Mark Kent wrote:
> begin oe_protect.scr
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> BBC web TV revamp: Linux and Apple are in
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| Auntie will also now tackle the thorny question of DRM. To date,
>>| Windows Media Audio has been in the frame as the BBC's favourite
>>| scheme for digital lockdown. The Trust has committed to being
>>| 'platform agnostic' and will work up some DRM options for Apple
>>| and Linux users within "a reasonable timeframe".
>> `----
>>
>> http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39165581,00.htm
>>
>> A promise has at least just been made.
>
> Of sorts, but why the DRM at all? The BBC presently broadcasts en-clair
> to most of Europe, and using BBC World and BBC America, a more limited
> selection to the whole planet. So why worry about DRM?
>
> The real underlying issue here is about DRM and an apparently
> already-made decision that it is required. I can see no good reason for
> why it should be required, and the paper which has been published does
> not remotely address the issue, it merely seems to take the assumption
> as a working assumption, and looks at how to deliver.
>
Consultation link here to make your views known:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consult/open-consultations/ondemand_services.html
I've already been on to say I won't be accepting a closed/proprietary player
that imposes digital restrictions on me, and that I expect to be able to
use the service not just with non-Microsoft software, but with open source
software on an open platform, that open source users should not be excluded
any more than anyone else.
I pay my license fee and my taxes like everyone else in the UK, and I do not
see why I should be forced to run closed software to access services for
which I've already paid - especially not given that for the digital
restrictions to be effective, it must necessarily operate in the manner of
any other spyware/rootkit software (else it would be ineffective!).
At least if it's Amazon Unbox, or iTunes, or anything else, I can walk away
from it, not use their service, and not pay for it; but with the BBC I'm
forced to pay for it, and now it seems will be forced to use closed
software that implements DRM to make use of the service I've already paid
for.
--
JPB
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