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The RIAA's Push for an Audio Broadcast Flag

aaronsorkin writes "The Recording Industry Association of America has discovered that digital radio broadcasts can be copied and redistributed over the Internet, and so it is pushing the FCC to adopt an audio broadcast flag, which would likely prevent users from sending copyrighted radio programs over the Internet. But it could also hamstring other legitimate uses by preventing a digital radio program from leaving the device on which it was recorded. The FCC has initiated a notice of inquiry (pdf), typically a step leading to formal rule-making. The public may submit comments to the FCC between June 16 and July 16. A lobbyist friend sent me copies of the private correspondence on the subject between RIAA president Cary Sherman and Consumer Electronics Association president Gary Shapiro, and Cryptome just posted them here (pdf) and here (pdf). Yes, they're legit. Mindjack just posted an article I wrote on the subject titled, 'Will Digital Radio Be Napsterized?'"

94 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. Since when does by The+Analog+Kid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the RIAA control radio programs?

    1. Re:Since when does by riptide_dot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If the FCC lets it dictate their policy, then whenever that happens...

      Until then, Radio content is still regulated by the FCC - an equally biased organization nonetheless...

      --
      I was in the park the other day wondering why frisbees get bigger and bigger the closer they get - and then it hit me.
    2. Re:Since when does by jdunlevy · · Score: 5, Insightful
      he RIAA control radio programs?
      Since they found out they actually can control webcasting. That was a crucial slide down the slippery slop, and the RIAA will see how far down they can push us.
    3. Re:Since when does by CarrionBird · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When they were allowed to become a de-facto part of government. Thank senators WB and Sony and pals.

      --
      Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
    4. Re:Since when does by snyps · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Did you not hear???, the riaa now owns the fcc. and has a joint occupation of the us government along with rockefeller and microsoft.

    5. Re:Since when does by iminplaya · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Until then, Radio content is still regulated by the FCC...

      That in itself is a major problem. The FCC shouldn't be in the content regulation business. Their only business should involve the tech and rules for that tech for the benefit of all, not just their little friends. This whole "evil bit" thing is just to force people to go through them(RI/MPAA) to make their product. It's there lock out or exclude people who won't sign a contract, giving up all their "rights". "Piracy" is a red herring to get the public to go along, and it's working!

      --
      What?
  2. Another useless "feature" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Flags are easily ignored, and if the stream is sent out in-tact it's a non issue anyway. When will they learn?

    1. Re:Another useless "feature" by pragma_x · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Flags are easily ignored, and if the stream is sent out in-tact it's a non issue anyway. When will they learn?

      Yes, it will probably be easy to circumvent, as is true with many other copy protection schemes.

      But what this AC fails to realize here is that by instituting a legitimate 'copy-protection feature' (albeit very flimsy) it serves only as a legal lightning rod for copyright violation lawsuits. Furthermore, it bolsters the media's image of attempting to protect what it has, lest someone contests the issue that it more or less 'looks' like they don't care who violates copyright for radio broadcasts. Also the latter may not be much more of a deterrent, but I'm sure the members of the RIAA have shareholders (not just customers) to think about too.

      Think of it this way: how much easier would it be to circumvent being fined, or contest and reduce those fines, for speeding if the limit wasn't even posted? The RIAA is now just trying to put the signs up.

      IMO, if this goes through, the FCC/RIAA will be able to say that people have 'willfully broken/violated a protection measure' rather than just saying 'they ignored copyright law'. (DMCA anyone?)

    2. Re:Another useless "feature" by snyps · · Score: 3, Funny

      this is very similar to that annoying 35 mph speed limit in the middle of nowhere in whyoming right next to double orange lines as far as the eye can see...

    3. Re:Another useless "feature" by pragma_x · · Score: 2, Funny

      Exactly!

      C'mon, break the law.. we know you already are, only now we have some extra tools at our disposal to kick your ass.

      Meanwhile there's 12 squad cars with radar guns hiding behind that barn on the horizon. Or in case of the RIAA, its a gang of laywers who already have the suits prepared, mad-lib style.

  3. Foolish. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Foolish sums up all of their attempts at putting the genie back in the bottle. RIAA, wake up, the younger generation doesn't think twice about obtaining copies of the music they want, despite what legislation you buy. You can't turn back the clock legally and expect that to cause cultural backpedalling.

    1. Re:Foolish. by stanmann · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Running software that opens up ports and allows people I don't know to read my hard drive makes me pretty wary of sharing anything online...

      The FTP and NNTP networks are still alive and well and until the big ISPs and NSPs start sharing their download logs with the **AAs they are infinitely safer legally as well as practically.

      --
      Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
    2. Re:Foolish. by EpsCylonB · · Score: 2, Funny

      I say we get all George Bush on the RIAA's ass, who's with me ?...

  4. Evil bit... by b.e.n.n.y_b.o.y_1234 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why don't they just set the 'evil' bit?!

    1. Re:Evil bit... by petepac · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...And a Sticky Bit at that.

      --
      >> Practice Safe Hex
    2. Re:Evil bit... by DeltaSigma · · Score: 2, Funny

      Because then any Microsoft OS would crash when the user tuned into a radio station...

      ...

      ...hey! Why don't they just set the evil bit?

  5. easy to bypass by eisenbud · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How lossy is hooking up the line out of your digital radio to your computer's sound input? Obviously you wouldn't want to do that over and over again, but I bet after one iteration of digital to analog to digital you'd still have very good sound quality. So this won't even work terribly well to "prevent piracy".

    1. Re:easy to bypass by forand · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think that the RIAA is trying to just make it harder. They thought that tapes were the end of the world too but in the end they realized that it was just too time consuming to make copies of all your records. They worry about it now if you can make 10k copies in just a few minutes, this bit flag would only be on US electronics and not universal so the problem will still be there just harder for people in the US. Also it will mean that electronics will cost, however slightly, more due to being forced to include analysis of this bit.

      I don't think anyone would care if the RIAA wanted to make all broadcasts have a bit that says it is copyrighted, what makes us mad is that they want to force all the electronics makers to not allow the owner of the electron device to use all aspects of the device on media with this bit set.

    2. Re:easy to bypass by Air-conditioned+cowh · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually a copy-protect feature has been in place since the 70s to prevent people wanting to record off the radio. It's called "dynamic range compression" and it works by deteriating the sound quality so much, it doesn't matter if it's digital, analogue or sonar, it still sounds awfull. Then there's the phase rotation, equalisation and clipping process as well. I don't know what the situation is in the US but in the UK all this compression is _also_ applied to DAB as well as FM, even though it wasn't supposed to be.

      Of course, it also means the radio becomes a pain to listen to also.

      So there you have it. Mess up the sound quality and reduce the playlist down to three songs just for good measure. If that doesn't work then also employ talkative DJs who only play half the record and talk over the other half.

      Really this broadcast flag is for our protection so we don't download songs that are such poor quality on the P2P networks. That would be worse than that "white noise" trick.

    3. Re:easy to bypass by Entropius · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'll answer that question: not very lossy at all. You probably don't want to do it on an onboard sound card, but any decent PCI (or even USB) sound board ($~40) will provide for this purpose perfect recording.

      This is compounded by the fact that radio signals (as someone above pointed out) go through a process called "dynamic range compression", which basically makes the soft bits louder and the loud bits softer. This does a couple of things: 1) it makes setting recording levels for FM recording a snap, since it's all close to the same amplitude, 2) it makes sound card fidelity even less important, since you don't have a huge dynamic range to deal with*, 3) it screws up the quality anyway, so who cares if your card puts a -50 dB noise signal in there?

      (Comment about dynamic range compression: I suppose boosting soft bits of the audio helps to raise the signal-to-noise ratio for weak FM signals--otherwise very soft passages would get lost in static. Even with range compression the local classical station has issues with this.However, wouldn't it be trivial to do the range compression, then broadcast the dynamic shift on a sideband channel? Then the FM receiver could reconstruct the original dynamic from the (compressed) signal and the sideband dynamic indication. That would be the best of both worlds... and would be backwards-compatible since older FM receivers would just get the compressed signal, same as they do now.)

      You're not going to get audiophile-quality sound off an FM broadcast. This isn't the fault of the recording equipment, the radio receiver, or the FM transmission process; it's what they do to the signal before it hits the transmitter. This is a good thing for this purpose though, since it means even crappy hardware doesn't mess up the recording!

      *Some of the most challenging signals to record accurately are those with both very loud and very soft periods. The recording gain has to be set low enough to accomodate the loud passages. Then, the combination of the low gain with the low intrinsic volume of the soft bits makes for a very low signal--which, on bad hardware, can be comparable to the noise floor. But we don't care about this on the radio, since it's *all* loud.

    4. Re:easy to bypass by sentientbeing · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually a copy-protect feature has been in place since the 70s to prevent people wanting to record off the radio. It's called "inane commercial DJ drowning out and talking over the inroduction to a song with verbal diarrhea" and it works by deteriating the sound quality so much, it doesn't matter if it's digital, analogue or sonar, it still sounds awfull

      Of course, it also means the radio becomes a pain to listen to also.

      --

      ------
      beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
  6. Introductions... by Aneurysm9 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Fair use, meet the circular file. Circular file, meet fair use.

    --
    There was Cowboy Neal at the wheel of a bus to never-ever land.
    1. Re:Introductions... by Naikrovek · · Score: 2, Insightful

      why doesn't anyone do anything about these kinds of things? everyone bitches about it but do any of you actually DO ANYTHING to stop it?

      It is very easy to bitch and moan here - in fact it seems to be the fuel that keeps this site going - but those of you that aren't actually making an effort to stop things like this DESERVE the broadcast flag.

      mod me up, down, sideways, whatever. just don't bitch about it unless you do something to stop it.

    2. Re:Introductions... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      why doesn't anyone do anything about these kinds of things? everyone bitches about it but do any of you actually DO ANYTHING to stop it?

      Such as? I'm always seeing people bitching about people bitching about things, but do any of you actually HAVE ANY IDEAS about what we can do to stop it?

      Write to our elected representatives? Sure, great. Please tell me where to find out who my elected representative on the FCC is. Hmm... I don't remember any elections...

      Vote in elections? I do that already, and it doesn't change anything. None of the candidates who know a thing about technical issues has ever had a hope of winning any election I've ever voted in, be it congress, president, or even captain of the local bowls club.

      What other options do I have, other than taking a shotgun down to the RIAA headquarters? Pray enlighten me, O proactive one.

    3. Re:Introductions... by the_mad_poster · · Score: 2, Informative

      When the FCC enforces an audio broadcast flag, and all software has to respect it there will be free speech issues.

      No, there won't be.

      Fair use is a free speech issue...

      No, it's not. Not in this context.

      This is technical legislation that affects the product itself. This is no different than putting a chip in a car that doesn't let you resell or give away the vehicle. It's stupid, but then, you'd have to be a stupid person to buy it. Maybe it's a consumer rights issue and it might also be an abuse of a monopolistic position (assuming that no non-monopoly would ever get away with such crap), but there are no free speech issues involved in damaging your own product. As long as people are clearly made aware it's there before they buy it (right to know what you're buying), it's up to the consumer to determine whether or not they want to purchase it. As a buyer, I would look at such media as an inferior product, and I would not purchase it.

      Back to the "fair use" tripe: no, it's not a fair use issues. If Cary Sherman came over and kicked you in the nuts for making a parody of a song, it's a fair use problem (and aggravated assault, but that's a different issue). If Cary Sherman doesn't let you redistribute exact copies of the original song + parody via technology breakage on the data, well, too bad. Why are you buying faulty products? Also, nothing is stopping you from recreating it yourself in parody. Nothing says that the content provider is OBLIGATED to provide you with an exact copy for the purposes of reuse or parody or anything else.

      It's a broken product, plain and simple. There is not freedom of speech issue, and reactionay statements to that effect just make dissenters of this policy look like babbling fools. I'd really appreciate it if people on Slashdot would pull their heads out of their asses now and then and try to repsond to this sort of thing in a rational, sane manner, because nobdoy is going to listen to this den of lunatics as long as the hive mind moderation continues to reward this sort of nonsensical response and behavior with facetime at +5, Whatever (I'm aware the original poster didn't get modded up).

      --
      Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
  7. Flag by nkh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And the broadcast flag is automatically cleared when the packet leaves american computers? We should tell Cisco to put this new feature in their routers.

    1. Re:Flag by Petronius · · Score: 3, Funny

      The American flag?

      --
      there's no place like ~
  8. Re:NX? by riptide_dot · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I thought that the NX command was being put in to make sure that code could only be executed in certain memory spaces, not to make sure that only certain code could be executed.

    And it requires specific processors and chipsets that support the command.

    My understanding was that it's more for protection of the stability of the OS, not protection of copyrights of software...

    --
    I was in the park the other day wondering why frisbees get bigger and bigger the closer they get - and then it hit me.
  9. Remember DAT? by PeeAitchPee · · Score: 5, Informative

    They did this about 15 years ago with what was the last promising tape-based format, and ended up killing the medium for pretty much everyone but pro audio studios. Wonder how much potential revenue they missed out on w/ that fiasco?

    1. Re:Remember DAT? by ivan256 · · Score: 2, Informative

      DAT cost more because blanks include a compulsory royalty paid to the publishing industry. This kept (even to this day) the cost of DAT media very high. YOu can get a spool of CD-Rs for less than a 90 minute DAT blank. THis is why DAT never became affordable, and never succeeded.

      And look at how well it worked at preventing piracy.... The market chose an unencumbered format.

    2. Re:Remember DAT? by Zirnike · · Score: 2, Insightful
      "ended up killing the medium for pretty much everyone"

      You found the point, I think...

      "Wonder how much potential revenue they missed out on w/ that fiasco?"

      Who are you asking? If you ask the RIAA-types, they'll say that they saved massive amounts of money because it reduced the rampant piracy that DAT would obviously have.

      If you ask anyone with a brain, well, that's a differant answer...

      --
      I'm not shy, I'm stalking my prey
  10. Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by Gothmolly · · Score: 5, Interesting

    where the villains' scheme depended on the "fact" that no matter what type of regulatory and taxation hell the industries were put under, they'd still produce, and this provide power to the very people who were strangling them.

    How long until people just give up and listen to local music? Leave the RIAA to the sheep, and the sheep to the RIAA, and the sheep will get what they deserve. Remember, the only reason that ??AA organizations have any influence is that people buy their stuff. You have two options: buy their stuff, but don't complain, or don't buy their stuff, and try and support alternative markets - local bands, live concerts, low power FM, etc.

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    1. Re:Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by Wylfing · · Score: 5, Informative
      You have two options: buy their stuff, but don't complain, or don't buy their stuff, and try and support alternative markets - local bands, live concerts, low power FM, etc.

      This is undoubtedly what the long term future holds. However, for the next 50 years, if you don't buy their stuff outright, they'll just get a law passed under which the government collects money from you on their behalf. You will pay the RIAA whether you want to or not.

      --
      Our intelligent designer has never created an animal that we couldn't improve by strapping a bomb to it.
    2. Re:Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by tetsuji · · Score: 4, Insightful
      How long until people just give up and listen to local music? Leave the RIAA to the sheep, and the sheep to the RIAA, and the sheep will get what they deserve.

      Too many sheep.

    3. Re:Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by digrieze · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When will they start listening to local music again? Guess what, they already have rocket rangers.

      One of the drivers behind the revival of live music at bars, coffee cafes, and theme restaurants (new orleans jazz, progressive, classic rock, etc.) is the abysmal creativity in writing and talent in performing of the current "MTV clones".

      Seriously, does anyone think political talk would have taken over radio if it had real musical competition? Has anyone noticed that the talk radio operations are plowing their money back into the markets in the form of '60s, '70s, and '80s classic stations (and they're making money hand over fist at it?).

      One reason we put a full stage in our church cafe was so local musicians would have a good venue to play with good pas, speakers, and soundboard in place. Our bass player's band opened on tour for The Eagles and it turns out we actually went to the same Jimi Hendrix concerts in the '60s, he's got a great ear for talent.

      The simple fact is that there is a LOT of excellent music being written "out in the wild" by local artists. They just don't fit the anorexic/belly button baring/cussing, screaming, beating up your girl formula so they won't get the attention they deserve.

      Forget your radio, go downtown to the irish pub and toss a good tip in for the band. The RIAA won't get a cent of it.

      --
      It doesn't matter what you wrap your emotions around, Reality is a brick wall specifically designed to scramble eggs
    4. Re:Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by 680x0 · · Score: 2, Informative
      Very insightful. I have a few "starving musician" friends who'd appreciate a bigger audience. And lately, even the CDs I've been buying have been imports, and small labels (like Century Media).

      Then again, I am following the sheep to this summer's Ozzfest. But with a re-united Judas Priest, I couldn't resist. Oh, well, I guess, small steps.

    5. Re:Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "You will pay the RIAA whether you want to or not."

      Ask our friends in Canada about that.

    6. Re:Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by gillbates · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You have two options: buy their stuff, but don't complain, or don't buy their stuff, and try and support alternative markets...

      It has probably been five years since I bought a CD for myself, yet I continue to rent movies on a regular basis... While the RIAA has been busy "fighting" the demons of piracy, I've been losing interest in their material.

      A few years ago I heard a friend of mine (and his band) sing a rendition of a popular song. What impressed me most was that this guy was in his early 20's, and he sounded exactly like the CD. The rest of his family is into music; he's been raised with it his entire life. Though he wasn't a music major, he had developed a talent which far exceed a lot of the trash that gets put on CD's today.

      And he's just one. In college, I did sound mixing for some of the music majors I knew, and even the "B" student music majors could make most of the pop-40 singers sound like amateurs. There's a lot of talent out there - good talent - and the majority of it is never heard. In fact, the smarter ones stay away from the RIAA because they've figured out that the draconian terms of an RIAA-member recording contract leave the musician with no room to actually earn a decent living.

      But after hearing a few of my friends perform, my tastes in music have changed. I've been exposed to real music - music with feeling, purpose, and beauty. I can't go back to listening to pop-40, because it sounds so assinine by comparison.

      The RIAA fails to understand that people are beginning to realize that listening to any RIAA music comes with a lawsuit risk. How am I supposed to relax and have a good time listening to music if I'm worried that a convenience copy could land me in court? How can I kick back and relax if I have to think about "licensing issues" every time I play a song or rip a CD?

      The RIAA isn't losing sales because of Napster, or Gnutella, or file-sharing software. They are losing sales because those of us who really appreciate music find it appalling that a musician (or his representative) would sue a fan. This completely destroys a person's ability to enjoy music. It doesn't matter even if I am completely legit - the fact that I'm listening to the voice of someone with a mean streak spoils any listening pleasure I might otherwise have had.

      And strangely, now that we've gotten off the CD-sales bandwagon and discovered that listening to real people making real music is more enjoyable, we aren't going back. We're spending more money than ever on music - cover charges, concert tickets, etc... but the RIAA is getting less and less of it.

      And that's why the RIAA is mad. People are spending more money than ever on music, and they feel like they've been cut out of the deal. Truth is, they made money selling what never belonged to them in the first place, and now they're mad because they are losing their ability to exploit the talent of others for their own financial gain.

      --
      The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
    7. Re:Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by anonicon · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hey,

      While you're right to a point, I put together a little shorthand guide to the best of free Indie downloads and paid Indie CDs here:

      http://fatchuck.com/z1.html

      FWIW, it's a quick hack, but it'll have to suffice until something better comes along.

      Chuck

    8. Re:Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by Jardine · · Score: 4, Informative

      I've heard that rumor floating around but I'd like to see the proof that you can infact copy the CD legally. I know they charge a blanket tax but I'd be very suprised if infact the CRIA has given away the right to prosecut you.

      Do you have any links to prove this (and no slashdot opinions don't count)?


      How about Part 8 of the Canadian Copyright Act? Plenty of legal speak in it, but the part that matters here is this section:

      80. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the act of reproducing all or any substantial part of

      (a) a musical work embodied in a sound recording,

      (b) a performer's performance of a musical work embodied in a sound recording, or

      (c) a sound recording in which a musical work, or a performer's performance of a musical work, is embodied

      onto an audio recording medium for the private use of the person who makes the copy does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the musical work, the performer's performance or the sound recording. (emphasis mine)

      The section after that sets up the levy on CDRs, tapes, etc. If you want it explained in something other than lawyer-speak, try this FAQ.

  11. Re:NX? by Geiger581 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sorry, but it's No eXecute, not No Read. NX can only prevent execution of code not intended to be executed (stack or data space), not prevent the reading of memory space of a program. NX should be appreciated solely on the grounds that it steals a great deal of Palladium's thunder, postponing that nightmare a little further.

  12. FUCK RADIO by LocalH · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't even listen to radio anyway. Of course, I'll still be arguing against the broadcast flags anytime it comes up, but I haven't listened to the radio in, hell, I can't remember how long.

    Besides, I doubt digital terrestrial radio will take off, same way that digital terrestrial television has not taken off - the few people watching terrestrial DTV are those with HD sets.

    If an industry doesn't see fit to give me my legal rights, then I won't use their product, and I will do my damndest to make sure other people don't use their product either.

    I resent being told that I can't do something because I *might* use it for illegal purposes. Even if what I'm actually *planning* to do is fully legal.

    And, just like virtually every other protection system out there, it WILL be broken. The only one I know of that HASN'T been broken publically is digital cable - and I feel it's been broken, but just not revealed to the public yet.

    --
    FC Closer
    1. Re:FUCK RADIO by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't think I've listened to any radio but NPR (for news) for about a year now. Otherwise, I ask some of my friends what they like and give it a listen, then buy it from one of the online stores (like the iTunes store).

      Otherwise, radio for me died when I turned it on, heard the same songs I had heard 12 months before played every 2 hours, turned it off for 2 months, turned it on (same songs from 2 months ago every few hours), turned it off for 4 months, and repeat.

      I figure another 8 months and I'll see if anything new is playing. Till then, forget it.

    2. Re:FUCK RADIO by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      To be fair, you might have been listening to an oldies station, as is usually the case when someone complains in whole about new music. You might possibly just be getting old.

  13. Re:FCC by kemapa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They just need to give up...

    I agree with you that they need to lighten up a bit, but based on history they will not. Remember the whole 'crisis' over video recorders way back in the day? A more contemporary example is the TiVO controversy, with many broadcast networks saying that TiVO will end their business model and cable will be the only option for TV, which is simply untrue. New technology often spurs fear because people fear what certain things _might_ be used for. Just like a gun, it _might_ be used for illegal purposes, but it might not as well. But what _might_ happen is not a good excuse for stifling technological development

  14. Little Slow, here's a mirror by karmatic · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here.

  15. RIAA wants a pay, not play button by Fiz+Ocelot · · Score: 3, Insightful
    "Also, as noted in your letter, there is no content "license" at issue because RIAA members have no licensable right that could be a basis for imposing limitations on free broadcasts."

    Looks like this may be a lot harder for the RIAA than mp3 issues to me.

  16. Fair enough by nacturation · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This may be an unpopular opinion here, but I don't see anything wrong with this. Radio is there for you to listen to and enjoy. The music is being broadcast to you at no charge (excepting commercial-free services like XM and Sirius) and the broadcaster sets the licensing terms. Naturally, the broadcaster needs to comply with the licensing terms of the copyright owner, represented typically by the RIAA.

    So what rights are being infringed here? Unless you're paying a radio station to broadcast your own music to you, you are not in posession of a license to the music. So fair use in terms of copying to your computer, etc. doesn't apply as you haven't purchased anything. One could make the argument from a research standpoint and being able to record samples for the purposes of critique, etc. This would easily be fulfilled by plugging a jack into the headphone slot and recording the non-digital output to tape or via line-in on a computer and you'd still get better quality than any non-digital radio station that exists today.

    Honestly, I don't see an issue here.

    --
    Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    1. Re:Fair enough by LocalH · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I believe if you have a right to access the analog version, you also have a right to access the clean digital version. You don't lose any rights just because it's 0s and 1s, instead of a variable voltage.

      So now, it's apparently a crime to be a purist, and want direct access to high quality media? Sure, maybe the analog version might be good enough for you, but if you're a purist, then it's not.

      --
      FC Closer
    2. Re:Fair enough by Cbs228 · · Score: 2, Informative

      So fair use in terms of copying to your computer, etc. doesn't apply as you haven't purchased anything.

      That is simply not true. Traditionally, consumers have had the right to "time shift" or "media shift" copyrighted works. "Time shifting" is what allows you to legally record a T.V. show (either with a VHS tape or a PVR) for later viewing. The inclusion of a broadcast flag takes away this right. Yes, time-shifting can be used for copyright infringement, but that does not change the fact that the RIAA et. al are attempting to deprive consumers of their fair use rights.

      The EFF has more information on this here.

      --
      At our school, we don't earn a degree when we graduate—we earn pi/180 radians
    3. Re:Fair enough by lenhap · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You may not be in possesion of a license to the music, but you still have a right to record a copy for personal use. Look Here Section 112 part 7a, you have a right to make a recording of a broadcast. I am sure there are other references and such throughout the dissaster we call US copyright law.

      The point is that the record industry is trying to take away a right we have and have had more or less since broadcasts came about, the right to make a copy of the broadcast for "personal use". THis is fair use as described in copyright law, you just don't have the right to distribute that copy.

    4. Re:Fair enough by LocalH · · Score: 3, Informative

      Fair use isn't qualified by 'if you paid cash money for a license'. Fair use applies to ALL copyrighted content, period. Yes, there are limitations. But redistribution and commercial intent are two of the BIG ones - if I'm not redistributing, and I'm not profiting commercially in any other way, then I am LEGAL, whether you think I have 'rights' or not.

      If they broadcast it, I can exercise fair use rights.

      --
      FC Closer
    5. Re:Fair enough by LocalH · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fair use doesn't say ANYTHING about whether the copy should be 100% accurate.

      People forget quickly, if it's not specifically illegal, then it's legal. Just because there's no written law that says 'fair use allows access to 100% accurate signals', doesn't mean that there is somehow a difference.

      I reiterate - IF IT'S NOT EXPRESSLY ILLEGAL, THEN IT IS FULLY 100% LEGAL.

      --
      FC Closer
    6. Re:Fair enough by Aneurysm9 · · Score: 2, Informative

      You're right that fair use encompasses the right to make recordings of broadcast programs. You're wrong to think that 112(7)(a) grants an individual any right to make phonorecords. 112 in its entirety is related to broadcasters and their rights to make phonorecords of protected sound recordings for use in their operations after payment of a statutory license fee. When analysing provisions of the Copyright Act it is always important to trace back any dependencies to fully understand what provisions apply to who in what context.

      --
      There was Cowboy Neal at the wheel of a bus to never-ever land.
    7. Re:Fair enough by Otto · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As I mentioned above, are your fair use rights being infringed if you don't have access to a 100% digital source?

      If bypassing that protection on the digital source is made illegal by another law (say, the DMCA or something similar to it), then it's no longer quite as clear.

      Essentially, you're saying that you can have all the fair use rights in the world, but they don't have to help you out. And I'm with you there, except when they're intentionally trying to block you out.

      The future is digital, not analog. A lot of broadcast mediums nowadays are pure digital. XM Radio, HDTV, etc, etc. There's no analog signal to tap into.

      If you are *unable* to exercise those rights, then you don't have those rights. And I'm not talking unable because of being poor or because of not having the proper equipment. I'm talking about being unable to exercise your fair use rights because the equipment and technology that would allow you to do so has been made illegal to sell, own, create, think of. That just ain't right.

      --
      - Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
    8. Re:Fair enough by CodeMonkey4Hire · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Hey, I was wrong, and I don't mind admitting it. Check this out:
      [An example of] Fair use. In a lawsuit commonly known as the Betamax case, the Supreme Court determined that the home videotaping of a television broadcast was a fair use. This was one of the few occasions when copying a complete work (for example, a complete episode of the "Kojak" television show) was accepted as a fair use. Evidence indicated that most viewers were "time-shifting" (taping in order to watch later) and not "library-building" (collecting the videos in order to build a video library). Important factors: The Supreme Court reasoned that the "delayed" system of viewing did not deprive the copyright owners of revenue. (Universal City Studios v. Sony Corp., 464 U.S. 417 (1984).)
      I was wondering what "time shifting" meant. I think that this strengthens your argument* a bit, eh? (I was going to post this with my "bad" post, but I wanted you to see my retraction.)

      * that it is okay to copy the analog signals.
      --

      Let's go Hurricanes!!! 2006 Stanley Cup Champions!!!
  17. I like it by L.+VeGas · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe some can't tell the difference with their lousy computer speakers, but to a real audiophile, music sounds much better with a broadcast flag.

    It's like salt for music. You don't have to have it, it's just better with it.

  18. *sigh* they still don't get one simple fact by acroyear · · Score: 5, Insightful

    any digital protection system can be broken, no matter HOW complicated.

    the one way that breaks ALL digital protection systems, and still leaves the content with decent audio, is to go through an analog phase. record from the output of your sound card into another computer via the analog lines, you only lose one analog generation (negligable given how lossy mp3 encoding was on the original content), and get a perfectly rippable copy on the other side with no history of any DRM preserved whatsoever.

    so you DRM bastards: KNOCK IT OFF!

    All DRM does is make the stupid feel empowered, the common person feel condescended to, and the pirates feel bored as to how easy it was to crack it...

    --
    "But remember, most lynch mobs aren't this nice." (H.Simpson)
    -- Joe
    1. Re:*sigh* they still don't get one simple fact by Abcd1234 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Unless, of course, there's end-to-end encryption all the way to the speaker. "Just record from the speaker, then!" you say. Well, what you do is you add a watermark to the audio, and you stick DRM software in the recording devices such that they refuse to record if they detect the watermark (kinda like those dots they put on money that photocopiers search for). Suddenly, no "authorized" recording device will record protected audio. Viola! End-to-end DRM is achieved.

      Now, nothing I said is particularly *easy*. Getting the technology in the marketplace is just beginning. And developing robust watermarks that survive re-encoding, D/A & A/D conversions, etc, is difficult. But, that's not to say it's impossible.

    2. Re:*sigh* they still don't get one simple fact by gclef · · Score: 2, Interesting

      News flash: they don't care if you can break it. They care that they can arrest you (or sue you) if you break it. To them, these are just like locks on your house: sure, someone can pick the lock...but picking the lock on someone else's house is illegal, and is grounds for the cops to come after you.

      This is all about putting a legal framework in place to enforce controls on "content". Whether the controls are technically effective is completely beside the point. As long as they can get you wrapped into the legal system for sidestepping them, that's all that matters.

  19. In other news today ... by Jtheletter · · Score: 3, Funny
    ...the RIAA began legal filings to sue numerous users of an online news forum collectively known as "slashdotters" for copyright infringement of internal emails.

    The emails, stored in a digital format known as PDF (which the RIAA maintains is yet another tool used exclusively by online hackers and pirates for the sole purpose of stealing IP), while not normally covered by copyright, were in this case earmarked by RIAA president Cary Sherman for use in his new book: Digital Stranglehold - a Step-by-Step Guide to Forcefully Prevent Any Exchange of Audio Information Whatsoever in the New Millenium - or - How to Ram the Buttplug of DRM Further up the American Consumer's Ass.

    --
    -- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
  20. Re:FCC by malamute5 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The entertainment industry doesn't see things in context. I know many people who didn't watch TV until they bought a TIVO, and now they watch at least an hour per day. Who cares if they skip commercials every once in a while. Same thing with Napster and file sharing raising record sales for the 2 years following its release. If they pulled their heads out of their ass, and not make snap-judgements, they might start making good choices.

  21. It's just like a game of Illuminati by TheTXLibra · · Score: 4, Funny

    Shock Jocks are controlled by the FCC.
    The FCC is controlled by the Supreme Court, which is controlled Bavarian Illuminati.
    RIAA is controlled by Cthulhu.
    RIAA with the assistance of Cthulhu will attempt to control the FCC... and they're bidding tons of megabucks.

    ...let's hope to God they roll an 11 or 12.

    -The Libra
    "You've got no kids, no wife, no job, and you're not in The Tigger Movie!!!"
    - my best friend's son, Gabe, at 5 years old.

    --
    -The Libra
    "Please be patient--The future will begin momentarily."
  22. When a man is drowning... by tkrotchko · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...we say that he goes down for the 3rd time to mean that he used up his chances for life and he's finally going under for good.

    This is really the RIAA and its members going down for the 3rd time.

    What I'm really waiting for is for the sh*t to hit the fan when Joe Six Pack buys his $3K HDTV, and pays Comcast $150 a month for HDTV content and then another $2K for his Digital VCR (or DVD or whatever), and he presses the RECORD button to tape the latest Victoria Secret underwear show, and a message pops up that says "Due to copyright restrictions, you may not record".

    All of the sudden people will understand what people like the EFF have been complaining about for years.

    Right now, congress and the FCC is passing these goofy laws and regulations because there's no downside; broadcast flag? Sure. DRM? Sure. Whatever will keep Hollywood happy.

    But when people begin to complain about losing their ability to do what they do today, people are going to be very unhappy, and that's the stuff that brings people out to vote. Remember, Florida? It only take a few people to tip an entire election.

    DRM on consumer audio in the past has been the death of a new format. I don't think things have changed that much. Unhappy consumers won't buy stuff.

    And if consumers aren't buying TV's, Radio's and Computers because of Hollywood/RIAA lobbying, things will change quickly.

    --
    You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
  23. The next logical step: by burgburgburg · · Score: 4, Funny
    Memory flag

    All audio/video devices will have to be able to broadcast the memory flag. Only individuals who have had the necessary surgery (elective, not typically covered by insurance) will be able to actually view such content. Depending on the decision of the content provider, the content might almost immediately disappear from a person's memory, be a faint memory driving the repurchase of an opportunity to see/hear it again, or could be lodged so firmly in their brain of the end-user that they will have to pay extra to get rid of it.

  24. They're just now figuring this out? by ManyLostPackets · · Score: 2, Informative

    Zinf has long allowed for the saving of digital broadcasts, from shoutcast at least. But I havn't tested it on other formats, like .m3u streams and what-not (and can't 'cause I'm at work)

  25. You are mistaken by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Consider someone listening to a radio show and writing an article about it. That would be fair use, no? Then if that someone happens to be a radio journalist, is it not also fair use for said radio journalist to include a snippet of the original broadcast?

    This happens all the time. Ever heard that famous Hindenburg broadcast? How about snippets from famous radio shows?

    It's no good to say you should make your own analogue recording. That's an artificial limit to fair use. What if said journalist is a poor starving student who does everything on a home computer? Are you saying students have to buy D/A and A/D converters to become journalists?

    You can't start limiting fair use, or it becomes unfair use.

    1. Re:You are mistaken by nacturation · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Consider someone listening to a radio show and writing an article about it. That would be fair use, no? Then if that someone happens to be a radio journalist, is it not also fair use for said radio journalist to include a snippet of the original broadcast?

      It's no good to say you should make your own analogue recording. That's an artificial limit to fair use. What if said journalist is a poor starving student who does everything on a home computer? Are you saying students have to buy D/A and A/D converters to become journalists?


      Your argument doesn't hold up. Fair use doesn't mean that you have all the equipment supplied for you to take advantage of that use. If you have the wrong equipment, then it's *your* responsibility to go out and acquire the equipment necessary to take advantage of your rights. What about the poor starving student who has *no* equipment? Would you argue their fair use rights are being denied because they have neither analog nor digital? Of course not. It's not a restriction of fair use just because the only available option is recording a 99% accurate analog version.

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  26. This is just another failed attempt... by karmatic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is just another failed attempt to excercise control over digital services. It's to be expected - they are convinced it will make them more money in the end, and as such they feel compelled to stop it.

    This technology, like Macrovision (that's not technically digital, but it fits), DVD's CSS, Adobe PDF, Zip File Passwords, iTunes, SDMI, Microsoft Reader, DirecTV, those silly self-destructing DVDs, faulty CD Toc's, autorun-based protection, SecuRom, Game Consoles, LaserLok, and any other number of protection technologies, it will be defeated, broken, or bypassed).

    Hundreds of man-hours, hundreds of millions of dollars in development and marketing, and the only real protection still lying around is simple cryptography (and only when the keys aren't given to users at all, instead of this "hide it in the box, but don't tell anyone" crap).

    The only real reason to be concerned is the "stifiling innovation" issue. What devices, technologies, or uses will I lose because of this? To some extent, it benefits open-source, as open-source software can address markets made smaller by the fact that the only way to use the services the way you want is to break the law.

    However, how many cool gizmos, gadgets, and whatnots haven't been made, thanks to the DMCA etc.?

    Just a little something to think about.

  27. Once again RIAA shows us its inability by famazza · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Once again RIAA shows us that is simply can't adapt themselves to the new reality of information sharing.

    Internet isn't just a new media, or a new commercial channel. It's also a new and improved way to communicate. For those who want me to be even more clear, it's a new way to share and exchange information.

    The fact is that internet users will, for itself, share information among each other. That's what a communication tool meant to do. And there's nothing RIAA can do that'll will avoid 95% of the world population (US residents are 5% only) sharing information, musing included.

    RIAA must do just like any other group or company around the world when a new technology tries to ruin its buissines, adapt.

    Not adapting itself to the new technological reality, RIAA is opening huge chances of new visionaries company or groups to be successful, being the first in the market and getting ahead even before RIAA can think in any action to avoid it.

    The revolution is in its way. All we can do (including RIAA) is adapt ourselves to it. It's useless to try to stop a train without destroying it.

    --

    -=-=-=-=
    I know life isn't fair, but why can't it ever be un-fair in MY favor!?
  28. Thank God for the BBC by Forget4it · · Score: 2, Insightful

    BBC - the British Public Service broadcaster is doing it's damnedest to make itself the voice available to anyone anywhere:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_ra dio/3177479.stm

    --
    Artificial intelligence is the study of how to make real computers act like the ones in the movies.
  29. All your radio... by Lead+Butthead · · Score: 5, Funny

    Consumers: What happen?
    Slash-Dot: Somebody set up us the Broadcast Flag.
    Slash-Dot: We get SUED.
    Consumers: What!
    Slash-Dot: Main screen turn on.
    Consumers: It's You!!
    RIAA: How are you gentlemen!!
    RIAA: All your radio are belong to us.
    RIAA: Your fair use rights are on the way to destruction.
    Consumers: What you say!!
    RIAA: Your rights have no chance to survive make your time.
    RIAA: HA HA HA HA!
    RIAA: Sue you all
    Consumers: You know what you doing.
    RIAA: Landsharks, engage
    Consumers: For great justice.

    --
    ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
  30. If I listen to a song... by midifarm · · Score: 2, Interesting
    If I listen to a song playing in my head, do I have to pay royalties on it?

    Peace

  31. RIAA taking over word of mouth by Fullmetal+Edward · · Score: 3, Funny

    12 year old girl caught singing Britney in the shower. RIAA sue for 17 billion dollars over copyright issues.

    Next on in the future news!

    --
    --- [Insert intresting Sig here]
  32. Old programs? by eviljolly · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So how are they going to stop us from using older programs to broadcast the media? I don't feel a need to upgrade my shoutcast server just so I can have a radio broadcast flag that rats me out when I'm broadcasting copyrighted music. They would either have to change the way the internet works, or force a new media type on us other than mp3.

  33. Re:covered under normal broadcast flag? by kb7oeb · · Score: 2, Informative

    The FCC restricts what modulation can be broadcast on what frequency. Digital TV broadcasts are modulated with 8VSB (Vestigial Side Band) where digital radio uses IBOC with COFDM. Using IBOC they can transmit Analog and Digital at the same time on the same frequency.

    I found a website that talks about it. http://www.fact-index.com/d/di/digital_audio_broad casting.html

  34. RIAA has always been at it! Remember the tape tax? by COredneck · · Score: 2, Informative

    I remember when I went to college in the late 1980's, the RIAA had a campaign against Digital Audio Tape (DAT) but also, they had an ad campaign to get people to support a tax on blank audio casettes.

    The college administration put up the RIAA flyers on the proposed tape tax and to lobby against DAT. At the time, CD's were becoming mainstream and the idea of burning CD's were a concept, not reality.

    At the time, I bought CD's and one of the first things I did was make audio tape recordings from the CD's on casette metal tape (Type IV). The RIAA not only wanted you to buy the CD but if wanted it on casette, they wanted you to buy the pre-recorded tapes which were made on the cheapest tape possible (Type I - ferric oxide) which happened to dirty up tape heads pretty quickly. The metal tape sounded better and it did not dirty up your tape heads. I did not bother with Chromium (Type II) tapes. I now make duplicates of the CD's I buy to take with me on road trips. The originals stay at home. I recently made a copy of the Traveling Wilbury's CD from a guy I work with since it is out of print. The RIAA may not be happy with that but there is no opportunity to buy the CD.

    The RIAA is ridiculous. You may not lose much audio quality if you have to go from digital to audio and back to digital if they implement this. It is bad enough the FCC caved in to the MPAA on the b-cast flag for digital TV. The MPAA also raised hell about VCR's when they came out.

    Don't forget that one of the AOL/Time-Warner executives called people thieves who fast forwarded through the commercial ads. The name if I remember was Jamie Kellner.

  35. This will be easily defeated by dnamaners · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This may be invasive and annoying but it will not stop the recording. In order for the flag to work all the software will have to be "flag" compliant. So simply the adoption of this will provide either a resurgence of older tools that don't support this "feature" or new softwear that will not support this (or allow it to be turned off) even if mandated by law. Even that NX thing and the flag combined will not stop the recording as it:

    A.) will only be present on new systems so old hardware will still work(how much computer do you need to stream rip any way).

    B.) because as long as you can hear it you can record it. so perhaps the sound will have to be recorded right off the analog output by the very same computer that is playing it, after extracting the ID3 of course.

    C.) if by some magic they make it work and be fool proof people will simply go back to cd ripping and file sharing. By that time the new encrypted networks will be better and harder to sue users of.

    This will only add another teer of complexity and another charge that they can sue the file makers for.

    "FROG!" ..... "I said frog, now jump dammit, jump!" ........"Um boss, it's not working." ...... "awww be a good boy, please jump when i say frog".......

  36. The day the music died. by nurb432 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Granddad, do you still remember when you could listen to music when you wanted too without having to pay every time.. what was that like?"

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  37. What's the point? by Jane_Dozey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    All they're doing is making their problem worse. I never thought of copying music off digital radio (I used to tape analog radio but got very tired of having the DJ talk over the beggining and end of the songs) and I'm willing to bet a whole lot of other people havn't either. But now they're highlighting it as a problem lots more people will be doing it. If they get the go-ahead to enforce this new system, it'll just mean all those new "pirates" will have to use the latest 'cracking' utilities to get around the restrictions (or use other methods mentioned in other posts).

    Seriously, I don't see the point in this. I don't support illegal copying (except for personal use, or making your friend a copy of a CD you own) but this is just plain silly. They're just prolonging the fashionable thing to do at the moment (download music off the internet).

    --
    Silly rabbit
  38. Just edit the 'bit 'out? by nurb432 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I cant believe the tag *cant* be removed. Then your music is 'free' again.

    Sure the common guy wont be able to do this, but it seems the common guy is just screwed these days anyway.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  39. Here . . . by Lorenzo+de+Medici · · Score: 3, Funny
    . . . take my fair use rights. I wasn't using them anyway.

    Recording Industry Association of America has discovered that digital radio broadcasts can be copied and redistributed over the Internet

    I'm trying to imagine that moment when they "discovered" this . . . Did they honestly just not know? "Gee, we're sending them a stream of data that gets played automatically. Those stupid end users will never think to *save* that data!"

  40. Is fair use for the rich only? by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Shall we limit freedom of speech to only book runs of at least 1 million copies?

    No one is saying taxpayers have to fund poor starving students, even if that is not what you are implying. But when roadblocks to fair use only apply to those who don't spend extra money, it becomes unfair use.

    The whole idea of fair use available only to those with enough money is disgusting.

  41. Hard to bypass by nurb432 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Remember they want even D/A chips to have DRM features, so if the data isn't authorized, you wont get any sound out at all...

    Sure its not practical, but they can move towards the goal.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  42. BFD, doomed to failure by jhylkema · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Okay, one side (the content providers) wants to impose some DRM scheme on whatever. The other side, the geeks, will attempt to break them. Now, other than OTP, no encryption scheme is unbreakable. The only value encryption has is to make it more expensive to unlock the data than it's worth. However, when the opposition has a religious fervor and practically unlimited resources, inevitably it will be broken. (SDMI? iTunes? DeCSS?) Exhibit "A" is DeCSS. Export of strong cryptography is prohibited by law. So whatever they come up with will be fairly trivial for the geeks to break. As for it being a lightning rod for copyright lawsuits, well, P2P continues relatively unabated against the RIAA's jihad of suing 12-year-olds and grandmothers.

  43. I can't believe that no one's noticed this yet... by Gothic_Walrus · · Score: 2, Informative
    If the FCC adopts such a broadcast flag rule for digital radio, it would apply only to what's called "in-band on-channel digital radio content," that is, digital radio stations that broadcast over the airwaves -- as traditional AM and FM stations now do -- and not to satellite radio or Webcasters that stream digital radio over the Internet.

    Unless I'm mistaken, this means that the flag will not apply to Shoutcast radio stations or others that are internet-only. This sounds like it applies to XM, Sirius, and other forms of digital radio, but NOT what's streamed to your computer.

    Then again, I could be misinterpreting that part of the article...

    --
    Goo goo g'joob.
  44. Re:Lets have a digital flag burning by saderax · · Score: 2, Funny

    Lets all meet and burn (pinky to mouth) 1.44*8 million bits. Bring 1 DS/DD floppy disk to the corner of RIAA ave, and MPAA street and well burn them there. Maybe the toxic fumes will take out some execs :)

  45. ...but the means will be illegal by MenTaLguY · · Score: 4, Informative

    I shouldn't say something like that without backing it up.

    Here: Content Protection Status Report

    Implementation of a "broadcast flag" is listed as Goal One. Goal two is ... wait for it ... "plugging the analog hole".

    Of course there are easy technical ways to bypass any such schemes if you can get your hands on uncrippled A/D hardware. Your student or journalist is welcome to take advantage of them if they are willing to risk going to prison.

    --

    DNA just wants to be free...
  46. Re:Song of the piracy apologist by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "The entire piracy movement is an attempt to get things for free"

    Yes, that's the piracy side of it. There's still a very large legitimate user side to it as well. Your attempt to group those together demonstrates that you really don't understand what you have obviously spent so much time writing about. Here's an example:

    "That has nothing to do with piracy. You don't have the right to pirate music because you believe $11.99 is "ridiculously priced." Even iTunes is currently .99 a song."

    An album is $12 whether you like every single song on it or not. I happen to know for a fact you have at least one CD that has precicesly one song on it you like. $12 for that one song isn't ridiculously overpriced? Face facts, the driving force between making the $.99 song available is because people 'pirated', as you call it.

    Pardon me for thinking you are full of shit. Seriously, if it's all about 'getting something for nothing' like you have stated, then $400 iPods wouldn't be flying off store shelves. iTunes wouldn't have sold millions of songs. Heck, you'd probably be paying up to $20 per album. Go explore the other side a little while before blindly calling honest people pirates.

  47. Watermarking and control of the hardware... by Otto · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're half right. Tech like water marking can survive a D-A and A-D transitions. And make no mistake, that's the long term goal here. These sorts of "flags" are just the beginning, because they introduce the concept of forcing equipment manufacturers to include enforcement of DRM technologies. It doesn't matter that the current technology is ineffective, what matters is that new hardware *must* support it, by law.

    Once that framework is built into place, newer tech that can survive these conversions gets introduced, and it's easier to push it into the marketplace, because the law says that this sort of thing must be included in consumer hardware. Eventually, you don't have any hardware that will actually record that analog source. It'll all detect the watermark, and refuse to record. Oh, there will be workarounds, but this sort of knowledge is already forbidden for you to pass around, by the DMCA. That's right, it's illegal for you to tell somebody how to bypass a protection mechanism, be it by code or by word of mouth or by t-shirt. The DMCA makes no distinction between these methods.

    And that's their vision of the future. Total control of all media. It's just that simple, really. You want to make a copy for your car? You can't. You want to watch the program later than they air it? Sorry, the broadcaster of the show has decided that you might skip the ads if you did that, so your recorder won't record it. And if you post anywhere telling other people how to fix these "problems" with the equipment they bought, armed guards show up at your residence and take you away and put you in a padded cell and stare at you thru a small window for the rest of your life, because you're an informational terrorist.

    Pretty bleak, but unfortunately I don't think it's all that much of a stretch of the imagination anymore.

    --
    - Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
  48. Does anybody besides me get the impression that... by JCCyC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...about "intellectual" "property" issues...

    - it's never going to get better.

    - it's never going to stop getting worse.

    - the rate of getting worse is never going to stop increasing.

  49. Re:Song of the piracy apologist by ichimunki · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What a load. Immoral? Prove it using any established moral code. Is it in the Bible? How about the Q'uran? Or the Torah? The Baghavad-Gita? Egyptian mythology? Zoroastrianism? In the precolonial social mores and religious traditions of any of the five hundred various Indian nations native to the American continent? Does Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau come out against it? Does the Buddha once speak of it? Is it mentioned anywhere in thousands of Zen Koans? Are there any tribal religions in Africa that cast aspersion on copying stories, songs, and artwork? Did the Inca and Maya curse the names of those who infringed copyright? Did Plato or Socrates or Pythagoras or Aristotle teach at length about this subject? Well? Huh?

    Fact is, the very notion that songs, stories, ideas, images, and all the other ephemeralities restricted by "copyright" were for the bulk of human history passed along and shared only by active infringement by those who carried these works along for us later. Without copying we would have no folk songs, no scriptures, a great deal fewer plays, stories, paintings, buildings, inventions. Our cultural traditions would have lasted only as long as the material on which the first author ever fixed them-- in most cases less than 100 years.

    Do you anti-copiers ever decry the vast body of commerce that exists in making copies of "public domain" works? Of course not. Ripping off the past is a hobby for the media cartel. Look at Disney with "The Little Mermaid", "Cinderella", "Snow White", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Fantasia", etc. Look at movie releases like "Troy" and "Romeo & Juliet". Look at how often Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky, and countless others have their works "stolen" and reused in contexts they could never have dreamed of. The same for Michelangelo, DaVinci, Monet, Manet. Where is your outrage at this?

    --
    I do not have a signature
  50. Ridiculous by 0x0d0a · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is absurd.

    The RIAA is asking for protections greater than they recieve for analog radio.

    The problem is that none of the justifications they claim for extended protections apply here.

    The earlier justification was that "digital copies allow infinite generations of lossless copies to be made."

    If someone is recording from the analog radio, they make a digital copy of a lossy transmission. At that point, they can make an infinite number of copies.

    If someone is recording from digital radio, they can make an infinite number of copies of a lossily (probably MP3) encoded stream. Exact same thing.

    Furthermore, because of the nature of streaming data networks, it can be more efficient to use retransmission -- to send one stream of audio to a single host in Sweden that then rebroadcasts ten streams to other Swedish hosts. This is superior than directly sending to eleven Swedish hosts. This would prohibit network structures of such a variety.

    I can't even figure out why the RIAA managed to impose per-stream fees on Internet radio. That's *absurd*. Normal radio has a smaller transmission cost (i.e. not linear in the number of listeners), and has potential audiences several orders of magnitude larger than Internet radio. Why Internet radio stations can't enjoy small, flat rate fees for playing music is beyond me.

    I'm so frusterated with the RIAA. If there was a single vote that could remove all their lobbying, I'd vote for it in a second. But instead, it's a long, unending, slow grind against people that have the potential to make scads more money by swaying a couple of votes.

  51. Getting rich off the law by Simonetta · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The way to get rich off the law is pass a law (bribe and blackmail the lawmakers) that makes illegal something that a large minority of people do. The majority of people will support the law because they don't engage in the particular activity.

    Then use the fact that a large minority of people do it and continue to do it despite its illegality to raise the penalities for breaking this law very high. Again the majority of people will go along with this because they don't engage in this particular activity.

    Use the high penalities to encourage a system of bounty hunters who get to share in the enormous fines that are brought against the many people (a large minority works best) who are found disobeying this law when they snitch their neighbors to the authorities for disobeying this law. Make sure the activity that is made illegal is common and accepted by a large minority of people. The best size of this minority is about 15 percent of the population; a larger percentage and you run the risk of a successful revolt and a smaller percentage doesn't bring in enough money to make the whole business worthwhile.

    Then just sit back and let the money pile in from legal fees and fines.

    In the USA, the stategy worked great on Black people (African-Americans) until the 1960's. It worked great on gays and other sexual minorities until the late 1970's. It still brings in hundreds of millions of dollars from the marijuana community every year to the police and the lawyers.

    Now it about to be applied to the recorded music-lover community, starting with random students and working up from there to the general middle-class.

    Just one more permanent American extortion money-making scheme. As soon as one passes, another takes its place. Americans talk a lot of trash about freedom, but when it comes to using the law to extort money from minorities, be they racial, sexual, life-style, and now digital media minorities, the dollar always comes first.