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Analog Hole Legislation Formally Introduced
phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica is covering a recent bit of legislation introduced to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee this past week. The laws would seek to close the 'Analog Hole' that serves as a sort of last-ditch pirating mechanism when corporate DRM goes all crazy and tramples on your fair-use rights: 'Calling the ability to convert analog video content to a digital format a significant technical weakness in content protection, H.R. 4569 would require all consumer electronics video devices manufactured more than 12 months after the DTCSA is passed to be able to detect and obey a rights signaling system that would be used to limit how content is viewed and used. That rights signaling system would consist of two DRM technologies, Video Encoded Invisible Light (VEIL) and Content Generation Management System--Analog (CGMS-A), which would be embedded in broadcasts and other analog video content.'" We've previously covered this bill.
... but I think the whole A.Hole joke was covered in the previous slashdot article about the legislation ;)
I don't mind this bill.
I also don't mind not spending any more money on multi-media at all.
Happy patching!
Calling the ability to convert analog video content to a digital format a "significant technical weakness in content protection,"
I'm keen to see how these technically-inclined *ahem* folks intend to remove the digital-analog conversion: to the very best of my knowledge our eyes and ears are analog devices.
H.R. 4569 would require all consumer electronics video devices manufactured more than 12 months after the DTCSA is passed to be able to detect and obey a "rights signaling system" that would be used to limit how content is viewed and used.
I foresee a frenzy of electronics sales around ($DATE + 11_months).
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
They still can't prevent me from watching the film and telling people what happens...but I'm sure the MPAA is currently bribing a senator to sponsor the Psycho-Implant Motion Pictures Erased Digitally (PIMPED) bill.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
is the fact that with all the other crap our government is actively screwing up, something like this will fly under the radar of most news media. Far too few people will ever even hear about this because they're being constantly flooded with news about the war(s), upcoming elections, etc. Your tax dollars at "work".
I predict a sudden upsurge in the sales of old video hardware on ebay.
Apparently if you have the money you can do the impossible. Apparently.
__
Funny Adult Video Clips
So, given a pile of cash - how does this stop the Appropriately-Motivated-Bad-Guy(tm) from building his own damn equipment?
meh
If it's anything like previous attempts at DRM, it will be broken quickly, and with relatively little pain. As much as I like the idea of being able to copy my movies to any format, and move them around, and play them wherever I want, I cannot really fault the MPAA for wanting to keep those rights out of the hands of people who abuse them. I will admit to, on occasion, having downloaded movies, but for the most part, I just buy DVDs. There are a great number of arguments, both for and against file sharing, but the truth is that the MPAA feels sharing is a threat, and is trying to stop it. It will be defeated, like all other such attempts, and the MPAA will go back to the drawing board. I see no reason why we need to have an article on the subject every week.
This isn't bad because it limits freedom or any such nonsense. That's a lot of hot air blown by zealots with lots more free time than brain cells.
This is bad legislation because it attempts to force certain types of technology into existence. While a government program designed to discourage people from engaging in media piracy would be a good thing, mandating that all devices have this built in is simply a way to skirt the issue while appearing to be tackling the problem.
Such a law does not stop what it is intended to stop. Pirates will still be able to break the encryption, replicate the media, and resell it on the open street in lands far away from where American law can reach. This law is useless anywhere other than America.
What you get, instead of stopping piracy, is a mandated standard form of copy encryption and DRM that may or may not be adequate for everyone's needs. Instead of letting the market figure out what forms of DRM will be used, the government decides that it's items A, B, and C that need to be addressed. Nevermind that in the future item B may no longer be useful and item D is not provided for at all.
It's unfortunate that the respectable John Conyers (D) is drafting this bill. I would have expected more from the gentleman.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
They just couldn't keep up and I am sure now they will stop pirating since this law was introduced.
Pirates always follow the law.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Just a definition, from the American Heritage Dictionary:
Fascism is a system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.
For all you Bush-haters, this is not a rant about Bush, because he has zero power to pass laws. This is about members of both major parties in Congress, who regularly put aside their differences to expand the state-granted power of privileged businesses at the direct expense of our rights. This is fascism, by definition, yet we keep saying, "Thank you sir; may I have another?"
The problem is that politicians need pander to voters only on two or three issues, and then are free to do whatever is most profitable to them on all other issues. You might even be able to make the argument that the "major" issues we hear Congress critters rant about (the war, social security, the war, taxes, the war) are simply a smokescreen for the corruption, because it keeps our rights off most peoples' radars.
[ home ]
I'm sure Sony is working on it.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
No, literally. My eyes and ears are the analog hole. I have wetware exploits out the wazoo, and a damn near photogrpahic memory (albeit with some lossy codecs). The only way these copyright cartels are going to be able to legislate these holes closed will be to sew my eyes shut and fill my ears with cement. They should probably cut my fingers off and cut my tongue out while they're at it.
Are we going to stand for this? Are we?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
... Does that mean that if you have a piece of hardware that was created before the new legislation you don't have anything to worry about?
Xserv
"I love lamp."
Yet another piece of legislation that will do nothing to stop the real pirates! Indeed, as *AA imposes more and more restrictions, inconveniences, and expense upon consumers, they will make the cheaper and relatively hassle free offerings of pirates even more compelling. It's been argued before, but it seems all too clear that the most effective way to combat piracy is to offer a better product at a reasonable price. But I guess some people just have to learn the hard way.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
This will stop people who actually want their fair use rights from making their own copies, but will do nothing to stop the people selling pirate copies on the street or the release groups putting the content on the net. I doubt there will be even a single day where releases are stopped because of this.
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
Remember, Wisconsin and Michigan residents, these are your representatives. Unless you support the massive "content creation" in your area, you might want to drop these assholes a note:
http://www.house.gov/sensenbrenner/
http://www.house.gov/conyers/
Oh, and this is how they think on the subject:
Tell them why they are wrong.
WTF is this cryofan talking about?
Well, I hope that copying of copyrighted material IS made impossible. Because when that happens, it means that the content providers will allow the telcos and cable cos to start delivering their content online.
This should bring in another mode of internet connectivity, like wireless, too.
In any event, once content is provided online, PCs will start becoming easily usable for the task of obtaining video online. So lots of people--most Americans probably -- will start getting video online.
THAT IS A VERY IMPORTANT STEP IN THE PROGRESS OF BREAKING THE GRIP OF TOP DOWN COMMUNICATIONS IN AMERICA.
Ever thought about why Americans have to work 2000 hours a year to survive, and for practical purposes cannot get longterm healthcare unless they are working? But most west European countries are not this way.
Well, Americans have been under the grip of ideological hegemony for decades now. THat means that the mass media has been effectively used by the elite players in America so that Americans do not operate their own country for their own best interests, but instead for the interests of capital. Capital owns labor to a great extent in America. And we pay for it.
But if video content were commonly obtained online by most Americans, and with video content getting easier to make (edit video and sound with FREE software on your cheap computer), that means that radical political views can be easily disseminated to most America. And when I say radical, I don't mean the race and gender oriented identity politics of the democrats. And I don't mean socialism per se, but instead economics-oriented anarchist-related themes that are really at the root of the cultural differences between W europe and America.
Once these ideas are disseminated to most Americans in a video format, things should start to change.
And with that, neoliberalism should begin to die....
eat shiat and bark at the moon
So it applies to consumer electronics.
Not kits? How about components? Hardware hackers will be making money on the side selling stuff. Or maybe the Chinese will just make it and sell it.
Also, I remember how easy it was to mod a scanner in '93 to make it pick up cellphone signals -- just remove a single SMT resistor. This was the work of minutes. And voila -- full band reception.
So easily modded consumer goods (whatever that is) will be banned too.
This looks to be tough to enforce.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Keep on making shitty movies and music that suck ass, and you'll kill all motivation to illegally copy them. This is the real solution, and the MP/RI-AA is a lot closer to it than they realize.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
I just don't get it, either US are a nation of fools or the don't give a f** about what their legal autorities do (yes you're supposed to have democracy out there, then go change the government). That's the most stupid bill one could ever imagine, gladly I live in Europe
Someone will try to apply this to the internet to regulate what you read.
the ascreen you read is an analog hole for information, y'know.
I am trying to be sarcastic, but I can see how the trend line is going.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
I foresee the return of the good old days that hardware hackers soldered together their own hardware to be able to hack certain systems (mainly ma Bell had to suffer from this). All these protection schemes are vulnerable to the "uber"hackers and commercial pirates alike.
And for "old" equipment: HD-DVD, Blu-ray or any other new storage medium needs the backing of the recording & film industry to get of the ground. If necessary they will start a new standard incompatible with all the older equipment if it meets their requirements.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
Not so much because these systems can be broken, but because it's yet another way to criminalise what you have the right for to do today. This combined with illegal evesdropping, data retention laws and other BS makes for the perfect toolset to turn each and every one of us into criminals.
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
is how this can possibly work. You can always ship your device with firmware that complies with the law. But if you wink-wink don't protect your firmware with tampering in any way, it will be very quickly hacked to remove any protection. There is no realistic way to stop a company from shipping a device that people with a tiny-bit of competence (i.e. being able to update their firmware) cannot use to circumvent drm. And since the people with some degree of competence are presumably the ones recording and distributing all these television shows (with commercials taken out), then what is to stop them? These sword/shield wars between "pirates" and content providers will enventually get resolved through technical inovation one way or another. The law will change nothing.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
Terminology descriptions for those that do not know or do not speak English natively:
legislation - conversation amongst lawmakers and people in power to perpetuate their power through making new laws (see circular reasoning)"Analog Hole" - Hole does not have particularly positive connotation,but the denotation is pretty benign. It just means a void, butsometimes a void is not good such as a hole in an argument (unlike circular reasoning). Analog means parallel or "old school" electronicsspeak where the signals are much more like the real world, especially interms of audio and video signals, but digital signals that are quantizedor algorithmically fuzzed encoded of analog signals is currentlyprefered because it is easier to manipulate with digital electronics andit has little to no signal loss when being transferred from one device to another. "Analog Hole" is a term used to increase the validity of end users' ability to copy material that is much easier to copy digitally except the people that "own" the data don't like people to copy it because it threatens their business model of profit of content distribution even though people are more than willing to distribute content for free or at a much lower price than the people that do it
now. This is a very similar job of those that do legislation.
"last-ditch pirating mechanism" - another term to increase the validity of end users' skill and ability to copy content without the permission
of the people that try to make a profit off of content distribution.
Pirate used to be associated with people that used to rob ships at sea.
For some reason, this is not much of an occupation despite the lack of
physical or legal protection of goods on ships. Pirates today are more
known for distributing digital content without the consent of those
that try to profit from distributing digital content. "last-ditch" is a
strange term meaning a desperate attempt to do something that has not
been successfully done through more conventional means (see last-resort)
DRM - aka Digital Rights Management. A funny term to describe a way
for those who try to make a profit from distributing digital content by
making it more difficult to distribute digital content (see eliptical
reasoning)
I hope this clears things up, and that it gets seen as a post on
slashdot.org because it is something that actually took time and effort
to think about so it will be placed lower in the ordered list of
quicker, less thought out posts of others.
It must be Tuesday, I could never get the hang of Tuesdays.
Don't ask why the formatting is weird.
The current laws don't seem to be stoping the traders. New laws from a slightly different angle will not help.
The analog hole will always exist as long as 'we' amature musicians can buy microphones and 'us' engineers can buy or design data aquisition hardware (MP3's are just data points). Can't wait to make my PIC based Analog to digital converter/recorder.
People who have more freedom than US citizens will not be affected.
No, I did not RTFA. Maybe I'll go back and do it now.
The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
"Encoded Video Invisible Light"?(EVIL)
"Video Invisible Light Encoded"?(VILE)
I forgot that the lack of pirates is proof that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is real (see intelligent design or read the book "What is wrong with Kansas"
Doing This Can't Stop Anything
Distrustful Thieving Corporations' Self-Annihilation
Doesn't The Congress Seem Absurd
DAMN! I haven't heard a political rant like that since the self-righteous '60s!
When you want something built, come see me. If you want correct grammar and spelling, get a F*ing liberal arts student.
This really won't solve anything. All it will do is raise prices for consumers who have to buy new stuff. The manufacturers will pass the costs on to the customers. Meanwhile, all the old equipment will continue to be used for another 100 years to break their system. There's some really old electronics that still work, and there's no reason why they couldn't continue to work, for many years to come. I'd like to see the cost of implementing this on cheap (read $50 and under) video devices, in a way that couldn't be tampered with. If you can just get a mod chip to bypass the system, or maybe even just solder a few connections, what will be the use of the law. And what will be the effects when only US electronics need to have the system in place. Could there be tons of Americans jumping the Canadian border, to get their hands on unprotected canadian merchandise?
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
"Video Encoded Invisible Light (VEIL)"
Seriously? Are they taking the piss or just humourless drones? I bet there was a big boardroom argument to get the first two letters transposed and get the phrase "satanic blackness" changed to "invisible light" LMFAO! I can picture these scary weirdos now, rushing home to put on their black leather Darth Vader costumes. Sorry honey I'm gonna have to lock you down! These MPAA and RIAA folk are cases straight from the phychiatrists textbook.
I dare say that this can be done - while not lossless - in fair quality.
Message to the dopes, which cook up such schemes: At one point you have to convert a signal to analog for human consumption. The only way to avoid this is to kill all your customers. I am fully aware that you are working hard on criminalizing them, but don't you jokers think that you may even get into trouble with your chums in congress if you start killing off people?
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
Such a law does not stop what it is intended to stop. Pirates will still be able to break the encryption, replicate the media, and resell it on the open street in lands far away from where American law can reach. This law is useless anywhere other than America.
.i.e. share. These restrictions, along with big warnings along the lines of "You cannot record this program", "you do not have permission...." "It is an offense..." etc, etc, all reinforce the idea in his head that a video or sound recording is not his/hers. It is still someone elses, despite copyright law and any monies he/she may have paid for the product.
This law is in no way designed to go after the big guys. It's all about the small fish and keeping them in check.
Essentially the TV and Movie industry is terriffied that what happened to the music industry will happen to them. I.e., people will stop viewing entertainment as a commodity. Or at the very least, people will realise that the prices they pay for it are unreasonable.
How does this law try to change that? Essentially it makes it more difficult for Joe Consumer to view his music, movies, films, tv shows, etc as something he can do what he likes with,
The movie industry is afraid of what's already happened. New technologies have made people realise that information is cheap, and even cheaper to duplicate. There is no justification for charging $20 per gigabyte when I can upload terrabytes for less than a dollar. And people have realised this. Even Joe sixpack cops it after a few days in front of his computer.
But, if you can legislate, you can slow this tide and perhaps even reverse it. It is possible. Rhetoric won't make people revolt. An example of this system failing, but having lasting effects, is alcohol prohibition in the 30's. An example of this system working well( for its proponents) is the illegalisation of marijuana.
May the Maths Be with you!
The only real solution: copy-protect the actual audio output from the speakers, say by adding a high-energy ultrasonic screech which instantly obliterates all recording devices within hearing range.
I think it's clear to everyone that they're using the video signal to carry data, but they're not forthcoming with any real details on how they're doing it. Anyone have any ideas? I would guess luminosity modulation, but that wouldn't really be 'invisible to the human eye,' it would likely be 'unnoticed by the human brain.' IM!HO, their site is long on PR and short on tech. Which makes me wonder if it's not easily bypassed.
An interesting bit of fluff from their 'technology' page is this:
--
.sig not found, <A>bort, <R>etry, <P>ost anyway?
This won't stop the professional pirates, who have ALWAYS been able to break any sort of crypto and produce clean DIGITAL copies, and who will ALWAYS be able to do so.
It won't stop the kiddiez from pirating stuff onto Kazaa or through BitTorrent. Maybe at first they'll have to produce the files through literally aiming a video camera at their monitor and using a stereo microphone for sound... but I seriously doubt it.
This bill won't do a goddamned thing. It's a waste of our lawmakers' time and energy.
With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
Star Wreck: In The Perkinning.
The music industry has had this problem for five or six years now - artists no longer need them, either for recording or distribution, since the price of recording is the price of a computer+whatever musical equipment they already need to play music.
P2P and internet radio give these artists a chance for the world to hear them, which is why the established labels (RIAA) have effectively outlawed both methods of distribution. The labels still control radio and empty-v.
Now with that hilarious Star Treck/Babylon IV spoof, the movie studios have the same problem. Corporations hate competetion and especially hate being beaten by "we, the people," and they hate nothing more than "power to the people."
It's bad enough that American corporations can buy US legislation, but the fact that foreigners like Sony and Universal can as well is truly disgusting.
Will it take an armed revolution to get our country back from these greedy foreigners who control our government?
-mcgrew (mcgrew.info/blog)
MRC="goodwill". Merry xmas, corporate whores.
Fair use is one of those things that we've always taken for granted. The last episode of Seinfeld is broadcast at 4:00pm - we record it to VHS (at a lower quality), and watch whenever we want. 95% of their customer base uses it for personal use, they don't sell it, and its their right.
Fast foward 15 years, and users are doing it with TIVO and PVR's, same rights, same process, same result. They aren't selling it, they are using it fairly for personal use.
NOW the mafia wants to close the "loop-hole" of fair use, and try and restrict Americans Rights - GOD I'm glad I live in Canada. MythTV in the US? The hardware is about to be made illegal, TIVO? Illegal - or useless. Windows Media Center? Illegal - see a pattern?
They will pass a law making it illegal to even watch or listen to it
[That should solve the problem]
Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. Will Rogers
Video Encoded Invisible Light (VEIL)
How about Encoded Video - Invisible Light (EVIL)
or Video Invisible Light Encoded (VILE)
No? Sounds more apropos to me.
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
The old alarm date was July 1, 2005. Luckily the courts came to our rescue, and struck down the FCC's ability to impose the broadcast flag. Then there was the August scare, and I believe there was another legislative scare in there, somewhere. Now there's this one.
I do plan to write to my Representative and Senators, but at the moment, I know Leahy is squarely in the media camp, "to help the artists." (He does write back, and that's part of his pro-DRM argument.) So I know my next letter to him has to include at least "Courtney Love Does the Math" as well as the Slashdot story on RIAA shorting artists on royalties.
But I fear it's just a matter of time, if not this bill, they're going to keep trying. So I know my new alarm date to buy an HDTV card is 1+ year in the future. I have no HDTV gear, and our area only has 4 or 5 channels available, so it's worthless to me, except to future-proof my capabilities.
So I'll keep track of PCHDTV and Air2PC enhancements, and begin checking out the Fusion stuff more.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Very interesting. Nice usage of buzzwords like death knell and cryofan, whatever that is.
TOP DOWN COMMUNICATIONS? Bravo!
I'm looking forward for your online video, whereby thy Words will be spouted onto the billions. But why wait, why not just make a video with sub $1000-equipment now and offer it as a download on a website?
Oh wait.. Troll. Yes. To delightful horrors of children everywhere, A new kindred has been born.
+5 FUNNY people!!
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
Presumably all this VEIL technology is patented to the hilt. If it is made compulsory for all consumer TVs in the US, is there any chance that someone might get very rich on the royalties? That wouldn't be a motivation for such legislation, would it?
Paul "Say no to feeping creaturism"
And once again I won't be able to use the crap I buy and I'll simply start using hacked versions.
According to Reps. Sensenbrenner and Conyers, the legislation is absolutely necessary because of the dire threat PCs and the Internet pose to the content-creation industry's very livelihood. Apparently, it's not nimble enough to keep up with advances in technology.
Who cares whether an obsolete industrial business model can keep up? When cars came along, laws occasionally were enacted requiring a flag person to walk in front of them so as not to scare horses. Didn't last long. Now film and plastic are fighting for their lives. Their best "argument" from the customer's perspective is that everything will look amateurish if we put big content out of business. Please. Like Participant Productions is amateurish. Even amateurish-looking Blair Witch proved the value of story and cultural savvy. As Steve Jobs' old dream of everyone being able to make a film or music album and share it instantly with the world is realized, there will be way more great stories, song and art out there than there are today. Filtering mechanisms (review blogs and the like) are already getting great exposure for the good stuff. I even made a decent living for five years creating and selling non-copy-protected original art directly to fans online. People are making money, some of them quite a lot of money. Especially the "content industry," but they're afraid their long run of protected profit is over. So they try to keep the rest of us down, and end up looking more backward than those who wanted flags to warn the horsies.
I'm afraid that dark days are a head where even searching for ways to break copyrights will be labled as techno-terrorism, just as the exploits of PETA and Green Peace are now being labled as eco-terrorism and thus have come under the umbrella of DHS rather than local law jurisdiction.
Please mod me 1 or troll. It's where the truth is these days, even on Slashdot. Beware the power of moderators everywh
So the analog-to-digital channel is denied -- big deal! How many times have I passed vendors in the NYC subway hawking copies of movies that have just been released in theatres in cheesy cases with obviously color-copied covers? As long as you can afford a digitial video camcorder, DVDs, and a burner, you can copy movies or TV or whatever. Who needs analog?
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
While I agree that whatever DRM tech they foist on us will eventually be broken or bypassed (through the a-hole or wherever), the real problem is that it will be illegal to do so.
This pushes such activities into the 'underground', so fair-use rights for millions of Joe and Jane Blows go out the window.
Working around DRM, software activation, etc., just perpetuates and worsens the problem.
Fortunately, there *has* to be a breaking point. Screwing over early-adopters who have $5,000 HDTVs without HDMI inputs was a good start on that path. Maybe plugging up our a-holes will get us that much further.
No country, no government lasts forever...
FIXME: Add a sig here
PLUG THE ANAL LOG HOLE! heheh... PLUG IT NOW!!!
The publishing industry can't swoop down out of the ether to erase the words printed on a page, and the content itself is usually lightyears above the visual crap Hollywood has been pushing lately. Plus, it hurts the MPAA and television in the one place they actually care about: their wallets.
Last time this bill came up I said this, and I'll say it again.
I don't think the industry or anyone expects it to pass. I think they expect it to fail, and then they'll get a lesser, though still not acceptable, bill passed that does what the industry really wants.
Because let's be honest, all you're going to do with this bill is piss people off. You want to get people up in arms? Get between them and their TV. See how long you live.
Why do you think the digital TV transition, which was supposed to occur in just over a year, has now been pushed to 2009? The people in Washington don't want people to be able to point to them and say "THEY KILLED TV!"
In-Brain computer does a BSOD... Imagine the glazed-over look someone would have on their face then.
Oh, wait... Most kids today look like that already. I guess we'd need some other way to tell!
Can't consumers make analogue to digital transfers pretty easily?
Complicated, silicon solutions aside, my father-in-law, who doesn't know how to send email, figured out how to digitize his old 8mm films on his own - point a digicam at the screen.
Last time I checked, I didn't have an organic usb port in the back of my head, so at some point the digital signals have to be converted to light and sound, and neither of them can be DRMd without making the whole system useless, because unless they are going to make home studios and digital cameras illegal they can't stop us from recording it.
When will they learn that DRM is a deterant not a solution? Not least of all, its an incentive to others, who break it 'because they can'.
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
I see the major sponsor is once again, Rep. Francis James Sensenbrenner, Jr. What is with people in Wisconsin that vote for this authoritarian leaning man ?
He is also pushing legislation again, the third time to force states to sign this Driver License Agreement through HR4437 which requires states to interlink motor vehicle databases not only within the US but with Canada & Mexico.
This arrogant man needs to be fired from his job !
I fully support this bill, becuase I think the anal hole should be plugged as soon as possible!
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
We don't have any customers.
We have Theives that we treat like shit, While That pour money into our pockets.
We shouldn't be surprised at the way things are heading. In the analog days, natural limits were imposed on both corporations and customers, which now thanks for technology advancements are gone (i.e. perfect digital copy).
Digital Technology is just a world without set rules waiting for someone to set them. Corporations can program their way to dictatorship, but we can also program our way to freedom.
At the end, I think people will win since they are too many enthusiasts which will be willing to provide DRM free content as an opposition to the entertainment industry. In a global world, not only bad news come fast.
If this gets passed, nobody outside the USA will want to buy American made hardware.
In terms of TVs and other consumer hardware, this might not hurt too much - it's all made by the Japanese and Koreans anyway. However, if this nonsense gets integrated into computer hardware, it would spell the end of any export sales for such equipment.
And as other posters have commented - it won't stop the dedicated.
This is fascism, by definition, yet we keep saying, "Thank you sir; may I have another?"
I agree with the latter, but not the former. As the quoted definition says, fascism has a "dictator" which is someone who convinces up to many millions of people that he (or never to date that I know of, a she) rules almost exclusively, and usually is pretty nasty to people of their country and others as well. Mentioning Hitler automatically lowers ones perceived knowledge and respect based on common knowledge, but he is the most well known, and probably the nastiest of all fascists.
Bush, although I don't believe he is a man in power says silly stuff.
Yesteday, he said "On the political side, we know that free societies are peaceful societies, so we're helping the Iraqis build a free society with inclusive democratic institutions that will protect the interests of all Iraqis." I thought of immediately moving to Iraq in order to have freedom and to live in a peaceful society, but my intuition and all of the other junk that I have heard from other people makes me believe that Iraq is not very free or peaceful.
I've got other things to do now while I get moderated between flamebate, insightful, and troll.
Clothing that causes recording devices to perceive the content management signal. If enough people wear it to be an inconvieniece to recorders, perhaps the lawmakers will reconsider...Yeah, one can hope.
The price of a Congressman really isn't all that much. A mere 35 grand can buy you a a republican and democrats will whore themselves out to you for substantially less. I suppose if you looked at most lawmakers with that site, the TV/Movie/Music industry would be in the top 10 contributors list for most of them...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Right. Technology has made content production much easier, and the little guy (read independant films in the movie context) is becoming a threat to the big guys. We need a legally enforced "content protection" mechanism that is unavailable to the little guy unless he signs with the big guys... Independants will get ripped off unless they pay their protection money to get the big guys DRM.
This pig will never fly because this technology doesn't add value for the customer. Customers just need to pay more for technology that enables to do what they already can do.
That rights signaling system would consist of two DRM technologies, Video Encoded Invisible Light (VEIL) and Content Generation Management System--Analog (CGMS-A), which would be embedded in broadcasts and other analog video content.'"
So the copyrighted material consists of Music, as well as two DRM technologies? If I were to remove the DRM technologies, would it be the same material? Would the copyright still hold for the modified material as it would for an analog version of the same?
Fortunately, Rep. Boucher of VA is on the committee (Committee Members). Of the current members of the House, he has demonstrated that he "gets" it WRT fair use and DRM.
At least, there's a voice.
The little guy just ain't getting it, is he?
... as long as one proviso is added. In addition to requiring all consumer devices to honor the copyright protection system, the law must also require all consumer devices to honor all of the exceptions codified in current copyright law. In particular, devices need to detect and permit Fair Use as well as reproduction of content whose term of copyright protection has expired. The things that copyright law allows are just as important as the things it restricts, so if you're going to require device manufacturers to build devices that enforce the law, they need to enforce *all* of the law, not just most of it.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Anyone who seriously wants to record HDTV and has a modicum of technical knowledge can bypass all this cruft. Fast A/D converters on the RGB drivers and scan circuitry of an HDTV set plus some code to convert the raw voltages back into pixel data would do it. The same thing in the digital domain would work for LCD drive signals. VEIL, HDMI and other encryption systems will do bupkis to prevent recording at this level because it's directly at the point of display and that HAS to be unencrypted for himan beings to make sense of the visual and auditory data.
ELVIS is an acronym for LIVES
Just how did you conflate "helping the Iraqis build" -- as in: 'not done yet' -- with "immediately moving" -- as in: it's already done?
I'm really curious, what hardware is made in america these days?
Actually current United States' "fascism" is more similar to the Iberian fascism of Salazar (Portugal) and Franco (Spain) than it is to either Mussolini or Hitler. And actually they were much more successful as a fascist regime (more than 50 years in power) than were their axis counterparts.
Well, lots of people pay 20$ a gigabyte here in Uruguay.
Our state-owned ISP charges 490 uruguayan pesos (around 22 dollars) for a giga a month internet access contract, at 256kBps . Unmetered service, with half a MB throughput is around 50 dollars a month. But that's too expensive. Luckily cable companies are starting to realize there's money to be made in that area, and will start competing.
Here it's much cheaper to rent a DVD for 1.5 dollars, and just copy it, or buy CD copies for 1.5 dollars a CD right on the street. Awful spanish accent audio-translated bootleg copies, of course, but cheaper than downloading the movies yourself.
Maybe China would be interested this sort of technology. I mean its pretty cool that it does all this content protection stuff, but imagine the ease at which governments could control what people see and here with this technology! Together with Cisco helping censor a billion people, maybe China can finally get a handle on information coming into the country?
... which consumer rights do you want to junk today ?
Shouldnt it be Encoded Video Invisible Light (EVIL) instead of Video Encoded Invisible Light (VEIL)? :P
"US House Judiciary Committee"
OK, so the people that could and should be pursuing articles of impeachment against President Bush for his illegal domestic wiretaps are instead spending their time whoring themselves out to the MPAA?
Maybe they should look into enforcing existing laws every once in a while instead of writing new and needless laws.
The solution to this is to STOP BUYING THEIR CRAP, not to complain that it hurts and then bend over again.
You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
Sounds like a helluva idea for a reality tv show.
So, VEIL is basically the Captain Power toys from the 80s? Rad. I can't wait for all the characters in movies and television to have the seizure-inducing red bits on their armour.
Seriously, though, am I the only one that sees a conflict of interest in legally requiring patented, proprietary technology to be used by everyone who manufactures a particular class of device?
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
Here is a link:http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembershi p.aspx
Here is a list of names and states they represent..... If you care about this topic take the time to write them and let them know how stupid this is.
Hon. Hyde(R) Illinois, 6th
Hon. Coble(R) North Carolina, 6th
Hon. Smith(R) Texas, 21st
Hon. Gallegly(R) California, 24th
Hon. Goodlatte(R) Virginia, 6th
Hon. Chabot(R) Ohio, 1st
Hon. Lungren(R) California, 3rd
Hon. Jenkins(R) Tennessee, 1st
Hon. Cannon(R) Utah, 3rd
Hon. Bachus(R) Alabama, 6th
Hon. Inglis(R) South Carolina, 4th
Hon. Hostettler(R) Indiana, 8th
Hon. Green(R) Wisconsin, 8th
Hon. Keller(R) Florida, 8th
Hon. Issa(R) California, 49th
Hon. Flake(R) Arizona, 6th
Hon. Pence(R) Indiana, 6th
Hon. Forbes(R) Virginia, 4th
Hon. King(R) Iowa, 5th
Hon. Feeney(R) Florida, 24th
Hon. Franks(R) Arizona, 2nd
Hon. Gohmert(R) Texas, 1st
Hon. Berman(D) California, 28th
Hon. Boucher(D) Virginia, 9th
Hon. Nadler(D) New York, 8th
"(I) have this unfortunate condition that causes me not to believe a single thing any politician says when a mic's on.
Damn slashdot filter wouldn't let me finish the list... Here is the resti p.aspx
again this is from:http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembersh
Hon. Scott(D) Virginia, 3rd
Hon. Watt(D) North Carolina, 12th
Hon. Lofgren(D) California, 16th
Hon. Jackson Lee(D) Texas, 18th
Hon. Waters(D) California, 35th
Hon. Meehan(D) Massachusetts, 5th
Hon. Delahunt(D) Massachusetts, 10th
Hon. Wexler(D) Florida, 19th
Hon. Weiner(D) New York, 9th
Hon. Schiff(D) California, 29th
Hon. Sánchez(D) California, 39th
Hon. Van Hollen(D) Maryland, 8th
Hon. Wasserman Schultz(D) Florida, 20th
"(I) have this unfortunate condition that causes me not to believe a single thing any politician says when a mic's on.
I create a movie. I licence it under Creative Commons licensing. I want it to be free to the public.
Since the "analog hole" will now be closed, does this also mean that whatever I release be DRMed in some way to prevent analog copying?
I'm releasing my work that I own the copyright to in analog and digital form specifically to be copied, downloaded, recorded and shared. Does this make me, the copyright holder a criminal?
How long will it be before the creation of [enter type of digital content here] be specifically licenced?
- something to think about.
- Just my $0.02, take with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary.
They are real glad they didn't go with their original name.
activestudios web design
Maybe at first they'll have to produce the files through literally aiming a video camera at their monitor and using a stereo microphone for sound... but I seriously doubt it.
Yeah, that would be silly!
Just how did you conflate "helping the Iraqis build" -- as in: 'not done yet' -- with "immediately moving" -- as in: it's already done?
That was not my intention. My point was twofold. First, anybody that alludes or explicitly says to the fact that the United States is a peaceful country is either a liar, misinformed, or stupid. Second, although the United States still has a number of freedoms left, they are being eroded fairly quickly. To my knowledge, the changes to the rights and freedoms of "regular" US citizens over the past 5 years has not been previously done in US history to the degree, frequency, and magnitude than in any other half a decade. I say "regular" because the government used to differentiate more between "regular" (ie, white males) and "other" citizens (eg, females and minorities) much more overtly than they do today.
I'm almost amused that at least 2 of my 3 predictions came true with my grandparent post. I got troll and insightful, but not flamebate. I also forgot that I would get the nebulous "overrated" which I assume is mostly reserved for the slashdot staff to keep controversy out of public view, which may in turn help me in the future.
US House Judiciary Committee this past week seeks to plug "Anal. Hole". Several congressmen have been interested in the "Anal. Hole" issue, and have been reported as commenting that the Anal. Hole was brought to their attention by lobbyists and they will lick the problem immediately.
-Styopa
The good thing is that the analog hole is really unpluggable. I mean analog is still recordable if the device ignores the the codes. And you can't prevent someone hooking into your speaker wires. When are they going to learn that it's a losing battle?
If you see spelling or grammatical errors don't blame me. I tried to preview but IE here at work borked the CSS
Wait! I have it! A solution! Let's just put DRM in the Transistors, Capacitors, Resistors and possibly even the Wires themselves!
So, a transistor will have the normal 3 pins, plus 3 to 6 extra pins for the DRM!
A Capacitor, normally two pins, will need 4 extra to ensure it's only operating within its designated range.
A normal wire, once DRM enhanced, could have 2 extra conductors to insure its compliance with DRM approved resistance and impedence factors.
Once every transistor in an LCD panel is made safe by DRM, then we will have peace in the middle east.
that entertainment will slip out from the big companies' hands. Suddenly people will start producing creative-commons TV shows, and broadcast them over the internet.
Plus, there is a tiny detail these companies have forgotten: They can't lobby other countries. Try passing a law that forbids analog recording in Venezuela, Argentina, Indonesia or Hong Kong (not to mention the great dragon).
What will happen when the average american finds himself at disadvantage with other countries?
If TV companies insist on closing the doors to their own viewers, suddenly they'll realize they only locked themselves out.
Smart move, really.
Funny enough, that sort of thing isn't reserved to just cheap knockoffs. Take, for example, the Yamaha S2500. That's Yamaha's top of the line DVD player. MSRP is $750, street price is probably around $500. Ultra high-end components, DVD Audio playback, etc, etc. Ultra high end in other words. However, a brief search on the net reveals that it has a region hack built in. Just enter some codes on the remote, and like magic, no region lock.
The real lockdown could happen right now if the industries actually embraced technology like the internet. All you need to do is embed an individualized watermark in a movie or sound file that can survive most A/D conversions. Then you just download the files on P2P and sue the person who ripped it (you know who they are because when you apply the watermarks you save the customer info).
The coding can be varied regularly before tools are developed to remove it, so only 'old' content can be copied without fear of lawsuit. But even then you have to wonder what 'stealth code' is in the movie that hasn't been detected yet. I mean it took like 20 years to analyze the laser printer codes. It could be as simple as missing frames scattered though a movie, or turning off the 'pitch correction machine' for a split second on Brittainy cds.
What with the push for storyline patents, you may at some point in the future, simply be restricted from speaking about the film, since it involves revealing elements, whose likeness, sequence, and context are "owned" by someone. Revealing anything would become tantamount to revealing trade secrets.
Welcome to the United States of Amerikorp.
I mean, who makes ADCs? I can think of four companies:
Texas Instruments (usually under the name Burr-Brown), Analog Devices, Cirrus Logic, and Asahi Kasei (AKM in the US). Of those, three are US firms, one is Japanese.
Now those may not be the only companies, but if you look at the hardware you own, I bet you find all of it uses converters from one of those four sources. If they all get on board with something like this, could be real hard to find a non-DRM source.
About the only way to stop the D/A problem.
The A/D problem, they can attack that side..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
...is create a black market economy. The tighter they squeeze, the more grains of sand will slip through their fingers.
First, copyright should be changed to expire in 10 years unless the owner pays a fee every year. That fee should start at the gross fees that the copyrighted material earned in the last year and would double every year thereafter.
Second, the devices must be changed to allow copying of any non-copyrighted material.
I think this is a reasonable trade off.
My father listened to records, I listen to CDs. My son listens to MP3s, and his son will listen to records.
There's a Starman, waiting in the sky / He'd like to come and meet us, but he hasn't got the time.
All one has to do is generate a VEIL signal, and they can become invisible to surveillance cameras. I wonder if playing a protected DVD on a portable player will disable a surveillance camera or will one be better served by building a standalone veil signal generator. I am willing to bet that the Department of Homeland "Security" will have something to say about this law helping terrorists. We live in interesting times ;-)
I sense a bit of Tivo-envy on the part of the **AAs. Heck, Tivo is the only way many people have even seen many of these shows. Tivo has been a promoter of shows, in a way not entirely dissimilar from the original incarnation of Napster did for CDs.
If I can't catch important individual shows in a series that I was duped into watching in the first place by carefully edited teasers, then I probably won't watch the show at all. More time for me. I feel my brain rot healing already.
Soon the **AAs will discover that analog holes exist in books, music instruments, and live stages. Hmmm... can't have entertainment that isn't copy-protected. Maybe movie and music reviews will have to be controlled, too... they're contributing to the decline of DVD and CD sales.
An A.Hole Legislation introduced by a bunch of A. Holes?
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
but which are exempt from this stupid law
Up until the point where you (a non-professional) are actually able to buy it, whereupon it instantly becomes illegal to possess, sell, or manufacture.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
..., A/V reciever, speakers, iPod, NC headphones and everything else used to enjoy analog signals. I would not mind keeping all this equipment for at least 10 years as long as it means being able to put SNL on my iPod. I used to think DRM zealots were idots for thinking that they could ever close the analog loop and prevent music that is capable of being listened to from being copied freely. I hope this Bill is shot down on the basis of the enourmous economic hardship it will place on electronics manufacturers.
I'm a professional, and I use "consumer" level devices. What makes a device consumer versus professional? Will professional device makers be forced to sell only to those they have first confirmed have a registered business, lest their devices lose the protection of "professional" status?
Does this apply to cameras?
My understanding from before was that this was something like a dog whistle.
My question is: Is the idea that if you have a digital camera, and you take a picture of your TV-- is your camera supposed to refuse to take a picture of your TV, or monitor, or whatever?
If so, we have much more to be concerned about: Any police that don't want people to take pictures or video tape what they're doing could just turn on the dog whistle.
Or, if you were a thief, you could just bring a DVD playback with you, and all the cams would have to turn off.
what kills me is these freaks actually claim they aren't trying to limit our ability to create by forceing us to buy into some drm system. The wording of the law covers computers and recording equipment, and i dont see how that isn't going to increase the cost and complexity of those devices used for creating the content they claim they are trying to protect. I cant see this being a thing artists would want, and recall Artists' work is what this is all supposedly about. It seems to me that this is a scam to give the MIDDLEMEN a bigger piece of the pie.
I did not see an exception for security cameras. Does this mean that in five years I'll be able to go into a new bank with some LEDs on my hat and the police will have no record of my visit, since their recording gear will refuse to record? Alternately, pirates can always just buy hi-res security cameras to record video. Heck, what happens if someone brings a portable DVD player into the bank? What happens to the security cameras at Best Buy, in the video department?
I'm hoping these A-Holes (no relation to the new legislation) legislate and lock up their product so much that some percentage of people get sick of the hassle and choose instead of entertain themselves in other ways. Talk to friends, sing, play an instrument, play tag, play soccer, have sex, paint a painting, play with clay, play cards... wow the list seems endless. Who knew all these forms of entertainment existed?!
And no, I am not one of those people without a TV. I have a TV and every few days I watch something my TIVO has waiting for me.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
the ascreen you read is an analog hole for information, y'know.
Not anymore
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
>And thus Hollywood is protected against independent filmmakers able to make good movies on the cheap
>entering their market.
Here's the real clincher, and if I were giving the MPAA types high credit for brains, this is what I'd peg as the real reason for the legislation. Instead, they produce so much CRAP that they don't deserve the credit for thinking this cleverly. So I suspect they're asking for what they really want, for the reason they really gave.
The real issue, according to the US Constitution:
To promote invention and the arts, artists and inventors are granted limited exclusive rights to their works. Most of us think that the purpose of this is twofold. First, to get them funding so they can keep inventing or artisting. Second, the patent/copyright was supposed to expire, so future inventors/artists can build on that work. So the real issue in the entire current copyright brouhaha should be how do we insure that artists are properly compensated so they can keep creating.
At the base of all of this, electronic communications, as embodied by the Internet, has turned the concept of publication on its ear. It has reduced the incremental cost of copying information to zero. Yet we still have publication industries in place, trying desperately to preserve their existence. So in an Orwellian turn, these publication industries, especially ??AA, are spending an incredible amount of time *preventing* publication. In truth, the "replication" portion of the publication industry is pretty well obsolete, leaving the "studio," "editorial," "promotional," and other such functions. Well, even the "studio" function is diminshed as electronics makes many of those capabilities much more affordable. One could argue about the fine line between "promotional" and "payola", and one could also argue, given the quality of today's media about how well they're doing with "editorial."
But this is ALL about protecting a business model. Last I knew, there was no protection in the Constitution for business models. It just needs to be exposed as this.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
I can't imagine Apple would like this. This bill requires two digital-copying-protection systems, and Apple already has their own DRM system. Besides, Apple tends to like letting people move their own personal video content around -- they sell content through the iTunes store, but they're also the content-creation system for an awful lot of people. Do Apple really want to spend the time and money to implement this crap for all their Macs and iPods?
You know, the way the MPAA/RIAA resorts to new and desparate DRM technology that is "unbreakable" and will "stop piracy" kind of reminds me of the behavior of a compulsive gambler. The gambler always loses against the house (hackers) and continously resorts to increasingly desparate and self-destructive behavior.
In an unrelated comment, I wonder if the manufacuters will embrace this as a way to effortlessly sell a whole new generation of equipment or resist due to costs of retooling.
...says
From the actual dictionary:
Fascism a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. b. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government. 2. Oppressive, dictatorial control.
That's not quite the same thing, is it? Did you, per chance, think you could just slip through a random definition (blatantly made up); throw a few (admittedly largely well deserved) insults, and get some instant "Karma".
Well, I guess you succeeded in getting the "Karma".
--- My dad's political betting
I sell thousands of products from major manufacturers (ABB, Tyco, Flowserve, and others). Every single one of my manufacturer's gets castings and machined parts from China. I deal in heavy industry-type items. Valves, piping, pumps, etc.
The parent post is dead-on. Back in the early to mid-90's, the castings and machining was sub-par out of China. Nowadays, that is NOT the case. The products coming from China are excellent. World-class, in fact. And guess who's jobs those used to be? Yep. Americans.
Apparently, it's a hard sell to say "I am worth $50/hour", when the company can go to China and pay much less -- with the same quality. Go figure.
The only downside is the delivery times. It takes time to get that stuff in from China and as such, the JIT (just in time) model, blows up. But who cares if you can sell it at 40% less than it takes to make it here stateside.
Oh, man! I'm going to have to buy the White Album again?
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Pirates can just skip the DRM'd consumer electronics and use the professional stuff they probably already have.
The CPUs that come in today's toys and appliances are able to be adapted to do almost anything. Brute force and minimal hardware can be made to do things that yesterday took dedicated processors and million man-hours of programming to do.
Look at today's software radio that can tune literally any channel and/or use any type of encoding scheme. Put that up against a radio station that is sending out DRM tagged audio.
Same thing with video. I have one of the old Timex (Microsoft) data watches - a 1 bit video (bar code) reader on it. The first pictures from Mars were done with similar hardware - 1 pixel camera with rotating mirror to build up a picture over time.
Today's fast chips (and you don't have to purchase a hobbled one from Intel or AMD - you can build your own with GPL VHDL code) can be used to create any camera you want.
All it takes is one person to do it and the rest of the world will know how.
"gee Mr. government man - I was just experimenting" :)
Been there, done that, paid for the T-shirt
and didn't get it
Which is the exact issue that probably motivates a lot of software and movie/music piracy, especially among teenagers and college students...
You basically have a choice: "Equipment" or "Media".
You cannot use one without the other.
You really cannot afford both, if you want decent equipment.
You have to buy the equipment, unless you want to commit a flagrant criminal act.
So the choice often is to buy the equipment (or get it as a gift), and pirate the media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism
I apologize if they misrepresented the dictionary.
[ home ]
What kind of a stupid name is that... just call it a digital watermark!
:-)
Also, besides for some research in very controlled environments, nobody has yet been able to come up with a good watermarking scheme that's 1) is invisible, and 2) not easily removable/corruptable.
For the most part, to remove/corrupt any watermark, you just have to re-watermark the media. Someone gives you a watermarked DVD, you just -re-watermark- it, and all of a sudden, it's ``yours''
So much for this stupid protection.
will be the defenders of our right to copy, don't you think
Same with proposed or already introduced taxes on such things like mp3 players and even harddisks.
The future is now and it is not funny.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
And I apologise too. I thought you'd just made it up. Looks like a troll entered that into Wikipedia.
Cheers, Robert
--- My dad's political betting
In the future that D.J. will face a firing squad.
Used to be nothing unusual, a long lasting news show had an somewhat obscure german song as their intro. Every few months they would just play it whole to give people a chance to record it. Buying it was impossible but hey, who cares. That is 1 euro iTunes won't be seeing times, well at least a dozen people who recorded it.
I can't wait for the revolution to start. My little red book is starting to overflow with names that are on the list.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
An Executive Order carries the weight of law, unless countermanded by a law created by Congress.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Okay so we all need to write to our legislators. Below is the message I'm sending, please feel free to cut/paste.
Dear Representative Smith,
I am writing as one of your constituents to raise an issue of importance to me personally:
Please stuff the Digital Transition Content Security Act of 2005 up your analog hole.
Love, etc.
This is a test of whether or not the US has now become a corporate dictatorship. If this law is passed, I guess it will be final confirmation of the powerlessness of ordinary voters (which I am sure they already feel anyway, given that there is effectively single party, right wing extremist government, sold under two different brand names, but otherwise almost identical)
If they dropped this paranoid campaign and spent half as much on repairing their image as they have on crackpot copy protection schemes that some kid is just going to crack within a week...
Imagine having the power to remove the traumitizing memories of bad movies. I would pay for that service. I'd pay $5 to not remember Showgirls. Another $10 to remove the Blair Witch project forever from my cerebral cortex. But on the flip side it might also be cool to watch Star Wars again like it was a new movie.
Which proves that the American Heritage Dictionary is a piece of revisionist crap. Fascism was invented by Mussolini (who coined the name from a "fasci", a small staff of office used in ancient Rome), and his fascism had no element of racism in it (Mussolini's wife was a Jew). The dictionary is describing Hitler's National Socialism, which has much in common with fascism, but also contains a number of elements that are not in themselves part of it.
NB: I am not an advocate for, or defender of, fascism.
I'm not going to change your sheets again, Mr. Hastings.
One simple change to the copyright law would throw in a big monkey wrench...
Make all works not carrying specific copyright notices behave as copyleft works instead of all rights reserved works.
So, fail to put on a copyright notice and you still get an automatic copyright on your work, but it will carry something like a Creative Commons BY-SA license.
This would give the big boys some pause and what grounds could they object on?
all the best,
drew
-----
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/111123
Tings - A BY-SA Novel for your fun and profit.
1. Publish BY-SA Novel
2. ???
3. Profit!
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
The only way they are going to plug this Analog Hole is to install chips in our brains to decrypt the encrypted audio that comes out of our speakers.
It could be a real boon to the industry...they could make everybody in the room pay separately to listen to your stereo. If they don't pay, all they hear is annoying noise...something along the lines of Wilson Phillips set to a polka beat.
I have more fiendish ideas along these lines...I want to be Sony's Evil Minion when I grow up.
The broadcasters are dying, just dying, as media changes
FROM a
centrally controlled,
extremely high-cost of entry,
FCC licenced,
low latency-needing,
limited bandwidth source,
'you have to watch it there and then' (1) type of medium
TO a
broadband, (near infinite packet-switched bandwidth,)
Google to find it,
download it and listen/watch it when you want to,
packet switching type of content delivery system
that we can now we get just from using the 'net.
I have a friend who, like your brother, is a gigabyte RAID owning, DVD burning geek who is getting his TV shows commercial-free from the internet or from rips over-the-air without including the ads.
But all the shows that he can get from the 'net or that he can ripp from the air waves keep getting shorter and shorter as the 'commercial' carriers snip at the content to extract more and more money from more and more commercials.
That's when the shows aren't cancelled completely to produce shows that cost less to make but can still 'guarantee' ears and eyeballs, mostly because there's no alternative (even Cable is limited to 175 chanels max.)
That means that the commectial air waves are limited to a maximum of 175 x 1,440 (252,000) revenue producing minutes of air time per day.
Compare that to the quasi-infinite quantity of commercial and commercial-free, quality content that independent producers (who right now have to compete with each other for the air time,) could sell over the 'net directly to consumers.
The broadcasters are quaking in their boots because, at some point, probably quite soon now, those independent content producers, (the same ones that are locked in dog-eat-dog competition with other to get their content aired,) are just going to find their funding directly on the 'net and then sell their content directly on the 'net, for what they need to cover their production costs.
When the content producers realize that they can do what they want, which is produce their content, leave it on a server somewhere, and solicit their viewers directly for payment to download it and pod it, look for big changes in funding for the arts.
They will start by selling their back catalog, get enough money to produce new content, and sell that content too.
The only content that that doesn't work for is sports or other competitive activities where its a timed event. (Then again, they can sell 'highlights' of any game long after the competition is over.)
Look for content to expand to horse, dog, cat and other 'fancier' shows, which are rarely, except for the largest of these, which creates an 'event', covered by snippets on the news, despite their wide appeal.
The beauty of podcasting is that the content is available for as long as the server is. And if the content is available, content producers can make money from it.
Broadcasters, with their measly 252,000 minutes per day to sell ads, must be quaking in their boots. Their economic model is dying. ClearChannel and Infinity Broadcasting won the commercial war and can put out whatever they deem fit but the audience is listening to, and watching, what they want to hear and see uncensored, on their iPods and/or other MP3 players.
(1) TiVO is a stop gap measure that achieves some time shifting of content. The problem is now the content of what is actually carried on the air waves.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
It is good to see that the two parties can agree on at least one thing, maintaining the status quo. The executive and legislative branches have been dedicated for some time to finding ways to bypass the constitution, especially free speech. They have also been dedicated to making the consumer as passive as possible. One way is to have complete control over the distribution of mainstream culture from the source to the consumer. By putting all of the power in grossly overextended copyright periods and restrictions they have found a means to do that. It is always easier to dictate to a handful to large corporations who depend on you for their survival than it is to try to control millions of uncooperative citizens.
Unfortunately by putting all of these locks and barriers on consumer media (DVDs, etc) they are creating museum pieces. Pretty to look at but useless since you can't touch them or do anything with them.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
The original poster and everyone commenting that i can see missed the best part. The bill limits you to a grand generous total of 90 mins of timeshifting.
Quote from original article:
"And this bill is ridiculously hard on timeshifting. Section 201 (b) (1) of the DTCSA gives you all of 90 minutes from the initial reception of a "unit of content" to watch your recordings. Heaven forbid you get a long phone call or an unscheduled visit from a neighbor when you're engaged in some delayed viewing--once that 90-minute window closes you're out of luck until the next broadcast."
This guy's had a couple thousand thrown his way by some companies that might be wanting this bill
check it out for yourself
Campagain Money
Good point Delta, the entertainment industry is really lining this man's pockets
This bill will do a lot for people if it passes. For once, people can walk down a major steet without feeling spied upon. How? People will need to carry their portable DVD player and have it play protected content, or they will need to generate the copy protection signal with some other small device. In order to stay within the law, surveilance cameras will block any content that carries the signal, and I will make sure that I am generating this signal in order to protect my privacy.
As far as flesharers go, this will be defeated technologically in a few short days, so we all benefit.
Now, I can see "Abba Dabba" carrying his triacetone-triperoxide bombs as well as his portable DVD player playing protected content onto New York's subway system. Now the international newspeakers flash scenes of the devastation. The FBI shows a picture of "This content is copyright protected: Duplication prohibited." to the entire world. The reward for the capture of "This content is copyright protected: Duplication prohibited." is now set at $80 million dollars. The national economy is bankrupted because everybody is bringing in their recordings of "This content is copyright protected: Duplication prohibited." "Abba Dabba" wins the terror war.
So - simply reproduce the "signal" , and foil anyone taking pictures of you with "consumer" equipment.
Cop looking at the tv set in an apartment he just raided: "An off switch? She'll get years for that."
"Twenty minutes into the future," indeed!
I know that about half of SlashDot hates Bush, but...
Use him! Use his own prejudices for your purposes.
Write to him and ask him to actively oppose this (and veto it should it cross his desk).
Use his prejudices. Point out that this aids the "liberal Hollywood elite" at the expense of the innovators in industry, etc... etc... etc...
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Analog does NOT mean the process for recording it. It referrs to the process of viewing or listening a given work. In order to Camcorder it with a digital or analog camcorder, you NEED to have the "Analog" hole that they're trying to legislate away. If they implement effective means for enforcing the law (which I've grave doubts about them accomplishing it, but instituting draconian measures to attempt it all the same...) then your little camcorder remark is null and void.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
The point of the act (and the tech) is that the video camera wont record the picture from the monitor, because the monitor will give out a VEIL signal (invisbly!) which the camera will detect, and shut itself off.
1. Precisely align a pre-DRM digital camera with a DRM-approved LCD screen and mount in place.
2. Step the DVD frame-by-frame and take pictures.
3. Use OSS on a pre-DRM computer to reassemble the pictures into MyFairUseCopy(fsck_the_MPAA).mpeg.
4. MPAA loses - Noone sheds a tear.
The same procedure applies to DRMed sound: Carefully slice apart each DRMed speaker to access magnet control wires, read using 24bit AD converter, splice that back into the mpeg from before, MPAA loses.
Dear MPAA: The analog hole can never be closed, because guess what: All inputs to the human brain are ANALOG, you executive fucktards.
Calling the ability to convert analog video content to a digital format a "significant technical weakness in content protection,"
In other news, calling "the ability to choose not to watch crappy movies" a "signifficant weakness in our buisness model", the **AA are calling for critical thinking to be outlawed.
Hmmmm...if people didn't rampantly copy music to or from friends or over the Internet without paying for it, they wouldn't be doing this bad thing...
Yes, I know you only make backups of CDs for use in your car, and you don't scam music off the Internet. I'm talking about those other bastards.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
excuse my ignorance but i just wondered what the second half of your sig stands for
How did they find time to put this into committee and not time to file orders of impeachment for our government spying on its citizens without court supervision.
This is gonna be one hell of a New Year.
Can you imagine...
Creating a bunch of devices that emit the "Do Not Copy" signal cheaply, battery powered... Now place this device in front of your favourite landmark. In fact, place them wherever you want!
All of a sudden, people are unable to take pictures of it.
Now, take one of these devices to a press conference. The TV cameras won't be able to cover it!
I forsee a lot of warranty returns if that happens.
Still, might be good for individual privacy. Can you imagine carrying one of them and security cameras not being allowed to record your presence?
Awesome!
Yeah, but in that case, they'd actually be losing money. Right now, they're making money hand over fist AND claiming they are losing money due to piracy. Once they ACTUALLY start to lose money, they're screwed. Lobbyists don't work for free.
Boycott the RIAA. Check your music on the RIAA Radar before you make a music purchase.
All empires decline eventually, and the American Empire is no exception. I expect the zenith was probably the 1960s, possibly earlier. Your current Prez is merely accelerating the inevitable.
Instead of trying to wring a cheap laugh out of the situation, you might hop on over to http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.asp x and see if your Congressman sits on the Judiciary Committee where this has been introduced.
/dev/null
If so, write them a note voicing your displeasure with H.R. 4569. If not, write to YOUR representative (http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Be tactful. Be succint. Don't be a flaming jerkass. Here's what I sent to my representative...feel free to plagiarize:
Mr. Carter,
I am aware that you are not a sitting member of the Judiciary Committee, but I am writing you in the hopes that you will discuss upcoming legislation with fellow Texas representatives Lamar Smith, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Louie Gohmert.
It has recently come to my attention that the House Judiciary Chairman has introduced a bill (H.R. 4569) into committee that embodies, in my opinion, an appalling attempt by a private industry to subvert the legislative process in order to protect its archaic business model.
As I'm sure you're well aware, the United States Congress exists to serve the liberty and security of its citizens, and not to guarantee the existence of any public corporation or private industry against the winds of change and innovation. Legislation such as this proposed "Digital Transition Content Security Act of 2005" is not crafted with the interest of the American consumer in mind, but rather with the intent to protect an existing content delivery and distribution model by criminalizing techonological innovations in this digital era.
An Act such as this one effectively deprives American consumers of their Fair Use rights as provided under existing U.S. intellectual property laws, and by extension, damages our economic stability by stifling the innovative forces that have kept America at the forefront of technological development. Furthermore, forcing U.S. manufacturers to adopt specific technology into all of their products places them at a distinct economic disadvantage in the world marketplace, and this country can ill afford the further loss of exportable goods.
Please do not be misled by the entertainment industry contentions that they are "losing" millions of dollars in revenue annually due to digital copyright infringements. Any first-year college student with a logic course on his transcript knows this is a fallacy of the most obvious variety. One cannot substantiate the presumption that every "pirated" copy of a protected work necessarily translates to the "loss" of one retail sale. One honestly cannot even translate it to the loss of one potential sale. It doesn't take an MBA to realize that the industry's claim of "lost revenue" is truly nothing more than "potential, unrealized revenue possibilities." That is to say, they display a best-case sales scenario and blame digital piracy for the shortfall that reality presents.
I urge you to voice your disapproval for H.R. 4569 to your fellow Texas legislators on the Judiciary Committee. This bill does NOT represent the interests of the citizens of Texas, nor of the U.S.A. as a whole. A vote for this bill would be a vote against the Fair Use rights of the taxpaying people of this economy and a vote against the spirit of innovation that made this great nation the undisputed superpower in the world today. I place my trust in you, and know that you will make the best decision in the present and future interests of the *people* whom you represent by voting down such special interest legislation as H.R. 4569.
Respectfully,
[real name omitted]
Comments and criticism welcome, flames redirected to
Manufacturuers have to test their players, presumably on different region coded material. They don't want to be stuck with one code on a machine and unable to test on others, or stuck with N different testing queues, one for each region code. Therefore, easy ways to get around the region coding are built in.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
here is a site that has some stuff on these patterns and perl script or such to apply these patterns.
http://wildspark.com/eurionize/
Now that would be pretty silly right? Well someone came up with a little 'c'. Copyright © 2005 I know, let's let people copy stuff as long as it doesn't have the little 'c' on it? Anyone who owns the material could have the approved list of devices that can ignore the little 'c' and print it, everyone else, well can't put a little 'c' on their work or they just can't distribute it.
Giving those who have, more, and keeping those who don't from competing isn't the way to run this country. Make sure this piece of legislation dies and those who sponsored it get recalled or at least don't get re-elected.
Nature of the right-wing is leave it to the people.
Except for the Patriot Act, gay marriage and "indecency on the airwaves". On the last one, sure there's Liberman and Hillary, but 1) those two are right wing, and 2) are vastly outnumbered by luddites even farther to the right than they are.
Republicans tax and regulate things they don't like, just like Democrats. But at least Democrats generally aren't two-faced hypocrites about it.
This is Congressman Conyers' response (reposted from his own blog.
I have been hearing today that a lively discussion is taking place around the internet about my cosponsorship of the "Digital Transition Content Security Act," a bill that attempts to plug the "analog hole." Because the tone of some of these discussions has become so vitriolic, I decided to respond here.
First, some who disagree with my cosponsorship of this bill have imputed motives to me in a manner that I think is unfair. My cosponsorship has been labeled a "sell out," a "giveaway" or a "handout" to the movie/music industry, among other things. It has been said that I must have had "a lot of [my] time bought by the content industries" to cosponsor this bill.
The content industries would be very surprised to hear these assessments, which belie a great unfamiliarity with my legislative record and statements about these issues. Over a more than 40 year Congressional career, I have stood up clearly and consistently for the artists and others who work in the content industry. In my view, they are being squeezed from two sides. When it comes to working and contractual conditions, they are squeezed by the content industry. When it comes to piracy, they are being squeezed by illegal file sharing. Collectively, this squeeze has led to a lower standard of living for artists and lower profile workers in the content industry.
To say I am somehow beholden to the content industry ignores a number of actions I have taken. Here are a few from recent years. At a meeting of the Future of Music Coalition (an artists' rights group) in 2002, I rebuked the industry saying "[t]echnology is forcing the record labels and the artists and the writers and the composers to come together...[t]he Internet says to the industry that you folks are yesterday's news, you're following outdated models, your business strategies don't work anymore, and your profit motive is showing rather vulgarly." I also proposed a series of reforms to benefit artists that was strongly opposed by the RIAA.
When the recording industry slipped a provision to reclassify recording artists songs as "work for hire" into a satellite television bill and thereby deprived artists of reversionary rights to their songs, I fought back, saying among other things, "[i]t is about time we separate the people in the recording industry from the recording artists. I keep hearing from the recording industry telling me what the recording artists want. I know a few recording artists, and we will be checking on this. This is appropriately a sensitive subject." I have been outspoken about the industry practice of pay for play (or "payola") as well.
When the film studios have moved film production to Canada or overseas, thus costing American workers their jobs, I stood up to them.
When the publishing industry sought to deprive freelance writers of their rights (something fellow Kos poster Jonathan Tasini knows quite a bit about), I introduced a bill to protect freelance writers, illustrators, cartoonists, graphic designers, and photographers. The publishers did not like that very much.
I hear from lots of people that artists don't care about piracy. While it is true that some artists struggling to make it into the business don't mind file sharing because it exposes their songs to a wider audience, many - many - artists have come directly to me saying that piracy is threatening their ability to make a living. I have heard similar complaints from animators, writers, grips, and cameramen, who have seen job opportunities diminish in part because of piracy.
To be sure, as I have said above, piracy is not the whole problem - industry practices are part of the problem as well, but it is part of the problem. So what should we do about it?
Some say we do not need to do anything because uploading digital content is already illegal. In a digital world, and an internet that spans the globe, lo
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
The word's become a more or less content-free insult to throw at anyone you don't like, much like "liberal". But the ever-interesting Umberto Eco has come up with a list of characteristics of a fascist movement:
Eternal Fascism:
Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt
This is just a summary. The original was published in the New York Review of Books, but I can't find a copy online.
Note, though, that he describes fascism as a popular movement, based in large part (though the summary doesn't say so) on his experiences with the Italian fascisti before and during WWII. This doesn't really have much at all to do with the lobbyist- and special interest-driven nonsense that we're seeing today. We need a new word.
I wanna make some copies of my own DNA (or 50% of it) but my girlfriend keeps using copy-protection. What do I do?
"Video Encoded Invisible Light (VEIL)"
Why, that light bulb isn't burned out, it's just switched to ILM (invisible light mode)!
But seriously, I feel like a veil has been pulled over my eyes, and for some reason it feels like there is something evil behind this scheme.
That ought to take care of the Analog Hole!
P.S. actually this is made in China, like everything else. But America is still the greatest! U.S.A.!
Does this legislation allow for upgrading of current, non-DRM equipment without retrofitting DRM chips? If so, I'll start selling non-DRM 100% modular "tuners" right now and people can "upgrade" to a HD-DVD module in the future ;)
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Damn slashdot filter wouldn't let me finish the list...
Call me a cynic if you will, but I suspect a karma whore wanted to get modded +5 twice for the same contribution.
what ever an AC making a critical comment how original... put your name on it pal otherwise your just a troll
"(I) have this unfortunate condition that causes me not to believe a single thing any politician says when a mic's on.