We talk about DRM quite often. Technically it stands for Digital Rights Management, but we did have a listener recommend we try to change that to Digitally Restricted Media. The point of DRM is to protect digital media files from piracy. The actual result of DRM is a lot of frustration for those who just want to watch movies and listen to music.
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HDTV and Home Theater Podcast - Podcast #416: Cryptography, DRM and You
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arad
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Roger Halstead
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It goes farther than that, though
Although we end up more than inconvenienced when we pay for something that won't work, it goes farther than that.
In their paranoia, or greed, the studios (IOW the recording and movie industries) have lobbied for and gotten laws that not only make it illegal to crack the encryption, but to own the tools to do so. They have removed our right to "fair use" granted in copy right law, but encrypting the media and then making it a crime to decrypt it even though they are using that as a ruse to circumvent the fair use clause. In addition the reason for copyright has been profaned by increasing the length of copyright to the point of absurdity, again to protect the studios which may be over 50, or even 70 years old. Rarely does this do anything for the musician, young actor, or author, but it does have the potential to make additional money for the big studios ...some day.
In the end again it is us, the consumer who ends up paying, or paying for media that doesn't work and in some cases doesn't work unless the device is connected to the Internet so it can call home. As you said, if they provide a decent product at a decent price people will pay for it even though it's available free through illegal channels. If it worked for the I-Pod it should work for the entire industry.
Piracy will always be with us as some do it just for the challenge, while others are after the quick buck. But if the article is available at a reasonable price most will still pay for it.
The problem is this makes too much sense. Other countries and groups of countries are working to strengthen their hold on the use of media and it's unlikely they will release control once they have it. It's a pretty much useless control, but that never stopped a politician yet.
Here in the US I don't see the major studios going this route as it's a different way of doing business and they are as opposed to change as nearly any group you can name. OTOH some appear to be coming around. Lets hope so because the current situation is a never ending cycle of spending money to stay ahead of the pirates who break any encryption in short order.
One additional point, were it not for the encryption added to the TV the sets would be simpler and decoding problems such as stuttering and pauses would not be a problem which just adds another needless expense.
In their paranoia, or greed, the studios (IOW the recording and movie industries) have lobbied for and gotten laws that not only make it illegal to crack the encryption, but to own the tools to do so. They have removed our right to "fair use" granted in copy right law, but encrypting the media and then making it a crime to decrypt it even though they are using that as a ruse to circumvent the fair use clause. In addition the reason for copyright has been profaned by increasing the length of copyright to the point of absurdity, again to protect the studios which may be over 50, or even 70 years old. Rarely does this do anything for the musician, young actor, or author, but it does have the potential to make additional money for the big studios ...some day.
In the end again it is us, the consumer who ends up paying, or paying for media that doesn't work and in some cases doesn't work unless the device is connected to the Internet so it can call home. As you said, if they provide a decent product at a decent price people will pay for it even though it's available free through illegal channels. If it worked for the I-Pod it should work for the entire industry.
Piracy will always be with us as some do it just for the challenge, while others are after the quick buck. But if the article is available at a reasonable price most will still pay for it.
The problem is this makes too much sense. Other countries and groups of countries are working to strengthen their hold on the use of media and it's unlikely they will release control once they have it. It's a pretty much useless control, but that never stopped a politician yet.
Here in the US I don't see the major studios going this route as it's a different way of doing business and they are as opposed to change as nearly any group you can name. OTOH some appear to be coming around. Lets hope so because the current situation is a never ending cycle of spending money to stay ahead of the pirates who break any encryption in short order.
One additional point, were it not for the encryption added to the TV the sets would be simpler and decoding problems such as stuttering and pauses would not be a problem which just adds another needless expense.
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jordanm
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Roger, I agree with you completely DRM is ridiculous, and to show this, many still have a virus on their computers from it. An older Sony CD played in a CD-ROM or CD-R drive would deliver a root-kit (now certified as a computer virus) to the PC. Once there, all kinds of errors could appear.
The tools to remove a root-kit are few, and not well known, so a normal consumer likely is using a PC that is infected, if they have not formatted and reinstalled their OS. I know of many during the XP days (when nearly everyone had it), that had to format and reinitialize years ago.
Sony no longer uses the root-kit DRM because of the reported problems.
The tools to remove a root-kit are few, and not well known, so a normal consumer likely is using a PC that is infected, if they have not formatted and reinstalled their OS. I know of many during the XP days (when nearly everyone had it), that had to format and reinitialize years ago.
Sony no longer uses the root-kit DRM because of the reported problems.
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Roger Halstead
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Then there was the political fall out.
Sony no longer uses the root kit DRM due to the political fall out. Even then they got off very cheap by replacing the CDs (when some one complained), but they never had to pay for fixing the computers. Had it been an individual programmer, using the same approach to keep track of their program use it's likely there would have been criminal proceedings.
Remember: First Sony denied it, when it was shown to exist I believe it was their CEO who said the consumers wouldn't know what a root kit was any way, they provided a fix that didn't, and finally one that did. They did nothing for the thousands of computers that had to have their main HD low level formatted and then the OS and all apps reinstalled.
The question is, how many of those root kits are still out there causing problems. At least they are not contagious.
Also the way the law is written IIRC companies may include software that calls home presumably to make sure it was properly activated. That also opens the door for them to look around while there. There are some rather expensive soft ware packages that will not operate if not connected to the Internet and it sounds like hardware (besides games) is going that way as well. I even have to pay extra if my satellite receiver is not connected to a phone line.
Remember: First Sony denied it, when it was shown to exist I believe it was their CEO who said the consumers wouldn't know what a root kit was any way, they provided a fix that didn't, and finally one that did. They did nothing for the thousands of computers that had to have their main HD low level formatted and then the OS and all apps reinstalled.
The question is, how many of those root kits are still out there causing problems. At least they are not contagious.
Also the way the law is written IIRC companies may include software that calls home presumably to make sure it was properly activated. That also opens the door for them to look around while there. There are some rather expensive soft ware packages that will not operate if not connected to the Internet and it sounds like hardware (besides games) is going that way as well. I even have to pay extra if my satellite receiver is not connected to a phone line.