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MrGaribaldi · #1 05-27-2002

This just came down into my mailbox, and made me sit bolt upright!....

It covers what the MPAA wants to do in the near future (with the US senates help), and how it will affect you...

A short quote:

Quote:

...your cellphone would refuse
to transmit your voice if you wandered too close to the copyrighted
music coming from your stereo.

I urge you all to read it, think about it, then talk to your senators/whoever can help STOP this madness!
Tell your friends about it, show them that it doesn't just limit itself to computers, but will affect (allmost) everyones lives... (the allmost refering to hermits & the like)

Quote:

From: "Trei, Peter" <ptrei@rsasecurity.com>
To: "'declan@well.com'" <declan@well.com>
Subject: MPAA wants all A/D converters to implement copyright protection.
Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 11:17:08 -0400

My mind has been boggled, my flabbers have been ghasted.

In the name of protecting their business model, the MPAA
proposes that every analog/digital (A/D) converter - one of
the most basic of chips - be required to check for US
government mandated copyright flags. Quite aside from
increasing the cost and complexity of the devices many,
manyfold, it eliminates the ability of the US to compete
in the world electronics market.

If this level of ignorance, chuptza, and bloodymindedness
had been around a hundred years ago, cars would be
forbidden to have a range greater then 20 miles, to
protect the railway industry, and transoceanic airline
tickets would have a $1000/seat surcharge, to compensate
the owners of ocean liners for lost revenue.

I know that Tinsletown is based on dreams and fantasies
(as well as the violation of Edision's movie patents), but
someone needs to sit these people down and teach them
the lesson that King Canute taught his nobles.

Peter Trei
[The above is my personal opinion only. Do not
misconstrue it to belong to others.]

---

Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 16:06:08 -0700
Subject: Hollywood wants to plug your analog hole
From: Cory Doctorow <cory@eff.org>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>

FYI
--
http://bpdg.blogs.eff.org/archives/000113.html

Hollywood Wants to Plug the "Analog Hole"

*New MPAA report reveals chilling agenda*

=The Big Picture=

The people who tried to take away your VCR are at it again. Hollywood
has always dreamed of a "well-mannered marketplace" where the only
technologies that you can buy are those that do not disrupt its
business. Acting through legislators who dance to Hollywood's tune, the
movie studios are racing to lock away the flexible, general-purpose
technology that has given us a century of unparalelled prosperity and
innovation.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed the "Content
Protection Status Report" with the Senate Judiciary Committee last
month, laying out its plan to remake the technology world to suit its
own ends. The report calls for regulation of analog-to-digital
converters (ADCs), generic computing components found in scientific,
medical and entertainment devices. Under its proposal, every ADC will be
controlled by a "cop-chip" that will shut it down if it is asked to
assist in converting copyrighted material -- your cellphone would refuse
to transmit your voice if you wandered too close to the copyrighted
music coming from your stereo.

The report shows that this ADC regulation is part of a larger agenda.
The first piece of that agenda, a mandate that would give Hollywood a
veto over digital television technology, is weeks away from coming to
fruition. Hollywood also proposes a radical redesign of the Internet to
assist in controlling the distribution of copyrighted works.

This three-part agenda -- controlling digital media devices, controlling
analog converters, controlling the Internet -- is a frightening peek at
Hollywood's vision of the future.

=Hollywood Tips its Hand=

The "Content Protection Status Report"
(http://judiciary.senate.gov/special/...protection.pdf) points to
future where innovation and fair use rights are sacrificed on
copyright's altar, where entertainment companies become *de facto*
regulators of new technologies, deciding which mathematical instructions
are mandatory and which are forbidden.

The first part of the document details the efforts of the Broadcast
Protection Discussion Group (BPDG: http://bpdg.blogs.eff.org/), which
will release its final standard for the regulation of digital media
technology at the end of May. The BPDG's standard would ban the
production of digital television devices that had not been approved by
three Hollywood studios. Approved devices will only interoperate with
other approved devices. The combination of legal restrictions on digital
television devices and licensing restrictions on the computer
technologies they can interface with gives Hollywood an absolute veto
over all new digital media technology without the need for unpopular,
sweeping legislation like Senator Hollings's Consumer Broadband and
Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA).

=Plugging the Analog Hole=

But the most disturbing pieces of the Status Report comes later in the
document. The second section, "Plugging the Analog Hole," reveals
Hollywood's plan to turn a generic technology component, the humble
analog-to-digital convertor, into a device that is subject to the kind
of regulation heretofore reserved for Schedule A narcotics.

Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are the building blocks of modern
digital technology. An ADC's job is to take samples of the strength
(amplitude) of some analog signal (light, sound, motion, temperature) at
some interval (frequency) and convert the results to a numerical value.
ADCs are embedded in digital scanners, samplers, thermometers,
seismographs, mice and other pointer devices, camcorders, cameras,
microscopes, telescopes, modems, radios, televisions, cellular phones,
walkie-talkies, light-meters and a multitude of other devices. In
general, ADCs are generic and interchangeable -- that is, a
high-frequency ADC from a sound-card is potentially the same ADC that
you'll find in a sensitive graphics tablet.

Hollywood perceives ADCs as the lynchpin of unauthorized duplication. No
matter how much copy-control technology is integrated into DVDs and
satellite broadcasts, there is always the possibility that some Internet
user will aim a camcorder at the screen, always the shadowy fan at the
concert wielding a smuggled digital recorder, always the audiophile
jacking a low-impedance cable into a high-end stereo. These bogeymen
plague Hollywood, and each one uses an ADC to produce unauthorized copies.

Accordingly, the report calls for a regimen where "watermark detectors
would be required in all devices that perform analog to digital
conversions." The plan is to embed a "watermark" (a theoretical,
invisible mark that can only be detected by special equipment and that
can't be removed without damaging the media in which it was embedded) in
all copyrighted works. Thereafter, every ADC would be accompanied by a
"cop chip" that would sense this watermark's presence and disable
certain features depending on the conditions.

This is meant to work like so: You point your camcorder at a movie
screen. The magical, theoretical watermark embedded in the film is
picked up by the cop-chip, which disables the camcorder's ADC. Your
camcorder records nothing but dead air. The mic, sensing a watermark in
the film's soundtrack, also shuts itself down.

The objective of a law like this is to make "unauthorized" synonymous
with "illegal." In the world of copyright, there are many uses that are
legal, even -- *especially* -- if they are unauthorized, for example,
the fair-use right to quote a work for critical purposes. Any critic --
a professor, a reporter, even an individual with a personal website --
may be lawfully copy parts of copyrighted works in a critical
discussion. Such a person may scan in part of a magazine article, record
a snatch of music from a CD or a piece of a film or television show in
the lawful course of making a critical work.

And you don't need to be a critic to make a lawful, unauthorized copy!
You might be someone who wants to "format-shift" some personal property
-- say, by scanning in a book or transferring an old LP to MP3 so that
you might take it with you while travelling with your computer. This is
absolutely lawful, but under the "analog hole" proposal, providing the
tools to make such unauthorized uses would be illegal.

MrGaribaldi · #2 05-27-2002

Quote:

continued from previous post:

=Unintended Consequences=

It's outrageous that Hollywood would demand a law that intentionally
breaks technology so that it can't be used in lawful ways, but the
unintended consequences of this regime are even more bizarre.

Virtually everything in our world is copyrighted or trademarked by
someone, from the facades of famous sky-scrapers to the background music
at your local mall. If ADCs are constrained from performing
analog-to-digital conversion of all watermarked copyrighted works, you
might end up with a cellphone that switches itself off when you get
within range of the copyrighted music on your stereo; a camcorder that
refuses to store your child's first steps because he is taking them
within eyeshot of a television playing a copyrighted cartoon; a camera
that won't snap your holiday moments if they take place against the
copyrighted backdrop of a chain store such as Starbucks, which forbids
on-premises photography because its fixtures are proprietary works.

As was mentioned, ADCs are fundamental, generic computing components,
found in medical and scientific equipment, computers, and a variety of
consumer electronics. Surely Hollywood doesn't mean to suggest that
geologists will have to equip their seismographs with cop-chips (lest
they should accidentally record a copyrighted earthquake)?

It seems likely that they do. The primary difference between most ADCs
is the frequency at which they run. Two ADCs of like frequency and
bitrate can be interchanged. If any "free" ADCs are allowed into the
marketplace, they will surely find themselves repurposed in camcorders,
samplers, and scanners (oh my!).
=The Scourge of P2P=

Hollywood's report to Congress includes its third legislative goal:
"Putting an end to the avalanche of movie theft on so-called
'file-sharing' services, such as Morpheus, Gnutella, and other
peer-to-peer (p2p) networks."

Here, rather than making "unauthorized" and "illegal" synonymous,
Hollywood is seeking to overturn the Betamax doctrine -- the principle
that a technology is legal, provided that it can be used to accomplish
legal ends. VCRs are legal, even though they can be used to make illegal
copies of copyrighted works, because they can *also* be used to makea
legal copies of personal works and copyrighted works (in the case of
time- and format-shifting).

P2P networks -- such as the Internet -- are not infringing in and of
themselves. "P2P" describes a technology where the system's control is
largely or entirely decentralized. P2P application networks are turned
to all manner of ends, from sharing classroom materials and
independently produced media to distributing large scientific problems
associated with the search for a cure for AIDS to providing a
distributed proxy service that allows Chinese Internet users to
circumvent China's national firewall and read uncensored news. True,
they can also be used to make unauthorized -- and even illegal -- copies
of copyrighted works, but the Betamax doctrine does not establish as its
standard that no illegal uses be possible with a technology; only that a
technology have some legal use.

What's more, thoroughly decentralized networks like Gnutella have no
control-point. There is no central server, no standards-body, no
exploitable point where leverage can be applied to control what is and
is not available on the network. The Internet is fundamentally
constructed to permit any two points to communicate, and as long as this
is true, Gnutella and its brethren will thrive.

Which begs the question: How will Hollywood put "an end to ... movie
theft on ... p2p networks?" Short of dramatically re-architecting the
Internet it seems inconceivable that P2P will ever controlled or
eliminated.

But dramatic redesigns of the Internet are well within Hollywood's
stated desires. In 1995, Hollywood's representatives in government
penned "The Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property
Rights," calling for a neutered Internet whose functionality had been
magically constrained to "permit [rights-holders] to enforce the terms
and conditions under which their works are made public."

We can only guess at where these delusional technological speculations
have wandered in the intervening years, and this "Content Protection
Status Report" is a good and grim indicator.

=Take a Stand=

Hollywood's legislative agenda may be ridiculous, but it is hardly
unlikely. The BPDG is bare weeks away from turning over a veto on new
technologies to Hollywood. They are doing so with the cooperation of the
technology companies that are willingly participating in the BPDG
process. If just one major computer company would step forward in the
press and in Congress and object to the BPDG's mandate, the entire
rubric of a "consensus" upon which the BPDG depends would collapse.

The BPDG mandate is critical to Hollywood's legislative agenda. With the
BPDG mandate in place, an ADC control law and a radical Internet
redesign are attainable goals.

If you work for a technology company, please ask your favorite senior
manager or corporate officer to contact the EFF. We'd be delighted to
deliver a briefing on this and help make the decision to stand up.

As an individual, write to the companies you are a customer of. Take a
look at your computer and your consumer electronics: they have been
built by companies that are either willingly participating in the BPDG
or have not come forward to oppose it. Only once these companies realize
that their customers care about liberty will they find the courage to
oppose Hollywood's powerful Congressional representatives, like Senator
Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (D-Disney).

Show this article to your friends and co-workers. Hollywood's perverse
obsession with plugging the analog hole must be brought to light, as
must the likely outcome of its agenda.

--
Cory Doctorow
Outreach Coordinator, Electronic Frontier Foundation
415.726.5209/cory@eff.org

Blog: http://boingboing.net

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Anyone else who was scared by that vision of the future? :shudder:

StormBringer · #3 05-27-2002

I trying to refrain from making a rant here...I'll try to keep it short.

Are the music and movie that afraid of technology? When does the madness end? First they put protections on music that causes me to have to buy new stereo equipment and I lose the ability to play those CDs(which by definition are not CDs) on my computer. Then they try to shut down the internet radio stations. Now they want to monitor my every movement. This is a little too "1984" for my tase. I can see that they want to protect their property and prevent piracy(which has been going on forever, it just has publicity now) I can remember back in the mid '80s, there was this little gas station at the edge of town and they had a back room full of music and movies that were pirated and they sold them. Anyway, as I was saying, how many rights do the consumers have to give up before the entertainment industry feels safe? What will be next? licensing media to the player? How about self destructing discs that destroy the drive if you try to copy it?

Do not attemp to adjust your life. We are in control, we control the vertical, We control the horizontal.

One last thing, PLEASE boycott all companies who are participants in this Techno-Nazi regime. Don't buy their products and don't use their services. But that probably just fuels their fire doesn't it. They assume that every lost sale is due to piracy, because they know people can't possibly live without their products. Come on, it's Entertainment, not like a need for survival.

MrGaribaldi · #4 05-27-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by StormBringer
As I was saying, how many rights do the consumers have to give up before the entertainment industry feels safe? What will be next? licensing media to the player? How about self destructing discs that destroy the drive if you try to copy it?

Do not attemp to adjust your life. We are in control, we control the vertical, We control the horizontal.

I guess they'll stop when it's come to the point that we are deducted 50% of our salary to pay for copyright infringements.... I.e. listening to the radio/watching tv without watching the commercials

Quote:

From EFF.org
Jamie Kellner, CEO of Turner Broadcasting, says that skipping commercials, even if you're in the bathroom, is stealing.

talking to someone about a movie or a piece of music, OR not using the rest of the 50% on services they produce...

I must admit one thing... It's quite hard to write something about this without going into rant mode... This in turn leaves many people unable to argue against what the MPAA is trying to do...

Oh, well... Guess I'll go rip the MPAA off by watching tv, but not the commercials...

Didou · #5 05-27-2002

Why stop at 50% of the salary ? Why not go for 100% ? If every single ( stupid ) idea they come out with, senators are dumb enough to apply them, then they can have whatever they want & make it seem natural.

Vehementi · #6 05-28-2002

Are they going to start complaining about us NOT watching TV?

People have the right to watch whatever they want. Whenever they want.

If the MPAA gets away with this... What is this world going to come to? The ideal solution is people will even further boycott the music industry, and a whole new wave of 3rd party programs to "clean" the music we buy. I do also hope that there will be artists/publishers that do boycott this...

I understand their selfish desires to squeeze every penny out of the customer, it's in human nature, but this is just taking it not one step too far, but about ten.

Didou · #7 05-28-2002

A little update on the matter...

New violators of the DMCA?

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