[opendtv] Re: Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center Play By?
- From: John Willkie <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 16:13:16 -0400 (EDT)
while this article seems to flesh out a few details, we need to ignore it. The
writer knows NOT a clue about what is being written.
To wit:
1. The FCC never set out to legislate "use" of the broadcast flag, just to
mandate receiver behavior in the presence of the flag;
2. In the absence of FCC jurisdiction in this matter, broadcasters are free
to assert the flag, and receivers are free to decide (absent section 1201
concerns if the flag is found);
3. the flag is permitted, and ALWAYS is used behind the scenes, since it's not
visible in the video;
4. I strongly doubt that NBC said that it inadvertently used "broadcast flag
encryption" since THERE IS NO SUCH THING. The flag is just that; a two-byte
flag, and there is NO ENCRYPTION involved in it's assertion (encryption
involves paying 5% of revenues to the Feds);
5. NBC did not assert the flag to prevent recording of content, since they
have no way of ensuring or even knowing if that will result from asserting the
flag;
6. The flag is not copy protection technology, so Microsoft didn't secretly
implement it;
7. It's possible that MS interpreted the assertion of the flag to mean no copy
protection, it's doubtful that they said they were following FCC rules (aside
from their interpretation of them);
8. The MS spokesperson did refer to "flags" and there is only one called the
broadcast flag, which is the rc_descriptor. "Flags" would lead one to think
that this had something to do with CGMS, not the "broadcast flag;"
9. The FLAG has nothing to do per se with the copyright of a program. This is
turning an EFF position (which they lost) in the FCC proceeding upside down.
There is a MPEG-2 flag in the elementary stream headers to indicate copyright
protection. There is nothing to prevent broadcasters to assert the
rc_descriptor on a television program regardless of the state of copyright
protection;
10. ALL TV PROGRAMS have copyright protection, if the station wishes to push
it;
11. The appeals court didn't overturn the FCC's proposal, it merely gutted the
FCC's attempt in a REGULATION to assert receiver behavior in the presence of
the flag;
12. MS and others "retained the option" not "have retained the option."
13. Somehow, I first got wind of this particular issue ten days ago, but
somehow the article says that this came up last week;
14. If this is related to ONE user having the problem with ONE computer, while
receiving ONE TV station and involving two television programs it's been
horrbily blown up way out of proportion, since it could simply be a problem
with a single-byte error on the harddrive of a single computer (all os code is
resident on the hard drive);
15. Justin Sanders wasn't watching WNCN-DT1, since such a station doesn't
exist. He most likely was watching minor channel 1 on WNCN-DT.
16. Nothing in this article or external sources of information would lead a
reasonable person to believe this is an NBC issue, since the station in
question is owned by Media General, not NBC. Didn't I see that Media General
ON THE WEEK IN QUESTION, announced 700 layoffs?
In other words, I found more errors in this article than there were paragraphs!
It's quite clear now that this was a single loudmouth who was attempting to
record one excreble (American Gladiator) and one treacly program on a single
television station. Indeed, the problem could have been caused by his cable
firm, since nothing I have read says he was tuning to the station over the air,
and many cable companies would call the station in question WNCN-DT1 (PSIP only
permits seven characters for short_name, and uses major and minor channel
numbers to indicate virtual channels.) Or the problem could have been caused
by a bad hard-drive read when the computer booted up.
Here's the screen shot http://www.eff.org/related/3499/blog
By the way, the court of appeals totally ignored the EFF position; they adopted
in large part, the position of the Consumer Electonics Alliance and several
receiver makers. IIRC, that included MS. This is just more, routine,
uninformed, anti-MS, EFF bullshit.
John Willkie
-----Original Message-----
>From: Dale Kelly <dalekelly@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: May 26, 2008 3:31 PM
>To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [opendtv] Re: Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center
>Play By?
>
>Posted today by Broadcast Engineering Mag.
>
>http://broadcastengineering.com/news/nbc-inadvertently-uses-broadcast-flag-0526/
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of John Willkie
>> Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 10:51 AM
>> To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: [opendtv] Re: Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media
>> Center Play By?
>>
>>
>> boy, are you off the mark.
>>
>> Prove me wrong. Point me to the "law", "court holding",
>> "regulation" or "policy" that respecting the broadcast flag
>> violates. You said "illegal" not "unlawful", so this would have
>> to be one of the above that imposes criminal penalties. And, I
>> gave you more latitude above -- I didn't limit you to a law.
>>
>> Hint: there are none.
>>
>> I provided extensive links on this, including links to blog posts
>> from 2005 and 2006 from the MS team leader saying that they were
>> (then) observing the flag as meaning CGMS "CopyOnce." Now, it's
>> "CopyNever."
>>
>> It could be a bug in the code, but more likely it was a conscious
>> decision, since rewriting code isn't a bug per se.
>>
>> NBC's part in this is that they asserted the flag in their
>> broadcasts. GE's part in this is that they own and control NBC.
>>
>> So, you'll only buy a computer without an operating system so
>> that you can install Vista yourself? MS stops support for OS's
>> after a while, but humans tend to continue to go on until they
>> meet their maker.
>>
>> John Willkie
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> >From: "Richard C. Ramsden" <ramsden@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >Sent: May 24, 2008 10:19 PM
>> >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-rule
>s-does-your-media-cen
>>>
>>>
>>>
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