FCC Allows Blocking of Set-Top Box Outputs 288
bth writes with this excerpt of an AP story as carried by Yahoo: "Federal regulators are endorsing Hollywood's efforts to let cable and satellite TV companies turn off output connections on the back of set-top boxes to prevent illegal copying of movies. ... In its decision Friday, the agency stressed that its waiver includes several important conditions, including limits on how long studios can use the blocking technology. The FCC said the technology cannot be used on a particular movie once it is out on DVD or Blu-ray, or after 90 days from the time it is first used on that movie, whichever comes first."
Here's a hint consumers... (Score:4, Interesting)
Pay for something else!
Could it be that Federal Regulators might actually want you to stop subscribing to crappy services?
Adam Smith would be so proud.
I turned off all the inputs on my set-top box too. (Score:1, Interesting)
I got fed up with the crappy bug-ridden set-top boxes Shaw Cable distributes up here in Canada, and cancelled my service.
They too used to offer firewire output on the Motorola boxes, but decided to disable them one day. After a lengthy discussion with their tech support, I decided it was in /my/ best interest to cancel my account and forgo any future dealings with these yahoos. The money I saved by *not* paying for HDTV allowed me to pay for a pretty fat pipe instead (not from Shaw, mind you) and a reasonable HTPC to boot. Mostly all my content comes from Demonoid or Torrent Leech now. I can watch anything I want in just under an hour off TL, or typically under 2 hours off Demonoid.
In fact, I've saved so much money, I actually don't mind going out and buying good movies that I enjoy. I almost never unwrap them or play the disks, but I don't mind supporting the people who make good things happen that genuinely entertain me. I've actually watched more movies and bought more movies as a result of this then I ever have before. And I can pretty much do what I please with the disks afterwards, too (rip them to PMP, archive them on my media server, etc).
-AC
Why? (Score:4, Interesting)
Um, how exactly does this those folks downloading content off the net?
Oh, wait. It doesn't. Instead, it gives me one less reason to use an STB, and one more reason to ditch cable.
With every passing year I consume less and less commercial content. Hollywood's most effective DRM to date has been their adversarial attitude toward their customers; they can't seem to figure out that I'm not going to pay for what I can't enjoy. Funny, that.
Re:PREDICTIONS ARE IN (Score:5, Interesting)
3) legit customers resort to piracy
4) MPAA cites increasing piracy to justify further usability-sacrificing restrictions
GOTO 1)
(really, you could flatten this loop anywhere, but the only realistic place to break out of it is at step 4)
MPAA news (Score:5, Interesting)
$$ for advertising
It's not just the advertising but also the content. Five MPAA studios own all TV news outlets [pineight.com] except PBS, and they decide which stories to run or not to run.
Re:No this is good. (Score:5, Interesting)
Good. Then the average person who doesn't understand the whole debate will now get the message that they are being fucked with loud and clear.
Speaking of the MPAA (Score:3, Interesting)
Does anyone have the GPS addy of of Jack Valenti's final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery? Next time I am in Washington DC, I would go out of my way to stop there and piss on his grave. Actually, this could be a new Slashdot "thing".
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)
I mean not for nothing, but I don't think I've ever seen a movie being distributed on the internet that's been ripped from a cable box. There isn't even a Scene spec for it.
Scene is far from be all and end all of video piracy, especially when it comes to quality - scene is really only for stupid little kids who are more interested in their silly little rules and their rush to see who can 'release' something first - scene doesn't give a damn about quality, its all quantity and ego. There are plenty of people sharing movies outside of 'the scene' and all their drama.
Years before bluray, hddvd, or even x264 and mkv people were distributing full-bitrate HDTV caps as mpeg2 transport streams (.ts files). There were two main sources - over the air broadcasts and caps from channels like HBO and Showtime, occasionally people would share caps from 'wildfeeds' - 45mbps satellite backhauls. Ironically, as it is today, almost all PPV transmissions are unencrypted. They might have the 'no copy' bit set, but on the wire between the head-end and the cable box, they are in the clear. So if you tune to the right QAM channel you can record most PPV shows, even the ones your neighbors are watching (just hope they don't pause or rewind because you'll record that too). There are even some scripts floating around out there to periodically scan the block of channels used for PPV and record anything that shows up. Kind of the DVR version of google's "I'm feeling lucky."
Re:PREDICTIONS ARE IN (Score:3, Interesting)
When I buy a DVD or a CD I either pay for plastic or the convenience of enjoying the content when and how I please. In one case I will only spend pennies in the other a lot more. The iTunes solution is even less appealing than the plastic.
Hollywood and musicians are selling convenient access to their content. Anything less reduces the value of their product. Once we understand the dynamics we can build the business model. Unlike the past there are billions of opportunities to make a profitable sale its only greed that is stopping it from happening today. This same greed manifests itself both on the artist side as well as the consumer side.
Re:PREDICTIONS ARE IN (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:PREDICTIONS ARE IN (Score:2, Interesting)
There is probably going to be some sort of code injected into the video that will allow detection of which subscriber recorded the video. It wouldn't be all that hard to do either. Simply having a cut scene where a different brand of drink is used or some labeling being different can be done to track down which geographical region the PPV happened in, using something like the display on a clock can show the time and date it was shown and one or two other things could narrow it down to a specific vendor. Or they could just inject a few artifacts into the video that would contain all the important information as well.
All that can be done by computer when the video is streamed to the user. It can be documented and stored. It wouldn't surprise me if it's not already able to be done and they aren't jumping on it in order to catch the major distributors.
Of course what can be done by the MPAA can also be undone by the user with another computer depending on how much detail they want to get into. Something as simple as cutting several copies together into one full length feature could pretty much inject so much uncertainty to make enforcement near impossible.
I'm suggesting this so you don't run out and be the first ones to discover it. Look for this crap before doing it- even if your not the one I'm replying to.
Re:PREDICTIONS ARE IN (Score:3, Interesting)
Yea, similar stuff is already being done but in a more obvious way, random numbers popping up on the screen.
Waiting for them to move to more subtle ways so that atleast when paying for the stuff I dont have to have blocks of numbers with opaque backgrounds showing up in the middle of the screen blocking my view