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The BBC's digital rights plans will wreak havoc on open source software
,----[ Quote ]
| As Ofcom gears up to a second consultation
| the issue, there's one important question
| that the BBC must answer if the
| implications of this move are to be fully
| explored, namely: How can free/open source
| software co-exist with a plan to put DRM on
| broadcasts?
|
| A brief backgrounder on how this system is
| meant to work: the BBC will encrypt a
| small, critical piece of the signal. To get
| a key to decrypt the scrambled data, you
| will need to sign onto an agreement
| governed by a consortium called the Digital
| Transmission Licensing Administrator (some
| of the agreement is public, but other parts
| are themselves under seal of
| confidentiality, which means that the
| public literally isn't allowed to know all
| the terms under which BBC signals will be
| licensed).
|
| DTLA licenses a wide variety of devices to
| move, display, record, and make limited
| copies of video. Which programmes can be
| recorded, how many copies, how long
| recordings can last and other restrictions
| are set within the system. To receive a
| licence, manufacturers must promise to
| honour these restrictions. Manufacturers
| also must promise to design their devices
| so that they will not pass video onto
| unapproved or unlicenced devices â only
| DTLA-approved boxes can touch or manipulate
| or play the video.
|
| [...]
|
| This is where the conflict with free/open
| source software arises.
|
| Free/open source software, such as the
| GNU/Linux operating system that runs many
| set-top boxes, is created cooperatively
| among many programmers (thousands, in some
| cases). Unlike proprietary software, such
| as the Windows operating system or the
| iPhone's operating system, free software
| authors publish their code and allow any
| other programmer to examine it, make
| improvements to it, and publish those
| improvements. This has proven to be a
| powerful means of quickly building
| profitable new businesses and devices, from
| the TomTomGo GPSes to Google's Android
| phones to the Humax Freeview box you can
| buy tonight at Argos for around Â130.
`----
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/22/bbc-drm-cory-doctorow
Recent:
Ofcom knocks back BBC DRM plans
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| BBC plans to copy protect Freeview high
| definition (HD) data have been dealt a blow
| by regulator Ofcom.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8352241.stm
Ofcom Fails to Get the Message [Updated]
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| Two days ago I wrote a rather rushed appeal for people to
| write to Ofcom about a BBC enquiry concerning the addition
| of DRM to its HD service.
|
| [...]
|
| Cynics might even think that Ofcom didn't really want
| comments, but was just going through the motions of
| carrying out a consultation - and a brief one at that -
| because that's what the rules say it has to do.
|
| Although this is the first time I've come across Ofcom â or
| anyone else â trying to staunch the flow of comments it had
| solicited, I'm pretty sure it won't be the last time.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2532&blogid=14
Help Save the BBC from HDTV DRM
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| As Watson rightly points out, if this scheme is adopted it is
| highly unlikely free software projects will be able to obtain the
| appropriate keys, for the simple reason that they are not
| structured in a way that allows them to enter into the
| appropriate legal agreements (not least because they couldn't
| keep them). Of course, it will probably be pretty trivial for
| people to crack the encryption scheme, thus ensuring that the
| law-abiding free software users are penalised, while those
| prepared to break the law are hardly bothered at all.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2523&blogid=14
BBC Worldwide Merging with Microsoft?
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| Against this background:
|
| BBC Worldwideâs digital sales and business development head Peter
| Mercier is leaving to be Microsoftâs content acquisitions and strategy
| senior director - the latest in the revolving HR door between the two
| companies.
|
| ...
|
| BBCWW hired Mercier from MobiTV as head of mobile in 2007 before he got
| a wider digital role in â08. Ashley Highfield left as CEO of BBCWWâs
| Kangaroo JV last year. Microsoftâs UK online services group VP Chris
| Dobson went the other way to be BBCWWâs WVP and GM of global ad sales,
| leading BBC.com ad sales in particular; he later took two BBCWWers with
| him.
|
| Rather than try to cover up the symbiotic relationship between the two
| organisations, wouldn't it just be simpler if they merged them together
| now? At least then there wouldn't be any pretensions of independence by the
| BBC Worldwide...
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/09/bbc-worldwide-merging-with-microsoft.html
Related:
The BBC's iPlayer Goes to Parliament, by Sean Daly
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| Mr Thompson did his best to not answer
| Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, January 20 2008 @ 08:25 PM EST
| It sure seems like Mr Thompson avoided directly answering any of the
| questions put to him by Dr Pugh.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080120181708684
BBC Director General grilled by MPs on iPlayer
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| During the meeting there is discussion of iPlayerâs total cost to the licence
| fee-payer - the BBC representatives are unable to give a figure, but start
| the bidding at Â20m, excluding staff costs. Thomson gives incorrect
| information - that Mac and Linux versions of iPlayer have the same
| functionality as Windows versions - and has to change his evidence at the
| end. Perhaps it was this confusion that prompted Dr John Pugh MP to follow up
| the encounter with a letter direct to Mark Thomson today discussing platform
| neutrality in greater detail. A copy of this letter has been passed to the
| Open Rights Group.
`----
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/01/10/bbc-director-general-grilled-by-mps-on-iplayer/
BBC Corrupted
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| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.
`----
http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted
BBC iPlayer Protests
,----[ Quote ]
| Who are the people responsible for creating this mess?
|
| * Mark Thompson, BBC director general (DG)
| * Erik Huggers, group controller at BBC Future Media & Technology
| * Ashley Highfield, director of new media and technology
|
| Right now, there is very considerable concern within the BBC that the actions
| of the Director General and his team are sending the corporation in the wrong
| direction. The BBC has been embroiled in a number of recent controversies,
| all linked back to the DG's leadership.
`----
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/iPlayerProtest
Why Linux Users Should Be Furious At BBC
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| Recently the BBC had a bit of a wake up call regarding numbers and how many
| Linux users were really out there. Why does any of this matter? It has to do
| with something the BBC provides called the iPlayer. Seriously, relying on
| ActiveX is so "1990's" that it's painful, and as luck would have it, the
| Linux users who wish to use this BBC player made sure that the BBC knew that
| they were making the sought after content inaccessible to those people using
| Linux.
|
| No iPlayer for Linux Users, But There Will Be An Alternative. Based on what I
| have been able to gather thus far, it looks like we will see an Adobe Flash
| option coming out soon. Then again, who really cares? Seriously, if the BBC
| is this foolish to ignore how much Linux growth is taking place both in the
| UK as well as the surrounding countries, then maybe people ought to be
| looking elsewhere? Is it because this is indeed, the BBC? So there is the
| belief that this is the people's media? Up until now, I enjoyed much of what
| the BBC had to offer, but this entire thing is enough to have pushed me away.
`----
http://www.osweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2731&Itemid=449
Beeb slammed for 'fawning' to Bill Gates
,----[ Quote ]
| BBC viewers have flooded the corporation with complaints over how it
| covered the launch of Microsoft Vista earlier this week.
|
| In one cringingly servile interview worthy of Uriah Heep, the
| Beeb's news presenter Hugh Edwards even thanked Gates at the
| end of it, presumably in appreciation at being allowed to give
| the Vole vast coverage for free.
|
| In other TV news items presenters excitedly explained how Vistac
| ould be obtained and installed - details courtesy of the BBC's
| website.
|
| But British viewers, currently forced to pay a Â131.50 licence
| fee to maintain the BBC's "impartiality", were less than impressed.
|
| Scores got in touch to complain that so much was Auntie up Bill's
| bum that you could barely see her corset.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37411
BBC: Death by a thousand top-slices
,----[ Quote ]
| So it looks like the end of the unique, state-centric model for funding the
| BBC. An incoming Conservative administration is unlikely to be more
| sympathetic to the BBC, with its stifling bureucracy and monopoly control
| over a compulsory tax.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/18/bbc_top_slicing/
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