[SWLUG] New protest and petition against BBC's Windows-only iPlayer

[Julian Hall]

Steve Hill wrote:
> No, exactly the same copyright laws prevent you from doing this.  You can 
> no more redistribute a defined file containing the data than you can 
> redistribute the contents of the BBC's DVB transports.
>   
Exactly right.. that's why the DVD copyright notice (for example) 
specifically prohibits redistribution of the content *in any form*.  The 
media isn't the issue, as Steve says it is the Intellectual Property 
which copyright safeguards, not the media it is received by - if that 
were the case it would equally be legal to copy DVDs onto VHS tapes and 
redistribute them, and that of course is not the case.

Having said that, even Bill Gates has gone on record saying DRM is not 
up to the job.  That being the case, why on earth are we still stuck 
with it?  As others have sadi, DRM assumes guilt of all parties which 
undoubtedly has ethical problems.

A thought that just occurred.  British Law guarantees assumption of 
innocence *until proven otherwise*.  Is there then not an argument to 
say that implementation of DRM which assumes guilt, is illegal in concept?

Kind regards,

Julian