[opendtv] Re: Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center Play By?

Richard: "Technically respecting the "broadcast flag" is illegal."
Kon: "They actually have no choice in the matter ..."

WTF?

The regulation which would have required compliance with the BF was tossed
on appeal.  There is no regulation which /prohibits/ respecting it.

Of course MSFT had a choice.  That's crazy talk.  Even if political
considerations encouraged them to follow the BF requirements, what the MSFT
product did does //NOT// comply with the BF requirements.  (If it was even
triggered by BF presence or not).  The BF rules are, essentially:
if(flag_present) {restrict_outputs(Table_A_ONLY);} else
{restrict_outputs(ANY_ALLOWED);}  There is //NO// prohibition on recording.
It's not Copy Once.  It's not Copy Never.  It's Copy Freely.  DTCP has a
state for it, "ECN" (Encrypt, Copy Protection Not Asserted).

[[ I am completely unaware of any technical analysis which determines
precisely how the various bits were set to cause this behavior.  It's not
just BF, I believe. ]]

-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Richard C. Ramsden
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 1:19 AM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media
Center Play By?

Microsoft is in an odd position.  Technically respecting the "broadcast 
flag" is illegal.
But, since they could claim it's just a bug in their code...
I will never buy a computer with vista installed.

I'm still trying to figure out what GE's goal is in this episode.

Monty Solomon wrote:
> May 19th, 2008
> Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center Play By?
> Posted by Danny O'Brien
>
> While its customers are still puzzling over why Vista Media Center is 
> suddenly refusing to record over-the-air NBC digital TV, Microsoft 
> has come out with an astounding admission, courtesy of Greg Sandoval 
> at CNet News:
>
>      "Microsoft included technologies in Windows based on rules set 
> forth by the (Federal Communications Commission)," a Microsoft 
> spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "As part of these 
> regulations, Windows Media Center fully adheres to the flags used by 
> broadcasters and content owners to determine how their content is 
> distributed and consumed."
>
> Microsoft's statement shines light on how Microsoft expects Media 
> Center to behave. If this is the company's explanation for what users 
> are seeing when attempting to record digital NBC broadcasts 
> over-the-air, then Microsoft is saying Vista obeys the broadcast 
> flag: a requirement rejected by courts and Congress.
>
> ...
>
>
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/05/microsofts-masters-whose-rules-does-you
r-media-cen
>
>  
>  
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