Hollywood One Step Closer To Demanding DRM Helmets

from the did-you-not-pay-for-that? dept

Despite being beaten down repeatedly when they’ve tried to introduce the “broadcast flag” system, the movie industry keeps coming back for more. Their latest effort goes beyond just the broadcast flag to try to plug the “analog hole.” The problem with any copy protection scheme is that, at some point, in some way, they have to unencrypt the content and let it be viewed or heard. Otherwise what good is it? At that point, of course, it’s always able to be recorded in some manner. That’s the analog hole. Even though those recordings are almost always of lower quality, Hollywood still views it as a huge problem. That’s why they’re pushing for new legislation that would force every piece of consumer electronics to make use of two different systems to try to plug the analog hole — preventing all sorts of actions normally considered fair use. Again, this seems to only be punishing people who aren’t trying to do anything wrong. The real counterfeiters will obviously find a way around it — so this will just limit people who just want to do something completely innocent. Of course, at the same time, it will make all of our consumer electronics and computers more expensive and more difficult to use, while making the MPAA’s own content less valuable. It’s a basic lose-lose proposition for everyone — and yet the MPAA is going to insist it’s “necessary” because they aren’t creative enough to change their business model in the face of a changing market. Suddenly, it’s looking like the idea of the DRM helmet that carefully monitors what you see to make sure you are either blocked from viewing or charged for any copyrighted content you see isn’t quite so far fetched.


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Comments on “Hollywood One Step Closer To Demanding DRM Helmets”

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14 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

No Subject Given

Forget the “DRM Helmet” — what these jerks really want is technology to wipe your memory immediately after you partake of a copyrighted song, film, or other IP. They might possibly let you keep the memory of having seen it (though that could interfere with repeat business), but it’s unlikely they’d want you to retain any critical thoughts about it. So, anyone, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless DRM?”

Craig (user link) says:

Re: No Subject Given

I’m not so sure they’d want you to forget *everything* about it, since that would greatly reduce the word-of-mouth marketing that feeds a great deal of demand for popular media. They’d end up having to convince you all over again to pony up for that song/movie/whatever, and that’d be costly.

What’s more likely is that they’d charge for each “experiencing” of the media — each watching of a movie or hearing of a song would ring up a micropayment. And we thought action stars going into politics was bad.

Home movie buff says:

Impact on consumer home movies

One consequence of these efforts to block any recording device when it detects a watermark is that home movies will now become much harder to film.

At Home: First you will have to turn off every TV and radio in the house in case a watermark comes across while you are filming your kids.

At the mall, ballgame, …: Forget it, there’s music playing everywhere, your camcorder will shut off before you can say Hello Mom.

Someone should point that out!

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