[Wylug-discuss] Re: Windows-only distribution of BBC Programs

[Shaun Laughey]

On Wed, 2007-06-27 at 19:00 +0100, Gareth Eason wrote:
> Smylers wrote:
> > It's disappointing.  But is there a good alternative?
> > 
> > This analysis makes some good points in defence of the BBC's decision:
> > 
> >   http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2007/06/free_the_bbc_drm_debate.php
> [snip]
> 
> 	To say this article missed the point, is to me an understatement. Now that 
> I've got the gross generalisation out of the way, let me explain ;)
> 
> 	The BBC use a DRM model, which is not available to license payers who want to 
> legally use the valid content on a non-Windows system. To make it absolutely 
> clear, these are license payers, who are legally entitled to watch the BBC 
> material, who own a legal copy of Linux (or Mac OS X, or BSD, or in fact some 
> versions of Windows) and who wish to view this content.
> 
> 	The article claims that they will be catered for because they may be 
> tech-savvy enough to obtain a DRM-free version of the content.  ( c.f. "Of 
> course the DRM won't stop piracy, or stop the computer-savvy ripping Windows 
> Media streams into their preferred Ogg Vorbis format, or stop people using 
> UKNova, but it tends to make the expected level of piracy tolerable for the 
> people investing in television production." )
> 
> 	It's an admission of failure before we even start. The article admits that 
> DRM will not stop piracy, but yet it makes it illegal for a subset of the 
> consuming population (in some way, IANAL and I realise the DMCA does not apply 
> to the UK - but other anti-DRM laws most likely do and/or *will*!) to use 
> otherwise legal content.
> 
> 	Thus, the British public has a choice: they can either not avail of the 
> service, or - for an already proven pointless reason - they can ensure 
> legality only through purchasing and running a copy of Microsoft Windows.
> 
> 	I'm no longer resident in the UK, and so am no longer a license payer. I was 
> though, for many years, and am acutely aware that places like Ireland (where I 
> now live) look to institutions such as the BBC to see what so called 'Best 
> Practice' look like.
> 
> 	Please, make every effort to educate the BBC that their methods of applying 
> DRM are fundamentally flawed, and that they are running the real risk of 
> criminalising innocent people.
> 
> 	By the same token, please stop accepting the flawed assertions and 
> justifications for the DRM model detailed in this article. They are simply 
> wrong, given the current litigious attitude of the world in which we live.
> 
> 	I shall dismount my soap box now, in the hope that perhaps content producers 
> and providers will learn that a DRM model which criminalises a chunk of your 
> audience is not the way forward :-)
> 
> 	Best regards,
> 	-->Gar
Hi all,
Gar I agree about the DRM thing becoming entrenched this way. They'll
just enforce more laws and then before we know it we'll have to pay a
tax on all drivel on the off chance that one of us might watch it.

I haven't watched any TV for 2 years*. Apart from not actually knowing
what 90% of politicians look like. Or any murdered people. Or murderers.
Or what anyone famous looks like this year. Or what the latest version
of coke/chocolate/washing powder is.

I also have to say I feel better for it. 

I use the small amount of time freed up to read, talk and play with my
kids and do other things.

Perhaps it's a good thing that fewer people see TV. 

Shaun Laughey.

* except for the programs I had to watch as part of my job as a
contractor on websites.