TiVo whining?
I've come across a flurry of commentary on the fact that apparently TiVo has added content protection allowing a broadcaster to protect any program as it is broadcast. The result of this is:
"[A program] recorded with a red-flag next to it (an icon I've never seen before). When I selected the episode, I got a message to the effect that "the copyright holder prohibited saving the episode past date mm/dd". (from PVRBlog)
Read the whole post to see a good explanation and rundown of what apparently is going on.
I'm a TiVo fanatic and truly hope that they survive. It's a wonderful product which unfortunately is under pressure and from where I sit is at risk.
One other thing. Down lower in the post I see the following self-righteous comment which seems always to be the first refuge of people getting upset about any kind of copy protection:
"It treats all TiVo customers like they are criminals with big scary warnings about what you can and can't do. "
Boo-hoo. The louder people complain about being treated as criminals. the biggest offenders I suspect they really are. I mean I grant that copy protection or DRM is a pain in the butt, but let's admit that it's totally within the right of the publisher. iTunes,
Windows XP, and now TiVo. Boo-hoo.
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Comments
You know, I used to feel the same way ... that it was perfectly legitimate for copyright holders to impose any form of DRM they wanted in order to prevent users from "stealing" their content. But I changed my mind after reading Larry Lessig's "The Future of Ideas" (which I recommend). These new DRM technologies in many cases don't simply maintain the status quo as media becomes digital -- they are actually pushing copyright restrictions much further than they've ever been applied before. For example, it wasn't simply a technology "loophole" that has allowed people in the past to make video tape or audio tape copies of TV/radio and share them with their friends -- this was really a pretty good balance that was reached (after some legal back and forth) between copyright owners and consumers. Lessig argues that the copyright law were never intended to provide perfect control over all facets of content, and that moving the laws in that direction has some really harmful consequences to society and in particular the creation of new content.
After reading the book I'm much more of the opinion that these DRM technologies are being applied in ways that don't simply maintain a balance between copyright owner and consumer, but push things too far in favor of the copyright owner. So, the TiVO changes do concern me.
Posted by: Paul Kleppner | September 14, 2005 11:17 AM