MPAA demos Analog Hole
p2p news / p2pnet: "When there’s an issue called the analog hole and the MPAA is offering live demos of said hole in its Sin City hotel room (at CES), what’s a blog writer to do?"
Indeed. But that was the predicament The 463: Inside Tech Policy found itself in.
It quotes Tech Daily’s Sarah Lai Stirland as highlighting an MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) effort to, "convince media and Congressional staffers enjoying the new Comdex in Las Vegas" that the famed analog hole is, "the practice of converting analog content into digital format without embedded copy-protection instructions".
Hollywood studios are, "concerned about the potential for mass online redistribution of entertainment programming via the hole," says Stirland.
And, observes 463, "when Hollywood studios are concerned, presto, legislation appears. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner and the committee’s top Democrat, John Conyers, have introduced a bill (H.R. 4569), that would put locks on analog conversion devices.
“As the LA Times editorialized last week, the problem with the legislation is that, ‘it would give Hollywood unprecedented control over what people do with the programs that come into their homes. Studios could force TiVos and other digital recorders to erase pay-per-view or on-demand movies stored for more than 90 minutes. New computers could be prevented from showing copyprotected programs, such as a movie downloaded from an online store, in high definition’.”
The editorial from, “Hollywood’s home town daily paper” concludes, “In the meantime, if the goal is to deter illegal copying, Hollywood should work harder to help viewers watch what they want when they want to. And Congress should understand that piracy cannot be curbed simply by giving Hollywood more control.”
The Analog Hole law is, "just the first of the MPAA/RIAA’s Horror Triple Feature to be introduced into Congress," said the EFF’s (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Danny O’Brien recently.
"The others are the Broadcast Flag and technology mandate for digital radio. Perhaps they think that Congress will ‘compromise’ by passing one of the three. Or perhaps they’re hoping for a troika of victories in 2006 in their endless campaign against their own customers."
Also See:
The 463: Inside Tech Policy – [Insert Immature Headline About Analog Hole], January 4, 2006
Horror Triple Feature! – The Analog Hole bill —-, December 18, 2005
January 6th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
January 6th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
“The Enron of lobbying”
As investigations are launched into our badly corrupt congress, I too am sure James Sensenbrenner and John Conyers will also be looked at. Hey, let’s face it, does the republican party or current congress have any chance in november ?
January 6th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
“…piracy cannot be curbed simply by giving Hollywood more control.”
Amen.
IMHO if Hollywood (and organized music) were given every grubby greedy evil thing on their wish list(s) things would get F#@ked up so bad so fast that they would “secure” themselves out of business in short order. The trouble with that idea is the damage they would do on the way down. The bad legislation, the crippled hardware, the rampant malware, etc… that they would leave behind would be one hell of a mess to deal with.
January 6th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Yes they will. Both Republicans and Democrats are equally corrupt. The stupid people will throw out one faction only to elect member of the other faction. American people are way too stupid to get out from the myth of the “lessor of two evils.” If the American people had much sense, they would quit acting as mindless lemmings and start looking at alternative parties. There is the Constitution Party, Libertarian Party, Veteran’s Party, Reform Party, Green Party, Socialist Party, and many other parties that are almost wholely bribed (oops!!! I meant funded) by big-monied special interests.
January 7th, 2006 at 5:36 am
“IMHO if Hollywood (and organized music) were given every grubby greedy evil thing on their wish list(s) things would get F#@ked up so bad so fast that they would “secure” themselves out of business in short order. The trouble with that idea is the damage they would do on the way down. The bad legislation, the crippled hardware, the rampant malware, etc… that they would leave behind would be one hell of a mess to deal with.”
This is a very true statement and is reminescent of just what is wrong with the industry that doesn’t get it. I have little need to pay full price for something that has rental rights only, is limited in scope of use to my purposes, and without over watch is very likely to produce harmful software to my equipment. The congresscritters can legislate till doomsday, what they can not do is save a failing industry that is busy cutting its own throat while making enemies of all it expects to be its future customers.