interactive program guides to get the common man familar enough with VCR programming.

      So it's very doubtful the common honest person is the one they are putting this in place for.

      As a few others have stated, while the tech they are trying to describe will prevent the wireless signals from going to other TVs in the same house, it's more than likely they're trying to make sure that a nearby neighbor cannot pick up on your wireless emissions and effectively 'steal' the signal, just as people used to do with cable. And those that would steal it would not be the honest people, but instead those with both the intent and the means to work out how to do it.

      --
      "Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
      "I can see my house from here!" - ST:
    5. Re:Another victory for geeks' rights by l79327 · · Score: 1

      It might take a few years before the black van drives down your street sniffing unencrypted 802.11 packets. By then I'm sure they will be able to get a search warrant over wireless fax, raid your home and confiscate your piracy equipment. I bet your city council will declare piracy equipment a "public nuisance" so that they can use, resell or destroy all that neat cutting edge geek equipment like your computer, router TV. And stereo. I just hope the police don't have time toughly search the hard drives they get..

    6. Re:Another victory for geeks' rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a DJ, are you really willing to find out what life would be like without media companies?

    7. Re:Another victory for geeks' rights by SirSlud · · Score: 2

      My point wasn't so much that the /entire/ industry would go out of business, but rather that the industry would have to scale back. Yes, I can live without the EMIs, the Sonys. I can't live without someone else handling the distribution and promotion, but it doesn't matter to me if my fan bass is 1% that of the Britteny Spears' of the world, and that the media company that represents me is 0.5% the size of Sony's music devision. My comment was more about scale and whole 'number of fans' versus 'number of fans who are willing to pay X dollars per concert, listening, viewing, etc' ..

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
  31. Wireless video by peel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I, as have many others, have been doing this for years. Back in the day when most households only had one VCR, there was a little gizmo called the rabbit that allowed you to watch the VCR on multiple TV's. More recently I picked up a little device from SmartHome that allows me to send audio visual signals through walls using a 2.4 Ghz signal. VIOLA! Wireless rebroadcasting of recorded shows. I have been watching taped recordings of shows as well as dvds on more than one tv in my house for some time now, I guess because there is no computer involved it's all ok. 2.4Ghz is so 1990s. -peel

    Computers never mkae mestooks. - Atari 800

    1. Re:Wireless video by Tiroth · · Score: 1


      of course, the quality sucks, but to each their own...

  32. Who really wants to pay? by SirSlud · · Score: 2

    The question is really going to become .. are Titus and Rugrats and Roswell really worth it once we're /forced/ to actually not bend the rules? Does anyone else wonder if consumers and content creators have entirely different economies in their heads?

    --
    "Old man yells at systemd"
    1. Re:Who really wants to pay? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right on. I download a few things here and there because I can. If they make it impossible, I won't. Big frigging deal. It's just TV.

  33. Imagine by peterdaly · · Score: 2

    Image a world where you can channelsurf what your neighbors are watching, live or recorded. Maybe have a "private" setting for what you don't want others to see. That would be a hell of a P2P type network.

    Makes one think...

    -Pete

    1. Re:Imagine by SirSlud · · Score: 2

      >Image a world where you can channelsurf what your neighbors are watching

      "Honey, they're watching the history channel again, those sick perverts! That's it, I'm getting my hedge trimmer back from them first thing tommorow .... "

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
    2. Re:Imagine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh, well, you can, sorta. I haven't done this myself, but I understand that it's trivial to drive around with a popular receiving device and a TV. If your neighbors are using X-10 video senders, then buy one of those. Get a suitable power hookup, and go driving.

      Wardriving is enough fun as it is. Now imagine finding someone who's broadcasting video to the world without even realizing it. For bonus points, combine the technology - rebroadcast their video on someone else's network!

  34. Oh well by sulli · · Score: 1

    And I was about to buy a dvd player from them. Delete that from the shopping cart!

    --

    sulli
    RTFJ.
  35. This is the work of the devil... by Uttles · · Score: 2

    Content owners, for example, can start charging consumers every time their digital content is re-distributed within the home, or viewed several times during a certain number of days specified by them.

    Every time their content is redistributed within the home? So, to compare with the present, they want to charge me to not only buy or rent the video, but also each time I play it? This is just pure evil.

    One thing's for sure: if this isn't extremely cheap, ie $0.05 for each replay or something like that, it will never work, because "content" just isn't that important. I'll just go outside and play fetch with the dog, or have people over for a BBQ. I'm sure most other sane people feel the same way.

    --

    ~ now you know
  36. Imagine! by Refrag · · Score: 2

    Imagine being able to watch the same show on multiple TVs inside your house without paying extra for each additional TV. People that do that should be shot! Do they have no ethics?

    --
    I have a website. It's about Macs.
  37. Moot....all moot.... by CDWert · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is mostly a moot point, until a TV can be so integrted as not to need an external source in this is all moot. The industry will not for 100 years agree on a standard for that. The signal leaves whatever device you are playing from AND MUST be understood by your common average dumb TV set, NTSC, PAL what have you.

    NOW that said that is the weak link and an Ideal place to transmit from or encode to an alternative Digital Medium, I just got Mplayer encoding right, and guess what was horking all kinds of signals off line, my 300 gig box is just about ready to start filling up with TV shows, movies, races,etc. I want, as soon as I can get the damm remote working with this box.

    Because of the above set up I dug out an OLD (15 year plus TV transmitter, I had , you hook it up and Channel 3 gets vid audio. Im too lazy to wire the upstairs and may be moving soon, so my 32" tv in the bedroom gets REBROADCASTED signaal. They sell these things on ebay for 30 bucks, they work like a charm, you could make your own with 1/3 of that in parts, no IC , all coils trimmers and pots.

    My computer has a tuner card as well, and antenna and I can catch anything I want off my "TIVO KILLER" EITHER via the network, or antenna, I would LOVE to put a box in my trunk and pump over 802.1b so my kids can watch flciks on drives, upload a playlist the night before from my computer in the house to my car in the drive. (I do plan on doing this with my MP3's)

    Sooooooo.....
    As long as a TV can understand the signal there is NO possible way (at present) to keep that signal from being rebroadcasted. With TONS of MONEY being pouredinto this sort of DRM research its amazing our TV sets dont cost $3000 !

    --
    Sig went tro...aahemmm.....fishing........
  38. Why is 802.11 different from the Rabbit? by og_sh0x · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Back in the 80s it was perfectly legal to use the wireless Rabbit (remember those?) to transmit TV signals from the living room to the bedroom. This went for broadcast, rented movies, etc. Heck, you can even legally transmit on the FM 88-108 MHz band as long as it follows FCC Part 15 (no external antenna, and under a certain wattage... 100mw I think). Considering that these allowances were made for home-based Fair Use usage, I would consider this a clear-cut violation of Fair Use rights just like copy protected CDs. If you want to make *public* broadcast over 802.11 illegal... Well it already is. Just like it would have been illegal to use the Rabbit back in the 80s to re-transmit cable for the whole neighborhood.

    1. Re:Why is 802.11 different from the Rabbit? by Pussy+Is+Money · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The difference is digital, which means no generational loss between copies.

      --
      Pushin' 'n dealin', shovin' 'n stealin'
    2. Re:Why is 802.11 different from the Rabbit? by jordan_a · · Score: 1

      But it still personal use right? Why should I have to suffer a loss in quality when I watch my movie because I'm allowed to broadcast over my rabbit but not my wireless lan?

      "Here you can listen to this cd in your own house all you want, but you can only hear it when your head is underwater."

    3. Re:Why is 802.11 different from the Rabbit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There were two different versions of the Rabbit. The first version was completely wireless but was pulled from the market because of "licensing" issues. The second version used "home power wiring" instead.

      I went to buy one during the couple-week period between the first and second units when it was impossible to purchase one. This was the explanation I was given.

    4. Re:Why is 802.11 different from the Rabbit? by Pussy+Is+Money · · Score: 0
      I don't think you have to suffer a loss. Exactly what is keeping you from broadcasting movies over your wireless lan? And which CD requires that you listen it with your head under water?

      Hyperbole is not helping our case, and neither does your (rather spoiled brattish IMHO) implied assertion that man has some kind of innate right to procure entertainment.

      Selfcentered arguments such as yours will never win the public debate. Instead, it would be better to show people how copyright law is being used to suppress historical material that reflects negatively on the authors (e.g. Disney) (of course the same goes for matters of "security").

      --
      Pushin' 'n dealin', shovin' 'n stealin'
    5. Re:Why is 802.11 different from the Rabbit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And which CD requires that you listen it with your head under water?

      this one

  39. LOL. Yeah. by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    My mom bought the company phone from them, with the .10 cent a month complete repair pacakge back in 1960 something. She had it for 30 years or so, it was really funny seeing the phone guy come out to change the phone cable when the dog ate it. It got to the point after this had happended for the 3-4th time, where he just gave us 2-3 cables for the phone. We wouldnt have bothered, except well, since we weren't allowed to have those other 6 phones plugged in, well then, they can dam well come out here and fix this one. The phone finaly died when the house caught fire.

    *moment of silence for the death of a noble communications device*

    --
    All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
  40. Fools by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And now the idiots are waisting time and money trying to develop networks that will
    allow for "safeguarding audio/video entertainment content against illegal copying, intercepting and tampering" - don't they understand that people will just find some other way to do this?

  41. Occam's (Ockham) razor? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this simply a coincidence?

    "For its part, Cisco released last fall Open Conditional Content Access Management (Occam), an end-to-end content encryption and access control technology specification, designed for implementation in hardware for interactive television and portable network devices."

    Occams razor: "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate" or "Pluralities should not be posited without necessity." Source: Occam's razor

    - GoatBeard

  42. Hopefully the Moxie will be DRM free by joeflies · · Score: 1
    This device shown at CES promises to be a PVR (with 1394 support), Internet Gateway, DVD player, Sat/Cable box, MP3/CD jukebox AND a wireless multi-room transmission unit. It doesn't mention DRM but does state that DVD's won't play wirelessly.

    If that's the only catch, I have no problem with it. It's a lot easier to buy an extra $99 dvd player than it is to wire coax/s-vid/RCA cables to the rest of my house.

    Moxi

    1. Re:Hopefully the Moxie will be DRM free by UUronl · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I was scanning this to see if anyone had brought up Moxi. Let's hope this thing doesn't get mired in DRM issues - it looks really nice. I also saw that the new Escient systems are making use of 802.11a for inhome distribution of content.

    2. Re:Hopefully the Moxie will be DRM free by Lord_Pall · · Score: 1

      The article I read in Newseek talked about the moxie being a VERY tightly controlled box..

      It has a full suite of drm for both the music and video you load/record onto it.

      And at the risk of sounding sacrilegious, it read like a marketeers wet dream. They're concentrating on how they can sell more services and product with it..

  43. In fact... by sterno · · Score: 2

    You can pick up a neat little device at Radioshack which will allow you to broadcast video on any cable channel you specify. So if you've only got one Satellite receiver, you can watch the content from it on multiple TV's without needing another receiver. This is all with wires...

    This is soooo getting out of hand. I think it's important to remember that copyright law was written at a time when they had no means to control much other than whether you got a copy of the media or not. Now they think they can tell you everything you do with it anytime you want.

    --
    This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
  44. Retransmitting my cable shows to my PDA by Drog · · Score: 1

    I wonder what the laws will say in the future, once we have 3G, about streaming our home cable shows wirelessly to our PDA's? If you're paying for the cable, and you're not sharing it with anyone, hopefully this would be legal. Imagine being able to watch PayTV on your PocketPC while waiting for your flight at the airport.

    Drog

    --

    Looking for political forums? Check out "The World Forum".

  45. Not Copyright protection... Privacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is to protect you from having other people see all the p0rn you watch using a wireless connection... or even worse your own home movies of amateur p0rn... peeping tom via wireless eavesdropping... that's funny!!!

  46. I've got to admit... by greenfly · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    it's getting better all the time.

  47. Not a thief - but might become one by medcalf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The thing that strikes me about all of the attempts that I have seen to implement DRM, is that they all work on the principle that the consumer is a thief. If the content owners keep making this argument, and implementing it in hardware, it will actually spawn rampant thievery. After all, today I buy CDs (and rip them to MP3s immediately) and DVDs. If I cannot play a CD in my computer, I'll get it from a pirate online so that I can listen to it. How long, then, until I decide to skip the step of buying the CD in the first place? And it will be the same with movies at some point, I'm certain.

    -jeff

    --
    -- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
  48. Whatever by kawlyn · · Score: 1
    I guess I'll just have to buy my cheap wireless gear in Chinatown. Along with my region free DVD player and VCD movies.

    And if all the manufacturers get together with the DRM hard drives, and chips etc... I'll be buying knock-off chips and low capacity hard drives.

    --

    When someone yells "Stop" or goes limp, or taps out, the fight is over.
  49. AAARRRGGHH! You CAN'T WIN! by revscat · · Score: 2

    Dear executive bigwig,

    This letter is a plea for you to give up your insane obsession with rights management. YOU. JUST. CAIN'T. DO. IT. As the daily march of new technologies makes it easier and easier to transmit and transport data in various forms, it becomes obvious that attempts to stop this from happening are doomed to failure. Despite the successful destruction of the free-wheeling Napster, the trading of "illegal" materials continues, largely unabated.

    The only way this will be stopped is with the propogation of police powers not seen out side of "1984" by George Orwell. There are simply too many channels available -- both on and off the Internet -- for transmitting this data. Stopping it will require buy-in from the community in toto, and the chances of that happening are slim to none.

    Plus you guys have really come across as assholes recently, y'know?

    - Rev.
    1. Re:AAARRRGGHH! You CAN'T WIN! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there's a much simpler reason why it can't be done. those who create the hardware (hardware engineers) can always start over at some point and bypass whatever digital right management systems are in place. What if say, a movie is already encrypted and you are trying to decrypt, you say? Just take a look at DeCSS. Just give the hacker community 5 weeks to "fix it". Give up digital rights people.

  50. It's coming, folks, it's coming. by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 2

    One day, you will be able to buy a DVD that forces you to sit through 15 minutes of previews and advertisements before you get to your movie. And it will be illegal to own a DVD player that will simply skip that crap and let you view the flick. It's coming, folks, it's coming.

    1. Re:It's coming, folks, it's coming. by Happy+Monkey · · Score: 2

      What do you mean, "it's coming"? That's true now. Though I haven't seen any that are up to 15 minutes yet.

      --
      __
      Do ya feel happy-go-lucky, punk?
    2. Re:It's coming, folks, it's coming. by zzyzx · · Score: 1

      The problem with this, of course, is at some point people will balk and just stop buying DVDs. There is a limit to how much you can annoy your customer before they stop being your customer.

    3. Re:It's coming, folks, it's coming. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just waiting for the DVD writers to come down a bit more... then I can rip the worthwhile VOBS to a new disc that doesn't present me with all the crap first. And keep the fancy store-bought disc in the display box for show.

  51. Useless protocol, RF contradictions by letxa2000 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    If I read this correctly they now want to somehow implement copyright protection mesaures at the protocol level? So now not only will companies and courts have control over what I transmit, the protocol will decide whether or not I can transmit? A protocol that prevents use is a protocol that won't be used.

    It also seems to be a contradiction. DirectTV can transmit from their satellite to almost every square foot of North America, but if someone grabs that signal on their private property and decodes it then the person who received it is legally responsible, not DirectTV. But here, for some reason, they believe it is necessary for the sender to have some kind of permission to transmit with a range of a few hundred feet?

    Who even cares? I suspect DirectTV provides a lot more free content to pirates than neighbors transmitting via RF do or will.

    Everyone thought that Internet was great, that the new economy was great, and that all this communication and information would enlighten and unite the world. That was until companies started realizing exactly what that meant...

  52. Inside? by rmadmin · · Score: 1

    So I can't transmit a TV signal from my bedroom, down the hall, and to my kitchen? Oh well, I'll just put an antana outside my bedroom window, transmit it outside, to my kitchen window, they didn't say anything bout that. Then again, I could just run coax like everyone else suggested, but thats just too simple.

  53. buyer beware by nege · · Score: 1

    My first impression (because IAAG "I am a geek") is, "hey, if you dont want people to rebroadcast it, dont broadcast it in the first place".

  54. Shooting Themselves in the Foot by istartedi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Scenario 1: Ubiquitous wireless home networking. I can get up from the football game and there is a networked screen in the bathroom, etc... In fact, I think somebody did a commercial that illustrated that vision.

    Scenario 2: I can't network anything without paying twice for content I've already bought, and the devices that do it cost more because they have to support real-time encryption. Because of this, I choose not to buy the devices and simply do the "bathroom and snack rush" during commercials.

    This just makes no sense. Once the content is in the home, why should they care how many outlets it comes out of? This is like the electric company charging me more for installing a new socket, even though I'm using the same number of kilowatt-hours.

    Ordinarily I dismiss some of the things I see on /. as AIP/paranoia, but I have to concede to the /. crowd that controls like this for intrahome networking violate fair use, and probably a number of other things.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    1. Re:Shooting Themselves in the Foot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      actually, there's a far deeper reason why charging say, "per tv set" is bad. Imagine the privacy invasion! I mean, now the cable company would know that you're using only 1 TV or 10 TVs in your house. why should they own this information? You should charge them to add extra tvs for added knowledge.

    2. Re:Shooting Themselves in the Foot by Dynedain · · Score: 1

      Ironically, the TV commercial you mentioned was for Phillips.

      --
      I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
  55. Holy paranoia, Batman! by mystery_bowler · · Score: 2

    Are people like Phillips automatically assuming that the majority of the public is going to rip them off?

    It doesn't take a genius to steal cable but, really, what is the percentage of people who legitimately pay for cable rather than steal it? I'd be willing to better the overwhelming majority pay for it.

    And it's not as if the customer hasn't paid for the content here. So what if Joe Consumer broadcasts the Superbowl via wireless to the TV in his bathroom? If Joe Consumer is a paying customer, it shouldn't matter.

    The vast majority still pay for their content. Each time I hear a story like this, I get the feeling that many large companies are simply fighting against imaginary enemies.

    --

    My sigs always suck.
  56. it's not really explained, is it? by mblase · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was puzzled by this concept, myself -- surely I have the right to broadcast my cable TV signal to as many televisions or computers in my own house as I see fit?

    But if we're talking about Wi-Fi, then the problem isn't just inside my house. I'm essentially empowering any Wi-Fi receiver within my broadcast range to see what I'm watching on my own system -- whether it's television, cable TV, pay-per-view, or pre-recorded home video.

    Think of the potential problems. A student in a dorm room could broadcast a rented DVD to every other student in their building, a clear violation of the big "at-home use" FBI warning you see at the start of the movie. A pay-per-view sports broadcast could be sent to everyone in my apartment building. My next-door neighbor could pirate my cable TV feed just by tuning into/cracking my Wi-Fi frequency. It's not a problem if we're talking about broadcast television signals, but anything else is a major violation of copyright, essentially turning my home system into a small pirate broadcast station.

    1. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by merlin_jim · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I wouldn't have such a big beef if that's what they said they were going after, but they never explicitly say that's a problem. They probably don't want to admit that 802.11 and other wireless technologies tend to be very easy to hack, otherwise this wouldn't be a problem at all. As a result, they only mention piracy within the home. I looked for direct quotes, the closest I could get was:

      At stake here, said Leon Husson, executive vice president of consumer businesses at Philips Semiconductors, is the "free-floating" copyrighted content that will soon be "redistributed" or "rebroadcast" to different TV sets throughout a home by consumers using wireless networking technologies like IEEE802.11.

      I wonder how close the above paraphrase is to what he actually said... if he used the phrase throughout a home I would be VERY concerned with what this means for fair use, as I mentioned in my original post...

      --
      I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
    2. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you work for the MPAA????? Since when is friends getting together to watch a DVD a major violation of copyright. So what if their in different rooms? Would the MPAA have a problem if the students all went in the lounge to watch it together? I'm sure MPAA would like to rent DVD's on a per person basis. Perhaps they could create some sort of LCD dark glasses that only worked if you had paid a fee--- a la the 3-D glasses, without which you would see a garbled image.

      I wouldn't worry too much about people logging into their neighbors 802.11 broadcasts either, as there isn't enough bandwidth to show very many channels at a time.

    3. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure MPAA would like to rent DVD's on a per person basis

      No, the MPAA would like to rent DVD's on a per-continual-stare basis. If you pause and get up to do something else for awhile, bam, you've just gotten extra use from it, and so why shouldn't you pay more?

      DVD renting should be on the basis of bits per minute per personality per person (can't have Me, Myself and Irene all watch a DVD with only two license, now can we?)

      Actually, DVD renting should be on the basis of bits of information (not necessarily hard-coded bits) per second per personality per person, so that if you're paying close attention, you should be off-setting the extra cost of making closely detailed recordings, etc., by paying more, whereas if you're only slighly paying attention, you shouldn't have to pay for all the extra effort to pay attention to subtle aspects of plot and cinematography. Do you understand?

      So then, the perfect DVD license is one where you don't actually rent the content, but rather rent a license to use the content to make your neurons fire in a particular way, which we can then charge on
      neurons per second per personality per person. (Since even the currently "passive" personality will, afterward, have some of the benefits of having seen it.)

      man, I should go into marketing, mwahahaha.

    4. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "A student in a dorm room could broadcast a rented DVD to every other student in their building..."

      What makes you think everyone would want to watch the same porno DVD? ;)

    5. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by peccary · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A student in a dorm room could broadcast a rented DVD to every other student in their building

      you mean, instead of showing it on the widescreen TV in the lounge, the way college students have been doing ever since the invention of the VCR.

      I'm just waiting for Hilary and friends to start raiding college dorms looking for DVD players in public spaces.

    6. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by geekoid · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Then they need to go after individule perpertrators, who are innocent until proven guilty, I might add.
      By the way, rebroadcasting in a dorm setting may not meccesarily violate Fair-use, but I see your point.
      the FBI wrning is pretty vague, when you really start to think about it it come down to "down transmit this illegally" but in know way defines what is legal, or illegal. Just putting something in the warning does not supercede the law.

      For interesting copyright reading I suggest here

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    7. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by mblase · · Score: 2

      Then they need to go after individule [sic] perpertrators, who are innocent until proven guilty, I might add.

      That was pretty impulsive. The whole point of the article is that there aren't any perpetrators, yet, and Philips wants to introduce technology to prevent it from becoming a problem at all. I mean, it's not like they're under obligation to let you access the technology over the shelf at all, is it?

      "Fair use," you say -- but how do you apply it to this example? Fair permission to extract a sample for use in an news article? Fair backups in case your original gets damaged? Neither situation is really a factor where wireless re-transmission of someone else's broadcasts or media are concerned, unless you can make a rock-solid argument that Wi-Fi'ing your DVD player to your PC is the only practical way to make a legitimate backup.

    8. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by pilich · · Score: 1

      > I was puzzled by this concept, myself -- surely
      > I have the right to broadcast my cable TV signal
      > to as many televisions or computers in my own
      > house as I see fit?

      Well, not really. Back when I was a student, I used to work for the local cable TV company. They would sell you the signal, but you would pay for every outlet that you watched it on. It was (is?) illegal to redirect that signal to other outlets in your own home. They enforced this to such an extent that if we were called inside to do any work and we discovered any illegal outlets, we would actually go and cut the cable to them, even if the homeowner installed the cable himself!

      Don't mess with the cable company :-)

    9. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by FleshWound · · Score: 1
      But if we're talking about Wi-Fi, then the problem isn't just inside my house. I'm essentially empowering any Wi-Fi receiver within my broadcast range to see what I'm watching on my own system -- whether it's television, cable TV, pay-per-view, or pre-recorded home video.
      You mean like those video transmission/receiving devices (Rabbits?) they sell at Radio Shack for like $50 can do?

      Hmm...$300+ for WiFi vs. ~$100 for Radio Shack equipment...tough choice, especially when the WiFi would yield MUCH crappier results.
    10. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by hypergreatthing · · Score: 1

      if it's meant for in home use, then i see no problem. That same kid that is transmitting inside the dorm to other people in the dorm is basically sharing the dvd with all of them. Why can't he just hand over the dvd when he's done to these kids?.. what's the difference? I don't see any.

    11. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by smallpaul · · Score: 2

      I wouldn't have such a big beef if that's what they said they were going after, but they never explicitly say that's a problem. They probably don't want to admit that 802.11 and other wireless technologies tend to be very easy to hack, otherwise this wouldn't be a problem at all.

      This has nothing to do with your neighbours hacking your signal. If it did, they would just fix WEP. It's about *DRM*. They want to put end-user invulnerable encryption on every wire or wireless link so that the end-user can only save the data they allow him/her to save.

    12. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by cmoney · · Score: 1

      Well, there was a ruling a few years ago that stated it was legal for home owners to distribute cable feeds across the home. Not sure if the courts declared that to be under Fair Use but that ruling does apply here: the media is changed (Wi-Fi versus coax cable) but the effect is the same: I can watch my cable feed from anywhere in the home.

    13. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by Ig0r · · Score: 2

      No, no. Hilary is going after the evil people who steal money from recording artists. It's 'forgetful' Jack Valenti who's going to crack down on the damn hippies watching movies together.

      --
      Soma: because a gramme is better than a damn.
    14. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by isorox · · Score: 2

      charge on neurons per second per personality per person.

      I feel sorry for people with 500 multiple personalities.

    15. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by ScoLgo · · Score: 1

      Do you have any specific information on that ruling? I'd be interested in reading the details. My cableco, (affectionately referred to as 'The Bastards' around my house), insists on charging me extra per month for any additional outlets in the house - whether there's a TV plugged into them or not. I'd love to find some legal ammo to make them back off on this.

      TIA

      --
      "Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing - and it was everything that I thought it could be."
    16. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by Psiven · · Score: 0

      But on the otherhand, it that sort of communication that will free us from the telecom corps. The majority of the population lives within a close proximity of each other, i.e. cities. By redistributing information for each other rather than paying Ma Bell, we allow ourselves a greater level of freedom.

      There's a whole new level of communication out there that we haven't explored yet. I still don't understand why websites aren't ran off peer-to-peer networks. Thousands of people read slashdot everyday, copying the same info over and over, yet each and every person gets it from the same, single source.

    17. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by peccary · · Score: 1

      Oops. Well, you know, those lawyers all look alike to me.

    18. Re:it's not really explained, is it? by geekoid · · Score: 2

      look here for information about rebroadcasting for private use. I odn't havr time to find the specific clause, but its in there.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  57. Cost by Detritus · · Score: 2

    This scheme appears to add a lot of hardware and complexity to any consumer electronics equipment that supports it. What is the benefit for the end user? Nothing that I can see. In fact, the end user is saddled with new and annoying restrictions on how content can be viewed. When will these idiots realize that their content is not that valuable? We aren't talking about a video conference of the National Security Council.

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  58. Slashdot psyche.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You forgot that Philips is the good guy only on odd days as opposed to the MPAA which releases Star Trek DVDs on even days....

  59. Funny Story, may or may not be true by DrMaurer · · Score: 1

    This may or may not be true, so . . .

    When the first pre-recorded format was shown to Disney executives (60s?), they were worried that it would be able to be played over and over and over again.

    Some engineers worked that out. It could be played once and would have to be "unlocked". They then showed it to executives, but then they had yet another problem.

    How could they be sure that only one person was watching the film?

    The idea was canned, until, of course, later . . . now we've got this same stuff worried about.

    Oh well.

    Like I said, possibly not true, I can find no corroboration on the 'net, but I didn't really look hard.

    --
    Dan
  60. Pay-per-TV Cable by Kutsal · · Score: 1
    I'm keeping my cable until the day my cable provider realizes the fact that there are idiots out there who would pay to get cable for each TV they own and start charging their customers (read: gullible dummies) like so...

    Then other companies will realize potential cash cows: AT&T will (re)start charging people per the number of phones they have in their houses. TV manufacturers will charge TV's by the number of channels the TV can receive. When you buy a DVD player, you will only be able to play so many DVDs before you have to purchase viewing rights for more DVDs (and audio CD player manufacturers will follow suit shortly thereafter)....

    I, personally, draw the line at pay-per-step shoes...

    --
    Karma: Bad (but who really cares anyway?)
  61. Retransmission? by bigpat · · Score: 1

    Retransmission? The use of the word in this context is absurd. This is like calling hooking up your vcr between your tv and the cable box "retransmission"

    1. Re:Retransmission? by Dr.Dubious+DDQ · · Score: 3, Informative
      This is like calling hooking up your vcr between your tv and the cable box "retransmission"

      Yes. It is (according to legislators/MPAA). See 'Macrovision'. Ever wonder why those 'Macrovision decoder' boxes were criminalized?...

  62. BUT ya still have other wires by systemaster · · Score: 1

    as you said:"Unless you have a room that you want to put the TV in the middle of the room "
    But you still have to run power, and for a few things other wires wired controls, or speaker wires. Unless you have a generator under the TV it is still pointless.

    --
    LinuxWorx
    Spelling errors are intentional as are gramatical error
  63. This is dumb by Zapdos · · Score: 1

    Once people have to start paying for every instance of a digital media stream they hear or see, we will find how few they are actually willing to pay for. This will cause allot of media content providers to go bye-bye as their paying audience is allot smaller then their original audience.

    Next thought would be Sex Tax.

    1. Re:This is dumb by Jester998 · · Score: 1

      "Next thought would be Sex Tax."

      Hrmm... well, I could see a lot of people going into red ink because of this one.

      Fortunately, the majority of the /. crowd (myself included) would pay approximately, umm, $0.00 (give or take $0.00) for this tax. ;)

      - Jester

    2. Re:This is dumb by Gonarat · · Score: 1

      Once people have to start paying for every instance of a digital media stream they hear or see, we will find how few they are actually willing to pay for. This will cause allot of media content providers to go bye-bye as their paying audience is allot smaller then their original audience.



      Good point - especially considering the current economy. We just got the word from corporate that there will be no raises this year due to our parent corporation's overall performance. Ford Motor Company (another big employer here in Louisville, KY) is laying off, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. I am looking to keep expenses the same or cut them -- not to pay more for the same stuff, and that includes "intellectual property." Entertainment is one of the first expenses to go in a tight economy."

      --
      Beware of Sleestak
  64. Government mandated blinders by Dr.Dubious+DDQ · · Score: 3, Interesting
    if someone grabs that signal on their private property and decodes it then the person who received it is legally responsible

    There is, unfortunately, precedent for this, at least in the US (though it strikes me as something probably implemented elsewhere in the world, too).

    There are laws on the books that (IIRC) forbid even listening to certain radio frequencies (or, more accurately, criminalizes having equipment capable of picking up those frequencies), because those frequencies are used by police and/or military (or something of the sort). In addition, there are the more familiar laws which (again IIRC) criminalize decoding of cell-phone transmissions.

    While I can understand why they WANT to criminalize such things, as you point out, it sets a disturbing precedent. The signal is being sent through MY (and your and everyone else's) property. It is as if Government, Inc. has legslated permission for couriers to walk through your house any time they want, and requires you to cover your eyes whenever they do so, lest you see things the courier is carrying....

    With a precedent like that, Government Inc can add laws, if they want, that criminalize receiving certain other channels (including 'channels contained copyright-protected materials such as satellite television broadcasts') 'without proper authorization' (e.g. broadcaster-sanctioned equipment only).

    A side effect of things like this that REALLY bugs me is that it inhibits personal educational experimentation. Want to learn about electronics and radio transmissions by building your own receiver? You'd better have the existing skills and ability to design the circuits to specially block out reception of the 'special' frequencies or you're breaking the law. (And this is BEFORE the DMCA, which basically just extended this same prohibition to a ridiculous degree, to include non-broadcast material).

    Personally, I think that if Government Inc. would spend the time and money making decent encryption available, instead of 'don't look' laws, the issue would be moot by now....

    1. Re:Government mandated blinders by letxa2000 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      The signal is being sent through MY (and your and everyone else's) property. It is as if Government, Inc. has legslated permission for couriers to walk through your house any time they want, and requires you to cover your eyes whenever they do so, lest you see things the courier is carrying...

      Exactly.

      For example, I can understand why DirectTV doesn't want people to decode their transmission without paying for it. I can see why they would make every effort to make doing so as expensive and inconvenient as possible. It's in their best interest.

      However, when they decided to build a satellite-based delivery system they knew that their signal would be available to anyone who wanted to pick it up--even if they were not subscribers. As such, they knew there would be people that would receive and use the signal without paying for it.

      If, knowing all that, they still decided to deploy a satellite system it is because they made the business decision that they'd still be able to make a profit. If they had considered non-subscriber use of their signal to be a show-stopper then they would have deployed a cable or fiber-optic system that is more difficult to intercept. But they opted for a satellite system because it was probably cheaper and, with it, the risks and costs of busines that go with it--which include use by non-subscribers.

      It may be illegal to listen in on a cell phone call, but it shouldn't be. And anyone who says something on a cell phone expecting privacy or secrecy is an order of fries short of a happy meal...

      Anyway, I believe that people and companies ought to only transmit that information they are comfortable having intercepted and used. If they are comfortable with their encryption, transmit away. If they aren't, don't.

      Meanwhile, I'm going to use anything I find on my private property. Including RF signals.

  65. It's all SonicBlue's fault! by Monte · · Score: 1

    I bet this is in reaction to the new 4000 series of Replay PVRs - not only will they stream video over your intranet, but you can "share" records shows with your buddies on the internet. Uh-oh.

    Because the Replay can update it's software automagically (as part of the program guide update cycle) I imagine it's just a matter of time until these features are disabled on my Replay :(

  66. Let's go back to the ROXY by Snaffler · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The ultimate copy protection scheme is right around the corner. Word has it that the major studios will encode their movies on celluloid "film" and maintain exclusive proprietary rights to the product. In order to view it you will have to purchase a "ticket" and attend a "theater" which will post the showing times on the lighted billboard outside.

  67. Explanation? by CrazyDwarf · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I don't think I understood any of this article... at least I hope I didn't.

    I have a VCR, and 2 DVD players in my home, connected to TV's which are all cable ready and have cable running directly to them. If I understood this article correctly, Phillips is concerned I might broadcast something via wireless network technology to another TV in my home, when all I have to do is plug it into the cable, or plug a VCR/DVD player in? Or is their concern more for digital cable subscribers or people in areas where you have to have a cable box to descramble the pay channels?

    Is this the kind of waste of resources that causes prices to go up?

    --
    It's easy to stand out when the general level of competence is so low.
  68. Nothing New by nanojath · · Score: 5, Funny
    Man you ain't seen nothing. When I was a kid my dad used to open up a book and just read it OUT LOUD... to the whole house! And he was a minister!


    It's sad we've all been so corrupted by IP theft. Thank God Phillips is there to keep us in line.

    --

    It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries

    1. Re:Nothing New by drsoran · · Score: 1

      Ministers make baby Jesus cry when they violate intellectual property laws. Did he have permission from the book publisher to read the book before an audience?

    2. Re:Nothing New by sharkey · · Score: 2

      Ministers make baby Jesus cry when they violate intellectual property laws. Did he have permission from the book publisher to read the book before an audience?

      Let's shorten that, shall we?
      Fair Use makes baby Jesus cry.

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  69. DivX lives again? Re:But should DRM always exist? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Funny, this sounds like that Circuit City abomination "DivX" that cost them a whole lot of money before it was deemed a complete and utter waste and terminated. Just because they wanted to sell a product and the rights to use the product separately. Funny, that...

  70. There are no such things as "fair use rights." by Jack_of_Hearts · · Score: 1
    Why can people not grasp that fair use is a privilege and not a right?

    There is no such thing as "a clear-cut violation of Fair Use rights" because those rights never existed in the first place! Fair use ensures that we cannot be held liable for copyright infringement if we decide to copy a work that we own onto another medium. It *does not* guarantee that we have the power to do so. Corporations, sad as it is, have the right to prevent us from copying their works, if they choose. The only way for us to fight against it is through good old consumer activism.

    1. Re:There are no such things as "fair use rights." by geekoid · · Score: 4, Informative

      I disagree:
      Sec. 107. - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

      Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include -

      (1)

      the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

      (2)

      the nature of the copyrighted work;

      (3)

      the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

      (4)

      the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

      The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors

      http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html

      item 4 is ver interesting IMHO.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    2. Re:There are no such things as "fair use rights." by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 1

      Nor are there "Intellectual Property Rights"

    3. Re:There are no such things as "fair use rights." by GrenDel+Fuego · · Score: 2

      That law states that it is not infringement to copy media (or whatever) for personal use.

      That dosen't mean that the vendors are required to allow you to make the copies. They can do their best to prevent copying. It's just not infringement if you get around their block.

    4. Re:There are no such things as "fair use rights." by naasking · · Score: 1

      It's just not infringement if you get around their block.

      That's what the DMCA is for.

    5. Re:There are no such things as "fair use rights." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You've got it exactly backwards. It is copyright monopolies that are a privilege and not a right. The default situation under the Constitution, in the absence of copyright/patent laws (which are entirely optional), is that the public would have full legal rights to copy/use/redistribute any published content, even for commercial purposes. Copyright is supposed to be just an incentive to get people to create more works FOR THE PUBLIC that will ultimately fall into the public domain state.

    6. Re:There are no such things as "fair use rights." by HiThere · · Score: 2

      Why cannot people grasp that the copyright is a priviledge, not a right?

      You may argue that some provision for a copyright is mandated by the constitution, but that would be satisfied by a 1 year term. Certainly by a 5 year term.

      The copyright exists at all only to encourage the distribution of literature, art, technical information, etc. Any version which does not act to so encourage the distribution has no validity under the constitution of the US.
      .

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    7. Re:There are no such things as "fair use rights." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Constitution doesn't mandate copyrights - it only allows them, under certain condtions (i.e., for "limited Times", as a means to a public goal rather than as a goal in and of themselves).

      In the Atlantic Monthly article "Who Will Own Your Next Good Idea?", one of the Founders (whom I believe was in favor of copyrights) was quoted as saying that if copyrights caused problems, they could always be abolished.

  71. First ammendment by Omnifarious · · Score: 2

    If this isn't a clear cut case of "We can't let people talk freely to one another because they might say things we think are damaging to us!", I don't know what is.

    1. Re:First ammendment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I assume you're refering to the USA's first amendment; this says

      Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

      Is Philips now Congress?

      I thought not.

    2. Re:First ammendment by Omnifarious · · Score: 1

      No, but you can be sure they'll get the US government in on the act of trying to make sure people can't talk to eachother in ways they don't approve of.

  72. That's EXACTLY what they want by Greyfox · · Score: 2
    You're goddamn right the content owners would love to be able to charge you every time you play their content. They'd love your account to get dinged every time you listen to a song on the radio, every time you watch a TV show, every time you read an article. That is exactly the world they're moving us toward. Every day, Stallman's dystopian vision gets closer and no one seems to think that it could eventually come to that, though the content providers would like nothing less.

    What could prevent it would be competition from independent content producers, so the current corporations will tie up all the formats in proprietary protocols and laws to the point where it is impossible to produce content without a license and it is impossible to get the license unless you sign away your content to some big corporation.

    The first step in preventing this is to restore copyrights to their original length. Well, what are you waiting for? You have a letter to your Congressperson to start writing.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:That's EXACTLY what they want by letxa2000 · · Score: 1
      They'd love your account to get dinged every time you listen to a song on the radio, every time you watch a TV show, every time you read an article. That is exactly the world they're moving us toward.

      That's the world they're trying to move us toward in desperation and greed.

      1. They worry that their content is going to be distributed massively via the Internet. They're right. Their content will be distributed on a massive scale via the Internet. So they make efforts, legal and technical, to try to keep this form happening. Hence copy protection, DMCA, etc.

      2. They worry that they won't be able to stop #1, even with technology and laws. They're right. They can't stop it. So they make efforts to try to charge on a per-use basis; micro-payments, whatever.

      What none of the content producers seem to have realized is that their has been a paradigm shift. They won't suceed with #1 and won't suceed with #2.

      Music is now free. Any attempts to charge, even micro-payments, will fail because music is now free. Music is now the advertisement to encourage the public to go see the artists concert. Artists will make money by going on tour and selling merchandise.

      The movie has less to worry about. They can still make mega-bucks because people want to go to the movies to get out for awhile, buy the popcorn, etc. So they'll still make plenty of money there. However, they should expect to make much less in the video/DVD market beause, like music, that will be freely traded long after the movie has left the movie theaters.

    2. Re:That's EXACTLY what they want by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      All of that is only true if they can't enact draconian legislation to prevent it.

      From now on music will continue to be free (as will movies, software, etc, etc) to anyone motivated enough to go out and find it. It is, however, going to become increasingly difficult for Joe Average.

      This is really all that The Powers That Be care about.

  73. HDTV by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    Are we not all supposed to move to HDTV broadcasts at some point in the near future, practically mandating a huge wave of upgrades by practically everyone?

    That's why all of the DRM stuff is pushing as hard as it can, to be ready to be installed during this wave of migration.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:HDTV by Kris_J · · Score: 2
      That's a damn good point. Here in Australia we've got Digital TV and we're supposed to be digital TV only by something like 2008. Thing is, the Pay-TV I subscribe to isn't going to change, or if it is they're just going to hand me another box with a composite (or maybe S-Video) output. And there's all the games consoles I've got (9 at last count) that work just fine with a standard old TV. I don't own a DVD player and in the same way I don't see me ever bothering with a digital TV. I'm happy with the quality of analogue, so I'll stick with that and avoid DRM. I'm sure many other people will be the same.

      You know, for many people, suddenly losing access to free-to-air programming would not be the end of the world. Far from it, they'd probably find they had so much tim eon their hands that they could go out and meet people or do something useful.

  74. I fear by S.+Allen · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    I fear that this is one area where porn will not lead a technical revolution.

  75. The trouble with DRM. by Animats · · Score: 2
    This whole thing will fall apart if Joe Sixpack ever fails to get the Super Bowl because of a configuration problem in the copy-protection system.

    Cable TV companies will end up being the first line of tech support for this stuff. But they don't profit from it. Look where we are now. Call Macrovision and try to get tech support for one of their copy-protected CDs that won't play on your CD drive.

    1. Re:The trouble with DRM. by JohnnyBolla · · Score: 1

      It occurs to me that things of this nature will always get pushed into use as long as we, the tech folks, continue to draw a distinction between ourselves and "Joe Sixpack". We're all under one header to the big corps, and that's "cash machine". Cash machines unite! Quit paying for stuff we don't want and don't need.

      --
      Carpe Deez
  76. They haven't addressed one other transmission by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 2, Funny

    They haven't even touched on the possible IP violations caused by the trasmission of copywrited material by light to your eyes.

    --
    It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
    1. Re:They haven't addressed one other transmission by Webmoth · · Score: 2

      Good point. If two people view the same content on the same image-producing device (be it paper, a TV screen, monitor, stereo speaker, etc.) does that constitute TWO copies?

      How about if you hook up four speakers to your stereo system (where two speakers carry the "left" image and two carry the "right" image)? Do you need to pay RIAA, et al for two copies... er, licenses to use the content? What if one set of speakers is in another room? Heaven forbid you should wire in an extra set without sending a gratuity to the radio station.

      There was a time when cable companies tried to charge extra if you put a second TV on the same cable line in your own home. Maybe some still do. I don't watch TV, so this doesn't bother me.

      This all sounds to me like they are trying to narrow your rights to view to not just within your home, but to within a certain room of your home.

      A Monopoly &r game says on the box, "For 2 to 6 players." (Or is it 2 to 8?) When I was a kid, if we wanted more than 6 players, someone would get a bottle cap or a screw or maybe a coin to use as an extra piece.

      If the Media Gestapo has their way, I'll have to buy another copy of Monopoly.

      --
      Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
  77. Hot geek girl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    a VERY tightly controlled box.

    Sounds like the lady I've had my eyes on for some time now.

    Any ideas how to convince a hot geek girl to have sex when she believes that "jesus wants her to stay a virgin"? What the fuck is wrong with you christians?!? Didn't your god create sex?

    1. Re:Hot geek girl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RTFM at www.fastseduction.com...

      Basically tell her "to enjoy the feelings that god has given her" >:) she didn't get them for nothing, did she? Then convince her "how pure it is and how deeply conncted she might be able to feel when she'd let her emotions go loose...." hehe.. then proceed to screw her and run like hell

  78. BSOD on my DVD by grip · · Score: 1

    Because it seems all this encrypting and decrypting will require some robust computing power, I hope my next DVD player has a PIII 1.5 Ghz processor running Win98 so my DVD player can crash as often as my desktop computer.

    --
    Failure is not an option. It comes automatically enabled in every Microsoft product.
  79. But realistically... by uncle+isaac · · Score: 1
    do you really think it's worth it for a neighbor to snarf whatever you're watching out of the air? Is it really worth breaking your WEP key to get access to whatever show you're watching? If he's smart enough to intercept your transmissions, he's smart enough to steal cable/satellite service himself and bypass the middleman.

    And let's face it - the common, honest person doesn't know how to program their VCR because there's no economic incentive to learn. But give CD ripping software and/or DeCSS to a bunch of average kiddies, and the result is the current state of PtP networks - anything you want is free for the taking. And that is why the content holders are going broke today.

    -Uncle

    1. Re:But realistically... by Jaysyn · · Score: 2

      If you think that they are _going broke_, I have some beautiful oceanfront property in Wyoming you might be interested in.

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
  80. The two-faces of Philips... by vtaluskie · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Amazing example of Corporate Split-Personality. Last wednesday folks were hailing Philips for their stance that Philips Says Compact Discs Can't be Copyprotected and now this report.

    Either they're really smart or their right hand doesn't know what their left hand is doing :)

  81. What they really need to crack down on. . . by Davgeary · · Score: 2, Funny

    What I'd like to see stopped is verbal rebroadcasting of tv shows. Every day of your life, you get to listen to a rehash of "Friends" or "Everybody Loves Raymond" through the cubicle farm. You know, "-and then Chandler said" conversations. This has got to be illegal, if only on infliction of emoptional distress. I'd buy anything that would stop these pirates.

    --
    /* No Comment */
  82. Get your hip waders out by Nonillion · · Score: 1

    This shit is getting really old, I guess I better quit having freinds over to watch movies. Or have my neighbors put up blinds on their windows so I can't see their tv from accross the street. And as one /.er put it "what about rabbits?" Do you really beleive that people are going to go through that much trouble to redistribute this stuff????

    It's getting really deep out here, I liken this to charging a grunt of murder in wartime or handing speeding tickets at the indy 500..

    rm -r windows

    --
    "I bow to no man" - Riddick
  83. copyright law link by geekoid · · Score: 3, Troll

    the law

    here it is (a)1 is of particular interest:
    Sec. 111. - Limitations on exclusive rights: Secondary transmissions

    (a) Certain Secondary Transmissions Exempted. -

    The secondary transmission of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission is not an infringement of copyright if -

    (1)

    the secondary transmission is not made by a cable system, and consists entirely of the relaying, by the management of a hotel, apartment house, or similar establishment, of signals transmitted by a broadcast station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, within the local service area of such station, to the private lodgings of guests or residents of such establishment, and no direct charge is made to see or hear the secondary transmission; or

    (2)

    the secondary transmission is made solely for the purpose and under the conditions specified by clause (2) of section 110; or

    (3)

    the secondary transmission is made by any carrier who has no direct or indirect control over the content or selection of the primary transmission or over the particular recipients of the secondary transmission, and whose activities with respect to the secondary transmission consist solely of providing wires, cables, or other communications channels for the use of others: Provided, That the provisions of this clause extend only to the activities of said carrier with respect to secondary transmissions and do not exempt from liability the activities of others with respect to their own primary or secondary transmissions;

    (4)

    the secondary transmission is made by a satellite carrier for private home viewing pursuant to a statutory license under section 119; or

    (5)

    the secondary transmission is not made by a cable system but is made by a governmental body, or other nonprofit organization, without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage, and without charge to the recipients of the secondary transmission other than assessments necessary to defray the actual and reasonable costs of maintaining and operating the secondary transmission service.

    (b) Secondary Transmission of Primary Transmission to Controlled Group. -

    Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) and (c), the secondary transmission to the public of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission is actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and 509, if the primary transmission is not made for reception by the public at large but is controlled and limited to reception by particular members of the public: Provided, however, That such secondary transmission is not actionable as an act of infringement if -

    (1)

    the primary transmission is made by a broadcast station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission; and

    (2)

    the carriage of the signals comprising the secondary transmission is required under the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission; and

    (3)

    the signal of the primary transmitter is not altered or changed in any way by the secondary transmitter.

    (c) Secondary Transmissions by Cable Systems. -

    (1)

    Subject to the provisions of clauses (2), (3), and (4) of this subsection and section 114(d), secondary transmissions to the public by a cable system of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission made by a broadcast station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission or by an appropriate governmental authority of Canada or Mexico shall be subject to statutory licensing upon compliance with the requirements of subsection (d) where the carriage of the signals comprising the secondary transmission is permissible under the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission.

    (2)

    Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (1) of this subsection, the willful or repeated secondary transmission to the public by a cable system of a primary transmission made by a broadcast station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission or by an appropriate governmental authority of Canada or Mexico and embodying a performance or display of a work is actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and 509, in the following cases:

    (A)

    where the carriage of the signals comprising the secondary transmission is not permissible under the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission; or

    (B)

    where the cable system has not deposited the statement of account and royalty fee required by subsection (d).

    (3)

    Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (1) of this subsection and subject to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section, the secondary transmission to the public by a cable system of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission made by a broadcast station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission or by an appropriate governmental authority of Canada or Mexico is actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and sections 509 and 510, if the content of the particular program in which the performance or display is embodied, or any commercial advertising or station announcements transmitted by the primary transmitter during, or immediately before or after, the transmission of such program, is in any way willfully altered by the cable system through changes, deletions, or additions, except for the alteration, deletion, or substitution of commercial advertisements performed by those engaged in television commercial advertising market research: Provided, That the research company has obtained the prior consent of the advertiser who has purchased the original commercial advertisement, the television station broadcasting that commercial advertisement, and the cable system performing the secondary transmission: And provided further, That such commercial alteration, deletion, or substitution is not performed for the purpose of deriving income from the sale of that commercial time.

    (4)

    Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (1) of this subsection, the secondary transmission to the public by a cable system of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission made by a broadcast station licensed by an appropriate governmental authority of Canada or Mexico is actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and section 509, if

    (A)

    with respect to Canadian signals, the community of the cable system is located more than 150 miles from the United States-Canadian border and is also located south of the forty-second parallel of latitude, or

    (B)

    with respect to Mexican signals, the secondary transmission is made by a cable system which received the primary transmission by means other than direct interception of a free space radio wave emitted by such broadcast television station, unless prior to April 15, 1976, such cable system was actually carrying, or was specifically authorized to carry, the signal of such foreign station on the system pursuant to the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission.

    (d) Statutory License for Secondary Transmissions by Cable Systems. -

    (1)

    A cable system whose secondary transmissions have been subject to statutory licensing under subsection (c) shall, on a semiannual basis, deposit with the Register of Copyrights, in accordance with requirements that the Register shall prescribe by regulation -

    (A)

    a statement of account, covering the six months next preceding, specifying the number of channels on which the cable system made secondary transmissions to its subscribers, the names and locations of all primary transmitters whose transmissions were further transmitted by the cable system, the total number of subscribers, the gross amounts paid to the cable system for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters, and such other data as the Register of Copyrights may from time to time prescribe by regulation. In determining the total number of subscribers and the gross amounts paid to the cable system for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters, the system shall not include subscribers and amounts collected from subscribers receiving secondary transmissions for private home viewing pursuant to section 119. Such statement shall also include a special statement of account covering any nonnetwork television programming that was carried by the cable system in whole or in part beyond the local service area of the primary transmitter, under rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission permitting the substitution or addition of signals under certain circumstances, together with logs showing the times, dates, stations, and programs involved in such substituted or added carriage; and

    (B)

    except in the case of a cable system whose royalty is specified in subclause (C) or (D), a total royalty fee for the period covered by the statement, computed on the basis of specified percentages of the gross receipts from subscribers to the cable service during said period for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters, as follows:

    (i)

    0.675 of 1 per centum of such gross receipts for the privilege of further transmitting any nonnetwork programming of a primary transmitter in whole or in part beyond the local service area of such primary transmitter, such amount to be applied against the fee, if any, payable pursuant to paragraphs (ii) through (iv);

    (ii)

    0.675 of 1 per centum of such gross receipts for the first distant signal equivalent;

    (iii)

    0.425 of 1 per centum of such gross receipts for each of the second, third, and fourth distant signal equivalents;

    (iv)

    0.2 of 1 per centum of such gross receipts for the fifth distant signal equivalent and each additional distant signal equivalent thereafter; and in computing the amounts payable under paragraphs (ii) through (iv), above, any fraction of a distant signal equivalent shall be computed at its fractional value and, in the case of any cable system located partly within and partly without the local service area of a primary transmitter, gross receipts shall be limited to those gross receipts derived from subscribers located without the local service area of such primary transmitter; and

    (C)

    if the actual gross receipts paid by subscribers to a cable system for the period covered by the statement for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters total $80,000 or less, gross receipts of the cable system for the purpose of this subclause shall be computed by subtracting from such actual gross receipts the amount by which $80,000 exceeds such actual gross receipts, except that in no case shall a cable system's gross receipts be reduced to less than $3,000. The royalty fee payable under this subclause shall be 0.5 of 1 per centum, regardless of the number of distant signal equivalents, if any; and

    (D)

    if the actual gross receipts paid by subscribers to a cable system for the period covered by the statement, for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters, are more than $80,000 but less than $160,000, the royalty fee payable under this subclause shall be

    (i)

    0.5 of 1 per centum of any gross receipts up to $80,000; and

    (ii)

    1 per centum of any gross receipts in excess of $80,000 but less than $160,000, regardless of the number of distant signal equivalents, if any.

    (2)

    The Register of Copyrights shall receive all fees deposited under this section and, after deducting the reasonable costs incurred by the Copyright Office under this section, shall deposit the balance in the Treasury of the United States, in such manner as the Secretary of the Treasury directs. All funds held by the Secretary of the Treasury shall be invested in interest-bearing United States securities for later distribution with interest by the Librarian of Congress in the event no controversy over distribution exists, or by a copyright arbitration royalty panel in the event a controversy over such distribution exists.

    (3)

    The royalty fees thus deposited shall, in accordance with the procedures provided by clause (4), be distributed to those among the following copyright owners who claim that their works were the subject of secondary transmissions by cable systems during the relevant semiannual period:

    (A)

    any such owner whose work was included in a secondary transmission made by a cable system of a nonnetwork television program in whole or in part beyond the local service area of the primary transmitter; and

    (B)

    any such owner whose work was included in a secondary transmission identified in a special statement of account deposited under clause (1)(A);

    (C)

    any such owner whose work was included in nonnetwork programming consisting exclusively of aural signals carried by a cable system in whole or in part beyond the local service area of the primary transmitter of such programs.

    (4)

    The royalty fees thus deposited shall be distributed in accordance with the following procedures:

    (A)

    During the month of July in each year, every person claiming to be entitled to statutory license fees for secondary transmissions shall file a claim with the Librarian of Congress, in accordance with requirements that the Librarian of Congress shall prescribe by regulation. Notwithstanding any provisions of the antitrust laws, for purposes of this clause any claimants may agree among themselves as to the proportionate division of statutory licensing fees among them, may lump their claims together and file them jointly or as a single claim, or may designate a common agent to receive payment on their behalf.

    (B)

    After the first day of August of each year, the Librarian of Congress shall, upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, determine whether there exists a controversy concerning the distribution of royalty fees. If the Librarian determines that no such controversy exists, the Librarian shall, after deducting reasonable administrative costs under this section, distribute such fees to the copyright owners entitled to such fees, or to their designated agents. If the Librarian finds the existence of a controversy, the Librarian shall, pursuant to chapter 8 of this title, convene a copyright arbitration royalty panel to determine the distribution of royalty fees.

    (C)

    During the pendency of any proceeding under this subsection, the Librarian of Congress shall withhold from distribution an amount sufficient to satisfy all claims with respect to which a controversy exists, but shall have discretion to proceed to distribute any amounts that are not in controversy.

    (e) Nonsimultaneous Secondary Transmissions by Cable Systems. -

    (1)

    Notwithstanding those provisions of the second paragraph of subsection (f) relating to nonsimultaneous secondary transmissions by a cable system, any such transmissions are actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and are fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and sections 509 and 510, unless -

    (A)

    the program on the videotape is transmitted no more than one time to the cable system's subscribers; and

    (B)

    the copyrighted program, episode, or motion picture videotape, including the commercials contained within such program, episode, or picture, is transmitted without deletion or editing; and

    (C)

    an owner or officer of the cable system

    (i)

    prevents the duplication of the videotape while in the possession of the system,

    (ii)

    prevents unauthorized duplication while in the possession of the facility making the videotape for the system if the system owns or controls the facility, or takes reasonable precautions to prevent such duplication if it does not own or control the facility,

    (iii)

    takes adequate precautions to prevent duplication while the tape is being transported, and

    (iv)

    subject to clause (2), erases or destroys, or causes the erasure or destruction of, the videotape; and

    (D)

    within forty-five days after the end of each calendar quarter, an owner or officer of the cable system executes an affidavit attesting

    (i)

    to the steps and precautions taken to prevent duplication of the videotape, and

    (ii)

    subject to clause (2), to the erasure or destruction of all videotapes made or used during such quarter; and

    (E)

    such owner or officer places or causes each such affidavit, and affidavits received pursuant to clause (2)(C), to be placed in a file, open to public inspection, at such system's main office in the community where the transmission is made or in the nearest community where such system maintains an office; and

    (F)

    the nonsimultaneous transmission is one that the cable system would be authorized to transmit under the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission in effect at the time of the nonsimultaneous transmission if the transmission had been made simultaneously, except that this subclause shall not apply to inadvertent or accidental transmissions.

    (2)

    If a cable system transfers to any person a videotape of a program nonsimultaneously transmitted by it, such transfer is actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and 509, except that, pursuant to a written, nonprofit contract providing for the equitable sharing of the costs of such videotape and its transfer, a videotape nonsimultaneously transmitted by it, in accordance with clause (1), may be transferred by one cable system in Alaska to another system in Alaska, by one cable system in Hawaii permitted to make such nonsimultaneous transmissions to another such cable system in Hawaii, or by one cable system in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, to another cable system in any of those three territories, if -

    (A)

    each such contract is available for public inspection in the offices of the cable systems involved, and a copy of such contract is filed, within thirty days after such contract is entered into, with the Copyright Office (which Office shall make each such contract available for public inspection); and

    (B)

    the cable system to which the videotape is transferred complies with clause (1)(A), (B), (C)(i), (iii), and (iv), and (D) through (F); and

    (C)

    such system provides a copy of the affidavit required to be made in accordance with clause (1)(D) to each cable system making a previous nonsimultaneous transmission of the same videotape.

    (3)

    This subsection shall not be construed to supersede the exclusivity protection provisions of any existing agreement, or any such agreement hereafter entered into, between a cable system and a television broadcast station in the area in which the cable system is located, or a network with which such station is affiliated.

    (4)

    As used in this subsection, the term ''videotape'', and each of its variant forms, means the reproduction of the images and sounds of a program or programs broadcast by a television broadcast station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as tapes or films, in which the reproduction is embodied.

    (f) Definitions. -

    As used in this section, the following terms and their variant forms mean the following:

    A ''primary transmission'' is a transmission made to the public by the transmitting facility whose signals are being received and further transmitted by the secondary transmission service, regardless of where or when the performance or display was first transmitted.

    A ''secondary transmission'' is the further transmitting of a primary transmission simultaneously with the primary transmission, or nonsimultaneously with the primary transmission if by a ''cable system'' not located in whole or in part within the boundary of the forty-eight contiguous States, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico: Provided, however, That a nonsimultaneous further transmission by a cable system located in Hawaii of a primary transmission shall be deemed to be a secondary transmission if the carriage of the television broadcast signal comprising such further transmission is permissible under the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission.

    A ''cable system'' is a facility, located in any State, Territory, Trust Territory, or Possession, that in whole or in part receives signals transmitted or programs broadcast by one or more television broadcast stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, and makes secondary transmissions of such signals or programs by wires, cables, microwave, or other communications channels to subscribing members of the public who pay for such service. For purposes of determining the royalty fee under subsection (d)(1), two or more cable systems in contiguous communities under common ownership or control or operating from one headend shall be considered as one system.

    The ''local service area of a primary transmitter'', in the case of a television broadcast station, comprises the area in which such station is entitled to insist upon its signal being retransmitted by a cable system pursuant to the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on April 15, 1976, or such station's television market as defined in section 76.55(e) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on September 18, 1993), or any modifications to such television market made, on or after September 18, 1993, pursuant to section 76.55(e) or 76.59 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or in the case of a television broadcast station licensed by an appropriate governmental authority of Canada or Mexico, the area in which it would be entitled to insist upon its signal being retransmitted if it were a television broadcast station subject to such rules, regulations, and authorizations. In the case of a low power television station, as defined by the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission, the ''local service area of a primary transmitter'' comprises the area within 35 miles of the transmitter site, except that in the case of such a station located in a standard metropolitan statistical area which has one of the 50 largest populations of all standard metropolitan statistical areas (based on the 1980 decennial census of population taken by the Secretary of Commerce), the number of miles shall be 20 miles. The ''local service area of a primary transmitter'', in the case of a radio broadcast station, comprises the primary service area of such station, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission.

    A ''distant signal equivalent'' is the value assigned to the secondary transmission of any nonnetwork television programming carried by a cable system in whole or in part beyond the local service area of the primary transmitter of such programming. It is computed by assigning a value of one to each independent station and a value of one-quarter to each network station and noncommercial educational station for the nonnetwork programming so carried pursuant to the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission. The foregoing values for independent, network, and noncommercial educational stations are subject, however, to the following exceptions and limitations. Where the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission require a cable system to omit the further transmission of a particular program and such rules and regulations also permit the substitution of another program embodying a performance or display of a work in place of the omitted transmission, or where such rules and regulations in effect on the date of enactment of this Act permit a cable system, at its election, to effect such deletion and substitution of a nonlive program or to carry additional programs not transmitted by primary transmitters within whose local service area the cable system is located, no value shall be assigned for the substituted or additional program; where the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on the date of enactment of this Act permit a cable system, at its election, to omit the further transmission of a particular program and such rules, regulations, or authorizations also permit the substitution of another program embodying a performance or display of a work in place of the omitted transmission, the value assigned for the substituted or additional program shall be, in the case of a live program, the value of one full distant signal equivalent multiplied by a fraction that has as its numerator the number of days in the year in which such substitution occurs and as its denominator the number of days in the year. In the case of a station carried pursuant to the late-night or specialty programming rules of the Federal Communications Commission, or a station carried on a part-time basis where full-time carriage is not possible because the cable system lacks the activated channel capacity to retransmit on a full-time basis all signals which it is authorized to carry, the values for independent, network, and noncommercial educational stations set forth above, as the case may be, shall be multiplied by a fraction which is equal to the ratio of the broadcast hours of such station carried by the cable system to the total broadcast hours of the station.

    A ''network station'' is a television broadcast station that is owned or operated by, or affiliated with, one or more of the television networks in the United States providing nationwide transmissions, and that transmits a substantial part of the programming supplied by such networks for a substantial part of that station's typical broadcast day.

    An ''independent station'' is a commercial television broadcast station other than a network station.

    A ''noncommercial educational station'' is a television station that is a noncommercial educational broadcast station as defined in section 397 of title 47

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:copyright law link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know what would have made this comment interesting? A *comment*. Some analysis. Anything, in addition to the law.

    2. Re:copyright law link by kurowski · · Score: 1

      gosh, this comment would've been great if it only had a link to the original source.

      oh, wait. it did.

      so, the point of pasting in the entire text of the linked page was...?

      no no no, i mean other than filling up my screen with pages of redundant content that gets in the way of my reading of the interesting and insightful comments posted before and after this one.

  84. Re:US president just made a complete fool of himse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Nah.

    It's:

    Jackie Kennedy
    Hillary Clinton (dyke)
    Laura Bush (bi)

  85. 4 prongs by wiredog · · Score: 2

    The 4 prong plug is what was used before the rj-45(I think...) came out. You can get converters at Radio Shack to allow that type of plug to work in a modern system.

    1. Re:4 prongs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      phone plugs are called rj-11
      its like rj-45 but instead of 8 wires it has 6

  86. Different take by M_Talon · · Score: 2

    Ok, I'm all for fair use rights (if you couldn't tell by the sig and the link), but I'm looking at this in a different light. I don't see this as squashing fair use. Encrypting means the PPV that I paid for and I'm broadcasting within my house can't be swiped by the dude next door who sets a receiver close enough to his outside wall. My set of devices are all keyed to a certain encryption, so I can watch what I want anywhere I want in the house, but nobody can intercept it. That actually protects my rights, most specifically privacy.

    This also keeps people from setting up "pirate" TV stations and such to broadcast the latest boxing match (*cough*fixed*cough*) to everyone on the block. I admit that might be a flawed reason because of FCC and whatnot, but I'm trying to demonstrate the logic here. This doesn't seem so much like a "copy-protect" as a "transmission-protect" method.

    It's worth following, though :)

    --
    Electronic Frontier Foundation for online civil rights information
    1. Re:Different take by M_Talon · · Score: 2

      Hate replying to myself, but clarification here after a second read. This part does bother me (in relation to the "Thomson Multimedia's proposed SmartRight copy protection"):

      Content owners, for example, can start charging consumers every time their digital content is re-distributed within the home, or viewed several times during a certain number of days specified by them.

      Um, can we say DivX? That scheme will surely fail just like DivX did (and the way the "official" digital music sites are). People don't like to pay for what they feel they already have.

      Better idea...have us pay for the equipment and then let it be done. Charging for retransmission means your equipment won't be bought, and no money. Even the marketdroids should understand that concept.

      I don't give SmartRight two years lifespan on the market, if it even makes it to market.

      --
      Electronic Frontier Foundation for online civil rights information
  87. MOD UP, not a troll, funny! by CoffeeJedi · · Score: 1

    not only was it funny AND on-topic, it also is a simpson's reference! (rebroadcasting major league baseball), the moderators have their heads up their asses today apparently (this is the second funny ontopic post i've seen incorrectly labeled as Troll today)

    --
    May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
  88. What are you hiding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why do you think the government would even care about what's going over your wireless LAN? There are real criminals out there that keep their hands full; get a grip and read your local police blotter sometime.

  89. Re:US president just made a complete fool of himse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Cut out the shrub and you're onto something.

    Laura Bush as a dominatrix and a submissive black maid...

  90. Theft of Functionality by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Every time "rights management" technology is discussed, it seems to include a rather large number of functionality issues. This particular article touches (briefly) on performance hits for the various schemes presented. As if theft of consumer fair use rights isn't enough.

    It seems that the only way consumers in the future will have freedom to use the content they have paid for (think of it as media functionality) is to turn to pirated works. And once they have put forward the effort and expense to track down a suitable pirated work, one has to wonder how often the consumer will feel like bothering to purchase the legitimate product for that added bit of moral highground.

    Content owners seem deturmined to shoot themselves in the foot. And its the various technology companies, and their sales/marketing team, that are assuring the industry of an oportunity ("them's feet are good eatin'") and selling the shotguns.

  91. Re:US president just made a complete fool of himse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Hillary Clinton (dyke)

    i admit there are plenty of rumours but... only the secret service knows. i'd appreciate a first lady who would admit she likes women too.

  92. Wrong spin... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They have to say it the way the do to get content providers on their side, but it's really about your privacy. See, if they 'control content access' with an encryption and verification scheme, it keeps your neighbors from knowing you're watching porn and just what type you are watching.

    So, they really are working in your interests, they just can't SAY that or they might hve problems with 'moral majority' types that want to spy, pry, and out folks.

  93. Multiple Sets... by ackthpt · · Score: 2
    IIRC cable companies charged per set, though many people put in their own splitters (which the cable companies frowned on, to the point of field techs chopping the extra wires or worse.)

    I presume there's a way for Philips to collect a fee for this or both them and the cable provider.

    For the most part I don't watch much TV anymore, particularly since losing first ABC then WB (and winding up with 2*NBC) in my market, but this is probably in reality a minefield. I have doubts about whether it'll come to pass, like 50% of what I've seen at CES of the past.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  94. DRM and advertising by DeepDarkSky · · Score: 2

    It seems that with all the DRM - advertising and content sponsorship will be at odds with the content providers - or is it that instead of getting advertisers to pay for our consumption of content, we are now going to pay for it ourselves?

    Doesn't it seem like content rights holders are going to go head to head with the content distributors?

    Advertisers want their advertisements to be seen by as many people as possible. Content distributors (TV networks) rely on advertising to pay for the content. DRM generally (though not always, I suppose) want the consumers to pay for the content. Why should we, as consumers, start paying for so much content when advertisers used to always pay for them for us?

  95. A good compromise? by secondsun · · Score: 1

    I would not be horridly opposed to this, if I (read consumers) benefit. A good solution to this would be for Phillips to make its own wireless home theater network system and make it good and make it cheap.
    Here is my idea.
    The system is basically a wireless network with the PC being the "hub". At each TV you have a Video in box with a wireless NiC in it. You hit record on the box set and it sends the signal to your computer, compresses, and saves it. (On the PC). Then you can go to another room (with a TV and a box) and play the show you recorded from the other TV. The media would be streamed off of th PC to the box and on the TV. And for DRM? Only the signal from and to the PC would be encrypted. The key would be randomly generated at each broadcast.

    So we have fair use preserved ( you get to record and watch your TV unlimited times), and the Industry has its signal protected from someone hooking up the PC to a booster station and rebroadcasting the signal.

    Of course, this would have to be an easier and cheaper method than using a current VCR/DVR system.

    Reply to this and tell me what you guys think and what you would like to see changed/added.
    Secondsun

    --
    There is nothing wrong with being gay. It's getting caught where the trouble lies.
  96. That would be RJ-11... by maynard · · Score: 1

    The RJ-45 is an eight cable (four pair) connector most often used for TP Ethernet, while RJ-11 is a four cable (two pair) connector most often used for telephone cables.

    I remember the older four prong connecter of which the previous poster refers... in a hazy '70s childhood memory. He's right about the phone company testing line voltages for multiple ringers too -- AT&T and the Bells really were an obnoxious monopoly and we're better off after the breakup. JMO.

    Cheers,
    --Maynard

  97. Preventing piracy? by Graff · · Score: 2

    I must admit, I find myself in a quandary.

    On one hand I love technology and the ways it frees me to do what I want with what I have. I can rip CDs to mp3s and listen to them on my iPod or computer without lugging around tons of discs. I love short movie files of stuff I can find on the internet, like movie trailers. I love the fact that I can record TV shows to a hard drive or a DVD to play back later. I have a lot of fun playing the latest games, but I hate to have to jump through hoops to play them when they require passwords and other forms of protection.

    On the other hand I hate the abuses these technologies open up. I firmly believe that artists, songwriters, performers, and programmers should get paid for their hard work. I have no problems with companies charging for a good product. The problem is that all of the things I like about technology can be used to subvert the process of compensating all of these people for their work. Eventually piracy can lead us down the road to crippling the free movement of data and the ease-of-use that comes with it.

    So my question is how do we balance things? How can we ensure that the Fair-Use laws are upheld, yet still prevent the pirates from having free reign? Can a balance be struck between fair compensation and freedom to use a product? Does anyone here have any ideas that don't go to the one extreme of no protection of copyright or the other extreme of total lock-down of data?

    1. Re:Preventing piracy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact that copyright protects against commercial competition (or requires commercial competitors to pay a compulsory license fee) is already a major concession from the public to content vendors.

      Even if we were to outlaw all copy protection and legalize all non-commercial copying (of any scale) tomorrow, that would still be true. And copyrights already enjoyed substantial legal protection BEFORE the unConstitutional DMCA. To portray "no copy protection" as an "extreme" that means "no copyright protection" is inaccurate.

    2. Re:Preventing piracy? by tkrotchko · · Score: 1

      This is true. Copyrights are a statutory right, not a common law right.

      On the other hand, I think the RIAA and MPAA should be allowed to copy-protect their works.

      I just don't understand why the FBI is now the enforcement arm for what is a civil and not a criminal violation of law.

      It doesn't pass the smell test from a reasonable person.

      --
      You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
  98. What's Next? by Perlguy · · Score: 1

    Next the "media companies" will be pushing to have us all use "approved" wiring to connect from our DVD players to our TVs.

    This whole digital "rights" crap has gotten so out of hand it isn't even funny.

    We need to find a collaborative way to EFFECTIVELY let these idiots at these large companies know that we are not going to stand by while they slowly chip away at our rights...

    Grrrr.....

    --
    -- Windows security? Sure, which ONE would you like? -me
  99. I'm not clear on the problem they think they have. by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Hmm... so let me see if I understand this. If I take my computer, rip all my DVD's to DivX, then get a wireless card, anybody close enough to me in my apartment complex can potentially watch those movies.

    Okay, fair enough. Given the range of 802.11, I think maybe 6 people are close enough they'd get a decent signal. Which is fine because I think I wouldn't be able to handle much more than that since a dvd rip is roughly 1 megabit.

    For this to happen, all 6 of my neighbors would have to not only have computers (I think 2 of my neighbors have computers), wireless cards, and I'd have to talk to each one to give them information on how to hit my computer to get the info.

    I just don't see this happening. First off, with all the neighbors I've had in the past, I can only think of one that'd actually even try it, let alone rely on it.

    Secondly, I'm the only guy I know that has a computer permanently hooked up to a television. (gotta put my demo reel on VHS somehow!) I can't imagine any of my neighbors watching a movie on anything but their television.

    Third, for all the trouble this would take, I'd have better luck just sending them the movie over ICQ than by trying to get all this wireless bs worked out. As bandwidth improves, wireless as way to transmit it is even less interesting.

    I think wireless networks will take off, but I have trouble seeing people sharing their networks to other people. Who'd want to? I'd be afraid of security issues. I don't want my neighbor finding a way into my computer and reading my torrid emails to my girlfriend.

    I think the industry is solving the wrong problem. Instead of trying to encrypt very specific files over 802.11, how about trying to figure out how to make money on this. Check out http://www.intertainer.tv for an example. You pay them $4, and you can watch a full length movie immediately. That's a better service than I'd ever care to provide, and they can make money on it.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  100. Everything must be devoured or destroyed. by Alsee · · Score: 2

    copy protection and digital rights management over the wirelessly connected home has gained "a sense of urgency,"

    Even if you accept the most extreme position on protecting IP, there is absolutely no legitimate interest in people moving content from one place to another within the home.

    The only reason it has "gained a sense of urgency" is that it would be required for a universal end-to-end iron-fisted lockdown on everything.

    Digital Rights Management is an embodyment of the worst possible authoritarian regime. It MUST have total control of everything. Anything not under total lockdown is a potential leak that threatends to bring it crashing down. Everything must be devoured or destroyed.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  101. You know by DAldredge · · Score: 2

    I would agree with you that "pro-recreational drug use " in your own home should be illegal IF the following was true.

    1: If you leave your house while high, you are put in a work detail for 2 weeks (doubleing every time you do this)

    2: If, for any reason, you HARM anyone (wife, husband, child, pet, other human) while under the effects of drugs you are executed.

    3: If you cause ANY disturbance while high you have to pay a large fine (> $5,000 USD)

    1. Re:You know by Danse · · Score: 1

      Amen! And those same rules should be applied to doing any of the above while: drunk, horny, or stupid. That should keep the majority of people in their homes at all times. Of course how often have you heard of anyone doing something violent after smoking a few bowls?

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    2. Re:You know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      If you... If you... If you...

      Nazis, I hate those guys.

    3. Re:You know by Catbeller · · Score: 2

      Should everyone who has a beer be put on a work detail for two weeks?

      Should you be executed for fighting while drunk? If so, exactly how many teenagers would make it past the age of 17?

      Should you pay a >$5000US file for getting drunk in any way and showing up in public and "disturbing" someone? Would the fact that you may disturb someone just by being drunk make you eligible for the police to confiscate your home?

      Remember, if you don't pay the fine, you go to jail, AND get all your stuff taken away, AND you lose your job, AND in some states can never vote again, AND if you try to run away from jail they will indeed shoot you in the back and kill you. Your blood will be spurting between your shaking fingers as you die, and your last thought will be the words of some poster saying you should be executed for being drunk...

      Isn't all this insane?? Hows does marijuana inspire such madness in the American mind? There is no thinking, just reactionary nonsense that destroys millions of people's lives.

      The productivity and lifetime lost due to such breathtakingly mindless laws must be measured in hundreds of thousands of man-years and a good fraction of a trillion dollars. Not to mention the loss of respect for the law, due to the fact, and it is a fact, that marijuana is ridiculously harmless, and sober and respectible people make up laws to annihilate people who use it, for no reason discernable to anyone. All fear, all legends, all unprovable... just jails, laws, and more jails.

      When alchohol is freely available, kills and injures millions, and for some reason we have adapted our culture to it with little comment. Because its America's Drug, and God help anyone who takes it away.

      I'm sorry, but mindlessness on this scale is a horror.

    4. Re:You know by steelrecluse · · Score: 1

      Should everyone who has a beer be put on a work detail for two weeks?
      >>
      Should you be executed for fighting while drunk? If so, exactly how many teenagers would make it past the age of 17?

      Should you pay a >$5000US file for getting drunk in any way and showing up in public and "disturbing" someone? Would the fact that you may disturb someone just by being drunk make you eligible for the police to confiscate your home?
      >>

      Actually yes, it'd be great to extend the drug policy to include alcohol but given our cultural norms society wouldn't currently allow it. But lets not make the situation worse by legalizing other drugs.
      The current status quo is better than nothing.

  102. heh... by Danse · · Score: 1

    Tell that to the DMCA.

    --
    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    1. Re:heh... by swillden · · Score: 2

      How does one talk to a law?

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    2. Re:heh... by Danse · · Score: 2

      You just walk right up to it and start talking. Be warned, however, that it's about as effective as speaking to a congresscritter if you aren't handing them a big bag of money.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  103. TV sets DO cost $3000 or more... by Svartalf · · Score: 2

    The digital variety go for some $3000 and go up from there. It's part of why they don't have digital TV in the hands of the masses- it's not lack of ability to mass produce them, it's a lack of desire to put content out that they can't control 100% because someone could make a digital copy of the feed. Since there's not that many digital stations out there right now, the makers aren't ramping up production so the units for sale out there are limited production units and therefore expensive as all get-out.

    When the content providers start realizing that most of this is like worrying about locking up excrement in a fire safe, perhaps they'll lighten up and realize like they did with videotapes that it's better to sell the tapes cheap- in this case, they'll make a hell of a lot more money if they killed region coding and made DVDs mostly priced at $10-20 like most videotapes (I don't care what "added value" they're putting in the DVDs- it's NOT worth a 50-100% increase in the price in most cases...).

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  104. Let's skip all these little steps. by scott1853 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ya know, I don't think we'd need to worry about the government implementing the Matrix, it's going to be the RIAA and MPAA, and Microsoft.

    Why the hell would they think it's cost effective to prevent somebodies next door neighboor from grabbing a signal for some WWF pay-per-view event. By spending millions of dollars in man hours and equipment, they're going to protect themselves from the theft of a $7 show, that the thieves probably wouldn't have even watched if they had to pay for it.

    1. Re:Let's skip all these little steps. by slittle · · Score: 1

      Being that they're your neighbours, you can always invite them over, or they can invite themselves over, to watch it..

      --
      Opportunity knocks. Karma hunts you down.
  105. Being drunk... by DAldredge · · Score: 2

    Being drunk is being under the effects of a drug, so the above would apply...

    Next time, please understand what you are responding to before you reply...

    1. Re:Being drunk... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh... Pedancy. The last refuge of the misunderstood lone genius.

    2. Re:Being drunk... by ookla_the_mok · · Score: 0

      that's "pregnancy" you jackass.
      next time use a dickshunary.

  106. Not entirely true by Dot+Com+Drew · · Score: 1

    Most movies that are on dvd do exist in some form of tape, but I rarely see the extra content that is available on a dvd in tape form.

    Example: Just this weekend I watched the new Bukaroo Banzai dvd with some buddies of mine. We watched the movie and just about every special feature except the commentary tracks. I will pretty much bet the farm that you wont be able to find all of that content unless it is from a dvd.

    Granted there are a ton of movies that will probably never see the light of dvd, but I believe that vhs's market share is slipping fast. Most video stores/rentals in my area are at least half dvd now.

    I for one can't wait to see tapes gone and dvd recorders come into power. I really don't mind having to fead it an analog (not drm) signal either because 99% of what I record is from the tv.

    --
    This .sig is .false
  107. But what if you're the company ... by drew_kime · · Score: 2

    ... that won't get to sell you another copy of the DVD, because the one you already own is device-encoded for a computer and you want to play it on a TV?

    --
    Nope, no sig
  108. Pot and violence by curtste · · Score: 1
    Of course how often have you heard of anyone doing something violent after smoking a few bowls? That depends on what you mean by violent. Have you ever seen the results of a 60MPH headon collision? That's pretty violent.
    1. Re:Pot and violence by sufiswirl · · Score: 1

      If the drivers are talking on their goddamn cellphones ignoring the road when the crash occurs, I can only smile.

      And now the thread has come full circle back to wireless transmission.

    2. Re:Pot and violence by Danse · · Score: 1

      People high on marijuana tend to drive slower rather than faster. Drunk people tend to drive faster rather than slower.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  109. Why does this sound like... by cr0sh · · Score: 2

    From the tone of this article, it seems like they want to "up the stakes" and make you buy a copy of a movie PER SET or "rendering device" - ie, DVD player, etc (or at least have the ability to).

    It also sounds like they want to limit (ie, take away) the ability to have a central video source and switchboxes, etc that distribute the signal to one or more TVs (this can be done pretty cheaply and easily today - at one time, it was high end audio/video only - and in some cases, still is I imagine - there probably exist multi-drive multi-DVD changers out there, which can sit in a "media closet", with TVs and special transmitter/ remote systems to allow selection of different movies on different sets - it sounds like they want to gut this market as well!).

    You know something? I think the "consumer" (I hate that word) is out of the loop - it isn't "what the consumer wants" that drives these corporate behemoths toward profits - it is "they will take this, and like it" - and stupidly, the majority of the sheeple do!!! WTF?!

    I am sick of it! SICK OF IT ALL! Damn it, I want what I want - not what they want - f--- that!

    When will all of this end? How long has this been going on? At least since 1995 or 1996 - I am tired of this - I want it over! Give us a corporate controlled totalitarian police state with full surveilance and lock down for all sheeple OR MOVE THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!!!!

    I can't begin to really express the way I feel. I know a lot of you feel the same way - SO WHY AREN'T WE DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT? WHY DO WE JUST SIT HERE AND COMPLAIN? IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN _DO_?

    I swear - this is like some bad dream. Outside, the sun is shining, life goes on, most people are in ignorant bliss - how I wish I could join them. How I wish I could go and buy a DVD player, a pile of DVDs, and not feel a twinge of guilt. I can't do that. I have expressed here before how I feel I am doing a disservice by owning a 19 inch monitor with a SONY Trinitron tube - simply because it is made by SONY. I am tired.

    Tired.

    I suppose I will fight on, though, however I can...

    --
    Reason is the Path to God - Anon
    1. Re:Why does this sound like... by mozilla · · Score: 1

      If you want to change things -

      www.eff.org

  110. Another AC on Crack by nanojath · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Yeah, next thing people will want wireless phones, wireless networks for their computers, they'll be selling wireless doorbells in the damn Hardware stores! This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. There's plenty of FCC approved, consumer bandwidth in the electromagnaetic spectrum for use in very local sgnialling, which is why we can have things like cordless phones, airports, and remote control cars.


    And hah hah, it's all funny, except for this: The computer as digital operator allows us to take all the communications that flow through our homes and do really neat things with them... and these content bastards are going to just screw it all up wanting to sniff every signal I send and impose all sorts of cumbersome rights management bullshit on my gear? Fuck them. I'm sick of these pissant media mobesters content tail wagging the giant, potential filled dog of digital media and communications technology. I'll buy another Phillips product when hell freezes over.

    --

    It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries

    1. Re:Another AC on Crack by buysse · · Score: 2

      Calm down, have some dip.</carlin>

      I think that the "AC on Crack" was attempting to use that literary device commonly known as sarcasm. Perhaps you've heard of it.

      --
      -30-
  111. nobody bought DAT... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    doesn't ANYBODY remember DAT? nobody bought it because it was so loaded with Digital Rights Supression and anti-copy crap. I remember a friend that couldn't get any decks to copy the tape of HIS OWN WEDDING.

  112. Nothing new about this!!! by jlrowe · · Score: 1
    I have been doing this for years. I have my VCR and DVD (ok, the DVD is new) dumping straight into a little transmitter rebroadcasting on channel 27. And every TV in the house can tune 27 in and when content there changes, they all change. It is pretty nice walking through the house and watch the same movie or newscast everywhere.

    I bought the device from a TV shop at least 10 years ago, but I just saw a hobbie electronics magazine in the library with plans to make a similar device. It was the front page cover story.

  113. There actually is a bright side to this... by MsGeek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...maybe this technology might bring a more viable option for encrypting 802.11x traffic. Right now WEP is useless, and unless you encapsulate everything zipping around the network in encrypted tunnels you are fair game for "wardrivers."

    We need a practical means of strong crypto for wireless. If this need coincides with the questionable need for the MPAA and the RIAA and other entities to nickel and dime us every time we look at their precious content that's beside the point.

    The threats to the doctrine of Fair Use need to be addressed. Reasonable Intellectual Property rights (emphasis on REASONABLE) need to be preserved, but so does the doctrine of Fair Use.

    However, a lot of these ideas I've read about in the article sound like great ideas for solving the current wireless (In)security problems.

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
  114. Forcing you to pay for what? by nolife · · Score: 1

    I have come to one simple thought about any story that has anything to do with RIAA, MP3, DCMA, MPAA, IP, first ownership etc....

    Controlling the existing new stream of content is not as bad as controlling WHO can make new content.

    There are thousands of bands in the world, thousands of actors in the world, and thousands of things I can do with my time. What makes Britney Spears better then Jane Doe? What makes Metallica better then Joes garage band? Sylvester Stylone then John Doe? They are not better, they are made "better" by the media companies that promote them and considered popular by the shear volume of times you hear or see them. The problem is with the way technology and mergers are going, it going to be harder and harder for someone to get a critical mass behind them to make it themselves without someone to market them. We are being FORCED to watch and listen to what a few companies feel we need to see. By shear lack of choices and mathematics, someone has to be the most watched. Imagine a local radio station that played nothing but bands that were not signed by anyone. Imagine being able to tune to 2.67 Ghz and listen to a local neighborhood band and news stories. These are the things that we are losing. I could care less if Britney Spears never makes a song again, the result would be another media puppet to replace her.

    First step for the media giants is to control and squash who they are competing with, then to force you to pay them per view for watching or listening to their media. After all, had you a true choice of media, why would you pay per view for theirs? Soon you will not have a choice but this method.

    --
    Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
  115. Guilty before it even happens by da_Den_man · · Score: 1
    The media moguls and the upper echelon seem to be saying "We KNOW that the 'consumer' is going to pirate this stuff" even when it doesn't exist yet. Average Joe consumer is barely aware of the Network card connected to their ADSL line, much less wireless. this is taking on the aspect of "We KNOW what is best" and the standards don't even exist yet.

    Several Points:

    1. Wireless is still in the 'breaking ground' stage. The average consumer won't be using it for at least 5 years.

    2. the motive is not for 'quality control' or bettering the overall output, it is for CONTROLLING and CHARGING (taxation w/o representation?) for something I MAY or MAY not decide to do.

    3. it has nothing to do with how much they lose, but rather how much they HAVEN'T MADE yet. Money, not quality, not content, is the motivator here.

    4. No Government Agent who wants to keep being paid to sit in a chair is going to go against ANY of these initiatives. No POLITICIAN (dirty sounding word isn't it) will want to take the brunt and be accused, not of OPEN SOURCE, of PIRACY and Support of ILLEGAL COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.

    My question is, and will be....what am I paying for? A license to view this while the Corporation ALLOWS me to? Or did I purchase (PURCHASE) a copy that is now in MY hands and MY CONTROL? I saw no EULA when I cracked open my first DVD case....will these become the Norm? Will I be forced to sign a NDA when I go to Best Buy and purchase LOTR on DVD box set, and if I violate that EULA by playing (Heaven forbid) for a group of friends, or on My Computer rather than my Corporate Owned / Controlled DVD-XBox-Internet Appliance device, will the Corporate Copyright Control (CCCP) Police bust in my door and take me to "the Camp" to wash my mind of unclean Corporate thoughts? "If it is a crime to own a DVD/Wireless device, only Criminals will have them"
    --
    You keep going until you die..."Me".
  116. Would that make it "copyprivilege"? by Shimmer · · Score: 1

    Why cannot people grasp that the copyright is a priviledge, not a right?

    Hmm, maybe it's because the word actually contains the letters r-i-g-h-t?

    -- Brian

    --
    The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.
    1. Re:Would that make it "copyprivilege"? by (void*) · · Score: 2

      Will you enter the bathroom labelled "female"? After all, female has got m-a-lee, must be the same!

  117. Yet another reason by ManDude · · Score: 1

    Yet another reason to move to Canada.

    Canadians have enjoyed the rights to simultaneous rebroadcast not just in the home, but to the public, for as long as I can remember. Has a lot to do with our geography and people not wanting to front the money to communicate with rurals. It spills out in the best of ways.

  118. One thing's for sure... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There will be no DRM stuff in my house. If they are not willing to give me what I demand and deserve, they get no business of mine.

  119. That was quick... by KlausBreuer · · Score: 1

    A few days ago, Slashdot praised Philips (with one l ;) for their stance against "copyprotected" CDs.

    Congrats to their PR people, they immediately screwed up again. Guess it's just another faceless corporation after all...

    --
    Free PC version of ChipWits at http://www.breueronline.de/klaus/chipwits/
  120. Yes he did by Archfeld · · Score: 2

    When God spoke to him last night he said it was ok to use any part of the collective works to be known as "the Bible" in any manner that was consistent with the spirit of the work. Final arbitration should be referred to J. Christ & Assoc.

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  121. DRM is mathematically impossible by OeLeWaPpErKe · · Score: 1

    think about it for a split second

    1. you have to give the user the plaintext for it to be useful (otherwise they cannot do ANYTHING with it)
    2. you cannot give the user the plaintext for it to be even remotely secure (even giving them ciphertext is something that should be avoided)

    you can do one of both but obviously it is impossible to do both

    (btw, you do not have to be retransmitting anything, the radiation your tv gives of is more than enough to reconstruct the image in a 100m circle around it IIRC)

    other practical thingies
    -> you cannot avoid giving would-be hackers more than enough material to do whatever analysis they want (record every tv channel for 30 mins for example)
    -> every hacker will know, probably down to the kilobyte in simpler devices, where the key is stored in tmemory
    -> there are a lot of, both commercial and otherwise, incentives to be able to break this
    -> revocation lists don't matter if every device can be broken in a matter of days and if not every single single device has a seperate key will infuriate consumers as they see their access revoced without having done anything.
    -> giving every single device a seperate key requires a complete redesign of every cable network on the planet (as they simply do not have the capacity for 500 encrypted streams (10 channels/user, 50 users/subnet)
    -> you obviously can record the decrypted data, i'd like to see them avoid recording the signal fed to the television tube, which, for obvious reasons, cannot be encrypted
    -> there are already programs that record ms-drm'ed content by simply taking screenshots, and writing such a program is a trivial matter
    -> tracing down decrypting users is possible with steganography, but it will require a VERY well designed system to do it, to the point that even todays best mathematitians haven't been able to do it. (they're trying though, it's possible, albeit unlikely that they will succeed)

  122. Re:Funny Story, probably true by aquisgrana · · Score: 1
    I seem to recall systems where you could only play a hired videotape once...it was to be mechanically interlocked so only the shop could rewind it.

    Obviously a bad idea, since you would not be able to go back to see the bit you missed when the phone rang. So it died the death it richly deserved, as hopefully will some of these modern equivalents.

  123. Re:I'm not clear on the problem they think they ha by geekoid · · Score: 2

    They're looking at the future where most people will have the equipment this will take.
    I do agree that the solution you present is the best, it does mean they might have to compete, and they would want that, would they?
    this is what this boild down to, all the cable companies don't have to compete with each other because they hace exlusive rights to the wire that runs into your home, but with the Internet, anybody can become a content provider, and they can do ot pretty cheaply compared to the cable companies since thay won't havt to lay down the infra-structure... hmmmm I need to speak to a VC.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  124. Notice which company *isn't* incorporating DRM? by jcoleman · · Score: 2
    Apple. Their copyright anti-circumvention efforts can be summed up in on phrase:

    "Don't Steal Music."

    It's on every single iPod/iTunes commercial.

  125. Hot Damn! by nanojath · · Score: 1

    I think we've got ourselves a bumpersticker.

    Run that one, Baby!

    --

    It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries

  126. Capitalism and government two different things? by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 2

    Not for long, at the rate we're going in this country. Voting with your wallet is a good thing, but not if it becomes the ONLY way you can effectively vote.

    --

    Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

  127. We know how this is going to end! by Rolo+Tomasi · · Score: 1

    Like this.

    --
    Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
  128. You got him! by Erris · · Score: 2

    Thanks, I was going to ask him if he thought inviting people into his dorm room was a "major copyright" violation. I'm waiting for Hilary and friends to demand that people watch DVDs on personal headsets, with blinders in dark windowless rooms.

    --
    DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
  129. Re:I'm not clear on the problem they think they ha by NanoGator · · Score: 1

    I agree with you here. What the Music Industry, Movie Industry, the Media, Television Networks, heck... any content provider of any kind needs to realize is that the Internet will *replace* the current distribution methods that are in place right now. One day, we will watch TV that comes through a digital network, all on demand. One day, we will have music we've acquired play anywhere from a central server. One day, we will be able to watch movies on a huge screen at home with at least thater resolution. They can't sue these advances out of existence!

    They're far better off adopting the net while it's in it's infancy instead of trying to heard people away from it. Man... imagine if typewriter companies pulled this kind of crap when the PC was invented.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  130. Yes, indeed by knuth · · Score: 2

    Yes, indeed, it is the same Philips.

    Philips Intellectual Property and Standards, including CD digital audio and the Red Book.

    Philips Semiconductors, the ones who are in a tizzy about wireless "broadcasts" within a home.

  131. It's not that bad by vulgarDPS · · Score: 1

    All they are looking it is setting up encryption for peer to peer conversation within the home. THIS ISNT BAD. I wish they had decent encryption for my wireless network right now. I'm seriously paranoid about getting wireless hacked... mostly because I've done it to other networks in my area. It's a security risk for you at home and coming up with a good encrypted authentication is a damn good idea.

  132. going black by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Thanks for the link, I'm going black myself.

    ..I've heard once you go black, you never go back.

  133. Money-grubbing bastards by tregoweth · · Score: 1

    I get the feeling that the big media companies' dream is a brain implant that blocks input of their product until you pay them. And if you think about their product -- ca-ching.

  134. amazing!!!!!!!! by cyberbob2010 · · Score: 1

    it never ceases to amaze me just how stupid they are [cd-i their early dvd roms, and now this!!!!]

    --
    We seldom regret saying too little but often regret saying too much.
  135. There ought to be a law... by fermi's+ghost · · Score: 1

    This is very necessary legislation. I want SOMETHING so I can go after my 16 year-old neighbor who is re-broadcasting reruns of "Charles in Charge"!

  136. Read 'em and weep by Shimmer · · Score: 1

    Okay then, here's the dictionary definition of "copyright":

    The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.

    -- Brian

    --
    The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.
    1. Re:Read 'em and weep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The key word there is granted; copyright is not a natural right in the way that, say, freedom of speech is.

      The Supreme Court and House of Representatives had this to say on the matter (excerpts from the majority opinion in the Betamax decision):

      The monopoly privileges that Congress may authorize are neither unlimited nor primarily designed to provide a special private benefit. Rather, the limited grant is a means by which an important public purpose may be achieved ...

      "The copyright law, like the patent statutes, makes reward to the owner a secondary consideration. In Fox Film Corp. v. Doyal, 286 U.S. 123, 127, Chief Justice Hughes spoke as follows respecting the copyright monopoly granted by Congress, 'The sole interest of the United States and the primary object in conferring the monopoly lie in the general benefits derived by the public from the labors of authors.' ...

      In its Report accompanying the comprehensive revision of the Copyright Act in 1909, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives explained this balance:

      "The enactment of copyright legislation by Congress under the terms of the Constitution is not based upon any natural right that the author has in his writings, . . . but upon the ground that the welfare of the public will be served and progress of science and useful arts will be promoted by securing to authors for limited periods the exclusive rights to their writings. . . .

      "In enacting a copyright law Congress must consider . . . two questions: First, how much will the legislation stimulate the producer and so benefit the public; and, second, how much will the monopoly granted be detrimental to the public? The granting of such exclusive rights, under the proper terms and conditions, confers a benefit upon the public that outweighs the evils of the temporary monopoly." H. R. Rep. No. 2222, 60th Cong., 2d Sess., 7 (1909).

    2. Re:Read 'em and weep by (void*) · · Score: 2

      There you have it. It's a legal right granted, as opposed to a natural one, like say, human rights. In other words, it is granted, on the condition that the fruits of copyrights benefit society. As opposed to the unconditional one, where withdrawing that right would constitute a crime.

  137. Ease up, I think we read it wrong (I hope) by Datoyminaytah · · Score: 1

    I think the article was not clear on why they would do this. I'm GUESSING that the issue is not me beaming a movie to a TV in my bedroom, but my neighbor in the next apartment intercepting every DVD I play and burning their own copies and/or distributing them all over the internet. That's why the issue is about WIRELESS networking and not "regular" networks.

    Cable companies used to be able to charge you for each TV you had hooked up to cable, then sometime in the 80's (I think) there was a law passed that says they can't do that. Same with telephone. The wires inside your house belong to you. They can charge you for INSTALLATION of additional phones or TVs, and they can charge you "rent" for required "descramblers" etc. but they can't charge you more for hooking up more TVs or phone extensions.

    --
    assert(birth_date<time-86400)
  138. I have done this... by cr0sh · · Score: 2

    ...and while it seems to help a bit, it doesn't seem like the ultimate solution.

    I have this feeling, that if all of the geeks who are against this "stood up" and said "ENOUGH!", it would only be a whisper amongst shouts of the mob of ignorance and apathy that surrounds us.

    Depressing to say the least.

    --
    Reason is the Path to God - Anon
  139. There's a name for this proposal by tkrotchko · · Score: 1

    "...a solution in search of a problem..."

    --
    You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
  140. And after phase two comes... by Spunk · · Score: 1

    Phase 3: Profit!

  141. oops, there goes Phillips kudos by Com2Kid · · Score: 2

    Bolstered support by saying that putting copy protection on CDs was A Bad Thing(tm), lost it (and then some!) by saying that we can't watch a show on more then one TV.

    Not like a CatTV splitter doesn't work just as well anyways. ^_^

    Seriously though, uh, if I am PAYING (currently around $90 a month mind you) to watch something on a cable box, why should I have to pay MORE to move that signal to a nearbye TV? Or hell mabye I just MOVED my TV and I don't want to have to MOVE the cable box as well (especialy if the wires are already stretched to their limits, quality degrades FAST over standard RF/CATTV wires as their length increases, REALLY fast, wireless would probably have less issues anyways).

    Or mabye I just have one of Phillips flat screen TVs (I wish!!!) and I have an obsession with hanging it up in different parts of the room and I do not want to have to rewire my complete A/V center each time I do so.

    Hell, there is an idea for you, wireless A/V boxen that automaticaly configure themselves! That'd save me a ton of trouble, bleh.

  142. Consumer electronics, not so much an issue by dwsauder · · Score: 1
    These companies seem to be just focused on consumer electronics products. Those are the sealed boxes that might be difficult to tap into at all. I don't see any real battles to be fought there, because they are appliances, not computers. Computers are the real, general-purpose devices that present the biggest threat to DRM. As long as we can keep the Big Companies from putting ridiculous restrictions on our computers, we should enjoy a certain amount of digital freedom.

    Some of this stuff really does sound funny, though, doesn't it. Like this one:

    "We are dying to lobby Hollywood studios on this issue," Husson said in an interview here.

    Boy, he'll sure have to lobby long and hard, won't he! Kind of reminds you of the little runt in your third grade class who couldn't wait to tell the teacher on your bad behavior, doesn't it? BTW, why does he need to lobby Hollywood? What does Hollywood have to do with consumer electronics devices? Or the wireless transmission technologies used within a home?

  143. Is that why the prices are going down? by wiresquire · · Score: 1

    I wonder if these guys are getting scared....

    I was looking at how to wirelessly connect a satellite dish to a satellite receiver. Nothing on that, but came across lots of wireless retransmission that seemed to go down in price every week

    None of these are 802.x as far as I could tell. Then again, maybe it was just the xmas/holiday price spikes.

    Disclosure:
    No, i don't work for any of these companies. If i have any financial interest it would only be indirectly through a mutual fund because they are DJIA or S&P.

    --

    So does Anonymous Coward have good karma?

  144. Customer to Phillips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OH F U C K Y O U !

    I will NOT ever buy anything with DRM in it. I will not use anything with DRM in it. I WILL do everything in my power to support methods and ways to crack this useless shit. DMCA be damned!

    I bought it, I'm playin' it, and I'm damn well going to play it on everything I want in the house. If you don't like it - then FUCK YOU.

  145. small pirate broadcast station: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Route signal to broadcast into vcr antenna in jack
    2. Attach vcr antenna out jack to tv antenna.
    3. You are now broadcasting on channel 3.
    4. Wait a few minutes for the FCC van to pull into your driveway...

  146. I love this quote... by Suburban+nmate · · Score: 1

    << It could not only slow down the wireless transmission, but also tax the computing power locally available in digital consumer appliances. >>

    gotta love that word "Tax"! so we pay a tax not only in money but also in power, just to make sure we behave ourselves!

    Ali

    --
    "Windows and Linux can co-exist on the same machine." - Microsoft Corporation.
  147. WRONG again, maynard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    RJ-11 standard use for home telephones (not telco interconnections) are most certainly not two pair. Twisting a signal bus with a respective ground ensures reduction in noise, something that obviously escaped you as the common telephone cable is not paired in any sort of manner. Ah, nothing like making a nice bowl of pretentious know-it-all sysadmin soup.