Re: FC: Hollywood wants to plug "analog hole," regulate A-D converters
Peter Trei writes:
My mind has been boggled, my flabbers have been ghasted.
In the name of protecting their business model, the MPAA proposes that every analog/digital (A/D) converter - one of the most basic of chips - be required to check for US government mandated copyright flags. Quite aside from increasing the cost and complexity of the devices many, manyfold, it eliminates the ability of the US to compete in the world electronics market.
This is absurd. In all the commentary on this issue, no one has made the obvious point that the MPAA has no interest or intention in putting watermark detectors into every ADC chip! They don't care about the ADC chip in a digital thermometer or even a cell phone. All they care about are things like PC video capture cards, which are high fidelty consumer devices capable of digitizing copyright protected content. Their white paper is a brief summary of their goals and intentions and does not go into full technical detail. But let's use a little common sense here, folks. It's pointless to try to shoot down this proposal by raising all these horror stories about ADC chips in industrial and technical devices being crippled by a watermark detector which will never be activated. If you waste time developing this line of argument, you will be left with nothing to say when the actual bill focuses only on the specific devices that the content holders are worried about. And sure, a sufficiently talented electrical engineer can produce a custom board to do non-watermark-aware ADC, and digitize TV shows and music. The MPAA has to accept that such activity will continue to go on at a low level. They just want to make sure that consumer devices are not sold that enable every customer to make easy digital copies of copyrighted data based on an analog source, as they can now with the Replay DVR. Please, let's use some common sense and not go overboard with an obviously mistaken interpretation of the MPAA's intentions. That wastes everyone's time.
At 06:20 AM 5/30/2002 +0200, Nomen Nescio wrote:
Peter Trei writes:
My mind has been boggled, my flabbers have been ghasted.
In the name of protecting their business model, the MPAA proposes that every analog/digital (A/D) converter - one of the most basic of chips - be required to check for US government mandated copyright flags. Quite aside from increasing the cost and complexity of the devices many, manyfold, it eliminates the ability of the US to compete in the world electronics market.
This is absurd. In all the commentary on this issue, no one has made the obvious point that the MPAA has no interest or intention in putting watermark detectors into every ADC chip! They don't care about the ADC chip in a digital thermometer or even a cell phone. All they care about are things like PC video capture cards, which are high fidelty consumer devices capable of digitizing copyright protected content.
But that also means it could block sale of analog test instruments, such as programmable PC-based spectrum analyzers. steve
On Thu, 30 May 2002, Nomen Nescio wrote:
This is absurd. In all the commentary on this issue, no one has made the obvious point that the MPAA has no interest or intention in putting watermark detectors into every ADC chip! They don't care about the ADC
If they don't they are screwed.
chip in a digital thermometer or even a cell phone. All they care about are things like PC video capture cards, which are high fidelty consumer devices capable of digitizing copyright protected content.
And everyone outside the US will build their cards without the detector, or with a software switch to turn it off so they can sell more in the US.
Their white paper is a brief summary of their goals and intentions and does not go into full technical detail. But let's use a little common sense here, folks.
Common sense says they are corrupt pigs who will stop at nothing to get their profits back up.
It's pointless to try to shoot down this proposal by raising all these horror stories about ADC chips in industrial and technical devices being crippled by a watermark detector which will never be activated. If you waste time developing this line of argument, you will be left with nothing to say when the actual bill focuses only on the specific devices that the content holders are worried about.
And what are they going to do when people build MP3 players from auto ADC's that don't detect watermarks? Make them illegal?
And sure, a sufficiently talented electrical engineer can produce a custom board to do non-watermark-aware ADC, and digitize TV shows and music. The MPAA has to accept that such activity will continue to go on at a low level. They just want to make sure that consumer devices are not sold that enable every customer to make easy digital copies of copyrighted data based on an analog source, as they can now with the Replay DVR.
And what's to prevent it from happening at a high level if there's enough profit in it? MPAA is a tiny market compared to the rest of the electronics industry - it will be easy to bypass the law on a huge scale. You don't need to be a "sufficiently talented electrical engineer" when you can go across the border, buy 1000 simple/cheap devices and bring 'em back in your pickup truck.
Please, let's use some common sense and not go overboard with an obviously mistaken interpretation of the MPAA's intentions. That wastes everyone's time.
MPAA is definitly a waste of everybody's time. They need to be shot so we don't have to listen to them anymore!!! :-) Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike
participants (3)
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Mike Rosing -
Nomen Nescio -
Steve Schear