There is a story in the
current issue of Maximum PC that is disturbing to say the least. It's
about the next generation of optical disks. (The first nightmare is
that two incompatible standards, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, have emerged with no
sign of convergence-- it's VHS vs. Beta all over again!)
Apparently, these new disks
will implement a set of tools that will make it more difficult to copy DVDs.
Some of these tools may even require internet access so that content
providers can look at your computer and examine your hard drive and mother
board before allowing you to look at a video. There will be an
encrypted key on the disk, and an encrypted key on the hardware. That
can't work unless you have an internet connection, so it just may be
possible that people who choose not to go on the internet will not be able
to play Blu-Ray or HD-DVD on their computers. And even if you do have an
internet connection, I'll bet you look forward to waiting, once again, for
some content provider to load up your screen with advertising and
distractions that you didn't ask for, while ostensibly registering your
transient possession of the goods.
This would not be a problem
for anybody if the market place were just and fair and the government
genuinely believed in free enterprise. Some vendors and manufacturers
would quickly realize something that is readily apparent to anybody: that
consumers don't want digital copy protection schemes because they make it
more difficult to enjoy your media, and because advertising and copy
protection is annoying, and because it is often done so badly and
inefficiently that most consumers are ready to throttle someone, anyone
after waiting and waiting and waiting for their devices to finish loading
and registering themselves and downloading advertising onto your hard drive.
But "free enterprise" is a
myth intended to pin you to the ground while corporations, lawyers, and
congressmen pilfer your pockets. The last thing in the world Hollywood
wants is competition.
In this case, the myth
becomes transparent when you realize that content providers like Warner
Brothers and Disney and Viacom are forcing hardware companies
to incorporate copy protection schemes into their products even though you
don't want it, the hardware companies don't want it, and there is no legal justification for
it. They are forcing them to do this by threatening them with legal
action, and by recruiting their cronies in congress (mostly Republicans) to
threaten to pass legislation requiring them to do it.
What if you were a young, independent movie-maker and you
decided that, at least early in your career, you would happily trade fame
and recognition for royalties on every copy of your movie distributed.
What if your movie was too controversial, or idiosyncratic for the Hollywood
studios, and you decided to distribute it yourself on Blu-Ray disks?
Do you think you are going to be allowed to?
Consumers want large capacity optical drives so they can
back up their photos, videos, and data. Undoubtedly, some consumers
want large capacity optical drives so they can steal high definition movies.
So what? Some people buy guns so they can rob banks, but these same
Republicans who prostrate themselves gleefully before the NRA have decided
that not only should you be able to buy a gun any time and any place you
feel like it-- you should even be able to shoot people in public places if they
look even mildly threatening to you, at least in Florida.
But you can't buy Blu-Ray recorders because you might
steal a copy of Lord of the Rings.
Or even worse-- you might watch a version of a film that
has been rated as safe for Europeans to watch, but not for North Americans!
Will the perniciousness of video pirates known no bounds!
Or worse yet-- you might want to prevent Hollywood from
forcing you to watch advertisements or previews when you already paid to
watch the movie!
Now-- I do not object to Hollywood protecting their
investments. Not at all. All they have to do is issue their
movies on a proprietary format which can only be played on their own
proprietary devices. That's all. Go for it Sony. Embrace
your greed, Warner Brothers!
Ah.... but they don't want to do that. Because they
know that you won't buy it. They know that their sales will suffer.
They know that the consumer doesn't like nasty, wasteful, inefficient
proprietary devices. They know that you will prefer to buy or rent
movies on the non-proprietary format, so that you have some control over
what and when you watch.
No no no-- it's much more elegant to simply hijack the
medium, and then, in cooperation with your fellow-travelers, the hardware
vendors, try to ensure that other media formats are not permitted to
flourish. They must be stamped out and destroyed. Because
consumers have shown over and over again that they don't want big
corporations controlling their media players.
