BZZZTT!!!! BBC. Wrong on both counts.

DRM does nothing to prevent or curtail piracy, in fact it encourages it. Spore anyone?

And as for protecting content, once an unprotected copy of that content becomes
available online, that protection becomes worthless.

The BBC do not have adverts in their content and their licensing of content is paid for by the television licensing tax.
Therefore, (reading between the lines) – BBC contnet is already owned by the British Public, paid for by their television licenses and therefore cant actually be pirated. It can only be time-shifted in various forms.

Ergo, technically in Britain there is no such thing as “video piracy, once an item has been broadcast by the BBS – it is in the virtual public domain by virtue of the UK’s Broadcasting legislation. (An interesting conundrum form which other countries could learn…….).

Hollywood lawyers have already figured this one out and are moving to change the goal posts by restricting access to HD content unless the BBS tow the line and join in with other cable companies DRM encoded EPG’s.

This is more about Hollywood kowtowing to Lachlan Murdochs recent complaints about the BBC creating an unfair level playing field that suited the consumers but not the content hogging media barons.

I think Jon blogged about Lachlan’s comments a couple of months ago.

In essense, it will not be the content that is encoded but the EPG.

Interestingly we just had a case about that very same subject in Australia.

Foxtel lost the challenge by IceTV challenging the “sanctity” of the foxtel EPG.

So with comonwealth precedent on the side of the non-drm-encoded EPG – I would suggest that eventually, AFTER the BBC agree to encode their EPG’s – hehe the decision will be reversed as being unconsitutional – by which time of course they will have their agreement with Hollywood – so in the end – as always – everyone wins.

So guys – this is about the EPG in the Transport stream and not about the content.

Keep hacking errr I meant …… Keep searching ……. “EPG” +”Sky B” for the answers.

Microsoft spent years trying to DRM-cripple Vista, and it was cracked within days.

DRM only does three things:

1. It (inevitably) annoys the less tech-savvy user, because interoperability — while not impossible by any means — is trickier.
2. Tech-savvy folks see DRM as a challenge, and some of them break it just for the hell of it.
3. Once somebody breaks it, the cracked version spreads like wildfire, because people do NOT like DRM. (Hint: SPORE)

>The BBC said it made the request to Ofcom in response to pressure from rights holders to offer copy protection on all its high-definition broadcasts.
I can download HD vids from torrent sites.