MPAA tries to make FCC allow SOC for the second time
18 replies, posted
FYI for those who like th tl;dr: SOC = Selectable Output Control
[quote]Four years ago, the motion picture industry convinced the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing to explore what Hollywood studios claimed was rampant piracy of movies occurring through the so-called "analog hole." (For non-engineers, the "analog hole" is the movie industry's term for any content-playing device connected to a TV through the red, blue and green multi-use port on the back of millions of TV sets.) The industry's trade group, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), argued that a great harm was devouring the motion picture industry: that consumers would export movies through the analog output, stealing content and sending it out over the Internet.
By the end of the hearing, Committee leaders did not appear convinced that such analog connections on TV sets were in fact leading to piracy.[/quote]
[quote]And what of that methodology that MPAA's Glickman said was "quite good"? It turns out it wasn't quite so good. Rather than provide the evidence requested by Congress, the MPAA was forced to confess that due to "human error" they "got the math wrong" and were unable to properly quantify piracy "losses" from analog TV connections. Forced to admit the much-ballyhooed study exaggerated the losses due to piracy, the MPAA repudiated its own analysis.
Now, having failed to make its case to the Senate, the MPAA is back - this time, before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - asking permission to disable lawfully purchased HDTV-capable TVs. Using an obscure procedural mechanism, MPAA is asking the FCC for authority to use "selectable output control" (SOC) to shut off TVs that do not use the motion-picture industry's preferred digital connections. (Again for the non-engineers, SOC allows content providers to shut off the video stream to any TV that is receiving content over a non-favored connection, such as analog.)
The procedural vehicle may be different, but one thing remains the same - MPAA is still unable to show any evidence of piracy through analog outputs. That is because this type of piracy largely does not exist. Most movie piracy occurs before the studios release the movies on home video, much of it through the motion picture studios and their contractors - a fact that studios hide.
Indeed, some movie studio officials concede publicly that the biggest source of movie piracy is the old-fashioned video camera concealed by a movie patron under a coat. By the time a movie is being shown on cable TV, the file-sharing horse has left the barn. And so some forward-thinking studios, proving they don't agree with the industry's piracy argument, have begun releasing some films to video-on-demand even before DVD.
Given that at least some in Hollywood acknowledge their piracy argument makes no sense, why is the MPAA focusing its vast lobbying resources on this issue and trying to get the FCC to give them the right to shut off millions of TVs? The reason is that this is not about piracy, but about control of your TV. With the ability to turn off your TV at will, the studios gain veto power over TV design and the viewer's TV experience. If they are successful, viewers will only be able to watch movies when, where and how Hollywood says.
If the MPAA gets its way and the FCC grants its wish, then 25 million lawful TV viewers who rely on analog interfaces would be subject to being shut off by Hollywood. Millions of Americans could no longer be sure the technology they purchased in good faith would continue to be fully functional.
If the FCC grants Hollywood the power to turn off analog inputs soon they will return asking for permission to unilaterally disable other features and functions. This is bad for anyone thinking of buying a new product, or who bought something in the past thinking it would work a certain way.
As flimsy as Hollywood's case appears, don't underestimate the power of the MPAA. They are a Washington powerhouse, and they have retained a fleet of DC's top lobbyists to walk the halls of the Commission on this very issue.
This approach has paid off for MPAA in the past, but things may be different this time. The new FCC Chair has declared that this Commission's decisions would be guided by data, not which pleading industry had the most political heft.
Indeed, the FCC's new leader vowed to make this the most data-driven FCC in history. Now he faces his first test: a powerful, politically connected industry is asking for permission to inconvenience millions of consumers, without offering a shred of evidence that the result will reduce piracy.
We will soon learn whether the "new FCC" is a reality. We hope they understand that to take away the consumer's ability to shift lawfully acquired content based on the speculation and whims of the MPAA is bad policy. That is why every major consumer group is on record opposing it. That is why we oppose it.[/quote]
[url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-shapiro/dear-fcc-please-dont-let_b_355191.html]**SOURCE**[/url]
Essentially, what the MPAA is trying to do is make it so that when you try to play a video through an analog input on your TV (composite, S-Video or component), the TV will display "ANALOG VIEWING NOT PERMITTED" and essentially force you to go digital and use something like HDMI. It runs along the lines of how Sony made it so that you can't connect your minidisc player into the optical output on your cd player and rip a CD however in this case it's not just Sony who is going "BOO-HOO, WE WANT UR MONIEZ!"
I'm raging so hard right now.
holy shit if they go through with this
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.
-FCC
[editline]09:29PM[/editline]
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.
-FCC
[QUOTE=Kim Il-Sung;18344698]The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.
-FCC
[editline]09:29PM[/editline]
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.
-FCC[/QUOTE]
hurr durr i watched pulp fiction
tldr?
[QUOTE=Delirious-M;18344803]tldr?[/QUOTE]
just read it you ungrateful fuck
The MPAA is one of the most ridiculous organizations that exists in the US.
Well damn :colbert:
[QUOTE=Figgis Fiddis;18345167]The MPAA is one of the most ridiculous organizations that exists in the US.[/QUOTE]
In the US? The MPAA has far more power in the world than just in the US.
In New Zealand, the MPAA doesn't exist.
That is really stupid.
Holy shit I read that one sentence and said "What"
[QUOTE=Elecbullet;18345662]Holy shit I read that one sentence and said "What"[/QUOTE]
Yeah really, the MPAA must have been doing a little :350: when they thought this shit up.
I'm raging like a motherfucker right now.
This [I]has [/I]to violate an amendment somewhere.
When I am dictator I will declare the MPAA illegal.
Vote for me.
Honestly, I keep thinking Mirrors Edge where everyone and everything is watched, monitored and punished accordingly.
What's great is they argue people who put these things on the internet are regular people hooking up to analog output.
This feels like the Net Neutrality arguments applied to TV.
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