[opendtv] Pirates of the digital domain are alive and well
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:05:31 -0400
http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=2018
05466
September 10, 2007
Pirates of the digital domain are alive and well
By David Benjamin
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The pirates of the digital domain, who
download, copy and distribute copyrighted video material piece-by-piece
or en masse, have little to fear from authorities, according to the
uneasy consensus of an expert panel that convened here during the
International Broadcast Conference.
As yet, there exist no surefire technological fixes to stem the tide of
both individual consumers and professional pirates appropriating
intellectual property and sharing it, either for fun, for educational
purposes or for profit. Nor is there even agreement on what constitutes
real piracy, according to Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer
Electronics Association (CEA).
Shapiro insisted that copyright issues had been politically hijacked by
powerful corporate content owners--especially Hollywood studios, led by
Disney--who he claimed make their own rules. "Piracy is anything that
they don't want you to do with it," he said.
Even the magnitude of the problem--or whether it's a problem at all--is
disputed. The most telling statistic emerging from the discussion was
that in the month of January 2007 alone, the Federal Communications
Commission sent out 573,000 copyright violation notices to the ten
largest U.S. Internet service providers.
Shapiro saw this as overkill. "Sending out 573,000 violations in one
month is not the way to win friends and influence people," he said.
Other panelists characterized Shapiro's preference for letting the
market define and control unauthorized use of proprietary video as
giving thieves a free pass. Greg DePriest, vice president of technology
policy at NBC Universal, placed the issue in straightforward moral
terms: "Everything seems to be turned upside-down. It's OK to do
something your parents taught you not to do as long as it's not
convenient to obey the law."
But Shapiro stood firmly by his position that, although electronic IP
piracy abounds today, the combination of market necessity and technical
ingenuity will eventually defeat it. "Technology finds its own way and
advances." He warned that "when government starts to tell you what to do
even when industry is agreeable to it," desirable applications often
turn out to be illegal by statute.
"The law of unintended consequences takes over," said Shapiro. "It gets
to be very dangerous, as smart as we think we are."
Brian Baker, CEO of Widevine Technologies, a U.K.-based content security
firm, noted that material delivered by large cable, satellite and other
networks has been effectively covered for 20 years by copyright
controls. At first, Baker noted, these networks made no effort to
scramble their signals, only realizing later that hackers were able to
tap into the stream and receive signals for free. As a result, the
networks sought controls and manufacturers devised provisional access
schemes to meet the networks' needs.
"Life gets a lot easier," said Baker, "if the network operator is
somehow co-opted into protecting the content and therefore protect the
revenue stream."
Sandra Aistars, associate general counsel for Time Warner, USA, insisted
that studios were doing everything possible to allow "fair use" of
copyrighted material. Aistars said Time Warner works to assure
educational use of its video. She said studios were making new
television series available free on the Internet, via podcasts and seeks
ways, as a matter of good promotional practice, "to make our content not
only legally available but ubiquitous."
Shapiro responded that, regardless of Time Warner's "fair use" lip
service, the content owner lobby had conducted a "one-sided discussion."
In a way, Shapiro's defense of consumer prerogatives, against the
combination of content-owner and government power, represented an
advance--away from the purely technical realm--in the debate over IP and
digital rights management.
It was Jonathan Drori, an entrepreneur and director of Changing Media
Ltd. of the U.K., who summarized a problem that did not end with the
panel discussion. He noted that parents, children and "people on the
street" have yet to be heard on "fair use" of the video material that is
everywhere on television, wireless phones and the Internet.
"Who makes the decisions?" he asked. "And should it just be the
people--the industries who own the content and their lawyers--who shout
the loudest?"
All material on this site Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC. All rights
reserved
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