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DRM Critique Airs On National Public Radio

Posted by kdawson on from the getting-the-word-out dept.

An anonymous reader writes to point out that a critique of Digital Rights Management made it onto the mainstream media this morning. NPR's Marketplace Morning Report ran a piece noting that with the demise of the VHS format we risk losing fair-use rights since we now have only digital media. From the article: "As our country moves forward to regulate digital copying, I urge us all to bear in mind T. S. Eliot's famous saying. 'Good poets borrow; great poets steal.'"

6 of 353 comments (clear)

  1. We lost our fair use rights years ago... by MinutiaeMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Most people don't realize that even certain VHS tapes had DRM -- or at least a basic form thereof. Many years ago, for a high school video project, I wanted to splice a little scene from "Return of the Jedi" into our project. (The scene with the Ewoks bowing and scraping to Threepio, as a metaphor for the Aztecs greeting Cortez.) But when I tried to record it onto the family VHS video camera for splicing and transfer (we were using our VCR and the camera to create a very basic editing system; this was 1996!), the camera would quit recording after a few seconds, saying something about a "protected" video or something.

    I forget how I got around it, but it was a pain in the ass. All for less than thirty seconds of fair-use footage for a damn high school project!

    1. Re:We lost our fair use rights years ago... by StinkiePhish · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yep. It started in 1983 with the establishment of Macrovision Corporation.

      From Wikipedia...
      "The 1984 film "The Cotton Club" was the first videocassette to be encoded with the Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985"

      "A VHS videotape or DVD (no laserdisc or video CD players implement it) or digital cable/satellite boxes receiving a data stream encoded with Macrovision will cause a VCR set to record it to fail (excluding very old models, modified VCRs, or those approved for "professional usage"). This is usually visible as a scrambled picture as if the tracking were incorrect, or the picture will fade between overly light and dark. A 6-head or 8-head VCR (most are 4-head) can minimize this fluctuation, so it is not as noticeable. A DVD recorder will simply display a message saying the source is copy-protected, and will pause the recording."

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrovision

  2. Re:Missed it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They have a podcast, so you can download the segment as MP3 (for now):

    12/19/06 Marketplace Morning Report 2

    The segment is at 5:40 if you want to skip directly to it.

    After all, it's produced using taxpayer money, it better be publicly accessible.

  3. A small nitpick... by alerante · · Score: 5, Informative

    Marketplace isn't an NPR program; the show is produced and distributed by American Public Media. Though many public radio stations air programs from both NPR and APM (as well as other orgnizations like Public Radio International), the two are distinct entities.

  4. Re:Missed it. by MysticOne · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, for one, this isn't NPR content. It's American Public Media, which is part of Minnesota Public Radio. While their public radio stations usually play NPR content, and these shows are usually syndicated, they aren't NPR programs. On top of that, public radio only gets a small portion of its funding from tax payer money. The majority of funding comes through donations during the pledge drives.

  5. public radio is not produced with taxpayer money by consumer · · Score: 4, Informative

    Only 8% comes from government funding.