<nettime> Hollywood thinks Hollings moves too slowly

[t byfield <tbyfield@panix.com>]

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Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 10:07:38 -0400
From: Graystreak <wex@wherehoo.media.mit.edu>
Subject: Hollywood thinks Hollings moves too slowly

EFF's blog [0] contains an interesting posting from Cory Doctorow [1]
laying out the Content Cartel's latest effort to plug the "analog hole."
To you and I, that's the point where digital signals get converted into
things perceived by humans, such as sound waves and light waves, or vice
versa.

Doctorow discusses something called the "Content Protection Status Report"
[2] which the Content Cartel filed with the Senate Judiciary Committee
last month.  This stomach-churning power grab calls for regulation of
analog-to-digital converters.  The theory is that every A/D converter will
be controlled by a "cop-chip" that will shut it down if it is asked to
assist in converting copyrighted material.

This is just mind-bogglingly audacious.  It's an end run around Andy
Grove, for one thing.  He may control the CPU but he doesn't control the
A/Ds.  If this gets mandated by Congress then every digital device gets
locked down in one fell swoop, along with the software that controls it.

Obvious targets are digital cameras that are being used to copy films off
theater screens, but the effect of such regulation would be much more
wide-ranging, affecting everything from medical devices to cellphones to
webcams to all manner of home and consumer electronics (ovens, dishwashers
and automobiles being just a few examples).

Doctorow's hyperbole on the subject is pretty over the top, though a
couple of good examples are listed.  For instance, your digital camera
refuses to record your child's first steps because he happens to take them
in front of a television tuned to some broadcast or other.  This, like
most of the Content Cartel's legislative propositions, will be *extremely*
popular.  Thus, it's being done largely in secret.

The Star Chamber responsible for this latest imbecility is something
called The Broadcast Protection Discussion Group [3].  This frightening
assemblage of would-be-geeks is meeting to set standards for copy
prevention.  This is not standards in the IETF style (rough consensus and
running code), it's standards in the Warren Zevon style (lawyers, guns,
and money).  Implementation of this standard will be by legislative fiat,
bought by the Content Cartel's deep pockets, and enforced by the guns of
the FBI.  Presumably the Customs Service will also be pressed into the
fight to make sure no devices made overseas sneak into the US.  It also
probably means the end of, or at least stringent regulation of,
open-source code development.

Declan McCullagh reprints Doctorow's rant, along with a minor boggle from
Peter Trei [4]

[0] http://blogs.eff.org
[1] http://bpdg.blogs.eff.org/archives/000113.html
[2] http://judiciary.senate.gov/special/content_protection.pdf
[3] http://bpdg.blogs.eff.org/archives/000008.html
[4] http://www.politechbot.com/p-03578.html

Copyright 2002 Alan Wexelblat (wex@media.mit.edu)       
Permission is hereby granted for noncommercial reproduction of all or part
of this text in any medium provided that this copyright notice is retained
intact.  The author asks to be informed of any reuse of this material.

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