Post by Skaggs on Jan 17, 2007 16:14:46 GMT -5
Who Killed TiVoToGo?
Digital Cable and Satellite DRM Harms TV Fans and Innovators
It's the latest digital media murder mystery: TiVo Series2's TiVoToGo enabled limited portability of recorded content to PCs and other devices, but the TiVo Series3 HD did not include this feature when recently released. In other words, if you want to upgrade to HD, you have to downgrade your TiVo's features.
You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess that this story somehow involves Hollywood, the FCC, and "digital rights management" (DRM) restrictions. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has opposed these restrictions every step of the way, and, in this article, we'll explain digital cable DRM's sordid history, how digital cable and satellite DRM may affect you, and what you can do to fight back.
In short, get ready for copying limits on cable and satellite content that won't stop "Internet piracy" but will stop you from making legitimate use of lawfully acquired content. You'll be forced to only buy devices with limited features, and restricted digital outputs could break compatibility with your current HD displays and receivers, even though you may have already invested thousands of dollars in them. Innovators will have to beg permission before inventing new digital devices that help you get more from your satellite and cable content.
Unfortunately, TiVoToGo's disappearance is just the tip of the iceberg.
DRM in the Digital TV World
Remember, Hollywood tried to stamp out Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) when they started to become widespread, loudly railing against digital recording while suing DVR-maker ReplayTV into bankruptcy.
Fortunately for TV fans, independent DVR makers have not had to get permission to help you record standard definition quality TV. In fact, all technology developers are free to use typical analog connections to help you create restriction-free, digital copies of over-the-air, cable, and satellite TV content. Furthermore, cable providers have had to offer the basic analog tier in unencrypted form,8 allowing users to hook up any TV device without worrying about proprietary set-top box compatibility. Anyone can also create DRM-free devices for over-the-air HDTV received via antenna, despite Hollywood's pushing for government mandated "broadcast flag" restrictions.
But restrictions may apply when it comes to receiving cable and satellite TV through digital inputs and making HD quality recordings. Cable and satellite providers are held hostage to Hollywood's demands for DRM. If a service provider refused to do Hollywood's bidding, the studio oligopoly could decide to solely provide content -- and thus a huge advantage -- to competitors that are willing to implement DRM. The service providers might also have independent reasons for wanting to control customer behavior in certain ways.
DRM gives Hollywood and these service providers a veto over innovation. With the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in effect, technology developers like TiVo cannot lawfully build devices that receive content through digital inputs and unlock the DRM unless they get permission to do so.
DRM in Action: CableCARD, TiVoToGo's Demise, and Beyond
So how was the FCC involved in this "voluntary" licensing process? The Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the FCC to clear the way for useful, competitive alternatives to your cable company's proprietary set-top box while still ensuring that you can't get channels like HBO without paying for them. This was a laudable goal, because proprietary set-top boxes annoy customers and hold up innovation, creating a maze of incompatibility. These proprietary boxes could also help facilitate a race to the bottom -- in trying to curry favor with Hollywood, each cable company would have an incentive to ratchet up DRM requirements for set-top box-compatible devices.
In the "Plug and Play" proceedings, the FCC required all cable companies to make available CableCARDs, which enable anyone to offer an alternative to set-top boxes. The CableCARD is slotted into a compatible device like a TV or a DVR, and then that device acts as a set-top box. Inter-industry agreements force anyone who wants to create a CableCARD-compatible device to get licensed through a private organization jointly run by cable companies called CableLabs.
Unfortunately, Hollywood intruded into the FCC's proceedings in order to ensure that CableCARD-compatible devices incorporated DRM. With the FCC's blessings, CableLabs' license can require DRM.
And that's how TiVoToGo for Series 3 HD met its maker. As TiVo's website suggests, CableLabs has yet to permit TiVo to implement TiVoToGo in the CableCARD-compatible Series 3 HD. TiVo must first create a set of restrictions that satisfies CableLabs, and, if it cannot, the feature will remain extinct. Hollywood has openly wanted to rein in TiVoToGo, and any revived version will be more limited than its predecessor. Again, if Hollywood and cable companies had originally obtained such a veto power over the DVR itself, TiVo might never have been born.
TiVoToGo's disappearance is just one concrete example of the harm that digital TV restrictions can cause. Among other things, CableLabs requires that devices obey certain copying controls. For instance, if Hollywood tells the cable company to mark a show as "allow only one generation of copies," then your CableLabs-approved digital devices have to obey. The license requires restricted digital outputs (e.g., HDMI/HDCP and DTCP), so that content can only be transferred to or displayed on devices that obey DRM. Devices must also be capable of purposely reducing resolution of programming ("down-rezzing") when using HD analog outputs.
Even if you use your cable company's set-top box instead or opt for satellite TV, you won't be able to escape DRM. In fact, innovators may face even worse DRM requirements when attempting to interoperate with these proprietary receivers. Satellite providers' conditional access devices can also include DRM, and each satellite provider can set its own set of DRM requirements in its license. Similarly, as discussed above, each cable provider can define its own restrictive licensing requirements for set-top box compatibility.
Limits on DRM
On the bright side, the FCC "Plug and Play" proceedings also put certain caps on how bad the DRM can get from both cable and satellite providers.
First, no copying restrictions can be put on any unencrypted over-the-air broadcast content carried via cable or satellite, including shows like Lost, 24, Desperate Housewives, and The Office. Satellite and cable providers must allow at least one generation of copies for "pay television, non-premium subscription television, and free conditional access" programming, though they can prohibit all copying of video-on-demand, pay-per-view, and subscription-on-demand programming. Of course, these caps provide only a little comfort; since the time of the VCR, TV fans have been technically able to time-shift using a device of their choosing and copy recorded content to any other device. Now those abilities can be taken away.
Second, the FCC prohibited use of "selectable output control," a technology that allows cable or satellite providers to block certain outputs on a program-by-program basis. For example, by blocking the analog outputs on which many existing digital devices rely, cable and satellite providers could force you to use DRM-restricted outputs or buy an entirely new set of DRM-laden devices.
Finally, the FCC prohibited "down-rezzing" of over-the-air content carried via cable or satellite. Like selectable output control, down-rezzing can be employed to encourage use of restricted digital outputs instead of unrestricted analog outputs. Unfortunately, the FCC left the door open for down-rezzing of other programming.
As noted above, anyone is also free to build a DRM-free device for recording and receiving broadcast over-the-air HDTV via antenna, rather than by cable or satellite. EFF, Public Knowledge, and a coalition of groups mounted a successful legal challenge to the FCC's "broadcast flag" DRM mandate. Congress has not reinstated it, though several proposed bills backed by Hollywood would do so.
Fight Back Against Digital TV DRM
So that's what you have to look forward to in the brave new world of HD. TiVoToGo is one endangered -- perhaps extinct -- gizmo. Many more novel uses may never be invented under these restrictions.
Still, there are some actions you can take to fight back:
1. Don't let cable companies block competition with proprietary set-top boxes.
The real solution to DRM's harm here is to reform the DMCA and revisit the "Plug and Play" proceedings. However, it is important to recognize that while DRM for CableCARD-compatible devices is bad enough, digital cable DRM as a whole could be even worse. As long as customers can forgo cable providers' set-top boxes and switch to alternative CableCard-compatible devices instead, the providers' set-top box DRM requirements can be kept in check by competition; CableLabs' licensing restrictions could essentially act as a ceiling. Starting on July 1, 2007, the FCC's "integration ban" will in effect oblige cable companies to rely on CableCARDs for the conditional access functions in their own set-top boxes.
But now cable companies are trying to hold CableCARD back, killing competition and squeezing even more money from customers by forcing them to rent proprietary boxes. Along with frustrating customers' attempts to get CableCARDs, the cable providers are petitioning the FCC to delay the "integration ban" for a third time. They insist that a superior technology to the CableCARD is right around the corner, but in the meantime customers are being denied the useful, competitive alternatives to proprietary set-top boxes that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was intended to produce.
Take action now and tell the FCC to reject cable companies' dragging their feet on competitive alternatives to proprietary set-top boxes:
action.eff.org/cablecard
If your cable company frustrates your attempt to get a CableCARD, submit your complaint to the FCC here:
svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm
Let us know about any problems by writing to hdtvdrm@eff.org, too.
2. Don't let Congress "plug the analog hole."
Though it is less convenient and you will lose picture quality, you can still use typical analog inputs to make DRM-free, digital copies of recorded content. For instance, you can use DVRs to record satellite or digital cable TV through analog inputs at standard definition quality. But that will be restricted if Congress passes "analog hole" legislation.
3. Don't let service providers violate the FCC's DRM rules.
The FCC imposed some limits on DRM, but it is hard to determine the extent to which the service providers are abiding by those rules. For example, in its first review of the TiVo Series3 HD, CNET had trouble using the analog output to save content to a VCR or a DVD recorder. Was this a random technical glitch, or could it have been a purposeful use of selectable output control in violation of the FCC's ruling? The answer is not clear.
If you run into any problems like this, submit complaints to the FCC here:
svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm
In addition, remember that FCC rules say that basic tier cable must be provided in unencrypted form. While the FCC declined to clarify whether that regulation applies to digital cable, you should file a complaint if you face such restrictions using the URL above.
Let us know about your problems, too, by writing to hdtvdrm@eff.org.
4. Support DMCA reform.
But for the DMCA, the DRM stranglehold wouldn't be nearly as bad. The DMCA limits your ability to circumvent certain DRM for non-infringing uses. Moreover, it restricts third-parties -- in particular, ones that aren't bound by the cable and satellite providers' restrictive licensing agreements -- from distributing new technologies that strip the DRM. DMCA reform could lift these limits; at the same time, circumventing to obtain access to cable content you haven't paid for could still be prohibited, and that already was restricted even before the DMCA under "theft of service" laws.
5. Keep over-the-air HDTV DRM-free.
Remember that broadcast HDTV is still DRM-free, so long as Congress does not reinstate the broadcast flag mandate. If you run into DRM on over-the-air HDTV, let us know about the problems by writing to hdtvdrm@eff.org.
Digital Cable and Satellite DRM Harms TV Fans and Innovators
It's the latest digital media murder mystery: TiVo Series2's TiVoToGo enabled limited portability of recorded content to PCs and other devices, but the TiVo Series3 HD did not include this feature when recently released. In other words, if you want to upgrade to HD, you have to downgrade your TiVo's features.
You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess that this story somehow involves Hollywood, the FCC, and "digital rights management" (DRM) restrictions. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has opposed these restrictions every step of the way, and, in this article, we'll explain digital cable DRM's sordid history, how digital cable and satellite DRM may affect you, and what you can do to fight back.
In short, get ready for copying limits on cable and satellite content that won't stop "Internet piracy" but will stop you from making legitimate use of lawfully acquired content. You'll be forced to only buy devices with limited features, and restricted digital outputs could break compatibility with your current HD displays and receivers, even though you may have already invested thousands of dollars in them. Innovators will have to beg permission before inventing new digital devices that help you get more from your satellite and cable content.
Unfortunately, TiVoToGo's disappearance is just the tip of the iceberg.
DRM in the Digital TV World
Remember, Hollywood tried to stamp out Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) when they started to become widespread, loudly railing against digital recording while suing DVR-maker ReplayTV into bankruptcy.
Fortunately for TV fans, independent DVR makers have not had to get permission to help you record standard definition quality TV. In fact, all technology developers are free to use typical analog connections to help you create restriction-free, digital copies of over-the-air, cable, and satellite TV content. Furthermore, cable providers have had to offer the basic analog tier in unencrypted form,8 allowing users to hook up any TV device without worrying about proprietary set-top box compatibility. Anyone can also create DRM-free devices for over-the-air HDTV received via antenna, despite Hollywood's pushing for government mandated "broadcast flag" restrictions.
But restrictions may apply when it comes to receiving cable and satellite TV through digital inputs and making HD quality recordings. Cable and satellite providers are held hostage to Hollywood's demands for DRM. If a service provider refused to do Hollywood's bidding, the studio oligopoly could decide to solely provide content -- and thus a huge advantage -- to competitors that are willing to implement DRM. The service providers might also have independent reasons for wanting to control customer behavior in certain ways.
DRM gives Hollywood and these service providers a veto over innovation. With the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in effect, technology developers like TiVo cannot lawfully build devices that receive content through digital inputs and unlock the DRM unless they get permission to do so.
DRM in Action: CableCARD, TiVoToGo's Demise, and Beyond
So how was the FCC involved in this "voluntary" licensing process? The Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the FCC to clear the way for useful, competitive alternatives to your cable company's proprietary set-top box while still ensuring that you can't get channels like HBO without paying for them. This was a laudable goal, because proprietary set-top boxes annoy customers and hold up innovation, creating a maze of incompatibility. These proprietary boxes could also help facilitate a race to the bottom -- in trying to curry favor with Hollywood, each cable company would have an incentive to ratchet up DRM requirements for set-top box-compatible devices.
In the "Plug and Play" proceedings, the FCC required all cable companies to make available CableCARDs, which enable anyone to offer an alternative to set-top boxes. The CableCARD is slotted into a compatible device like a TV or a DVR, and then that device acts as a set-top box. Inter-industry agreements force anyone who wants to create a CableCARD-compatible device to get licensed through a private organization jointly run by cable companies called CableLabs.
Unfortunately, Hollywood intruded into the FCC's proceedings in order to ensure that CableCARD-compatible devices incorporated DRM. With the FCC's blessings, CableLabs' license can require DRM.
And that's how TiVoToGo for Series 3 HD met its maker. As TiVo's website suggests, CableLabs has yet to permit TiVo to implement TiVoToGo in the CableCARD-compatible Series 3 HD. TiVo must first create a set of restrictions that satisfies CableLabs, and, if it cannot, the feature will remain extinct. Hollywood has openly wanted to rein in TiVoToGo, and any revived version will be more limited than its predecessor. Again, if Hollywood and cable companies had originally obtained such a veto power over the DVR itself, TiVo might never have been born.
TiVoToGo's disappearance is just one concrete example of the harm that digital TV restrictions can cause. Among other things, CableLabs requires that devices obey certain copying controls. For instance, if Hollywood tells the cable company to mark a show as "allow only one generation of copies," then your CableLabs-approved digital devices have to obey. The license requires restricted digital outputs (e.g., HDMI/HDCP and DTCP), so that content can only be transferred to or displayed on devices that obey DRM. Devices must also be capable of purposely reducing resolution of programming ("down-rezzing") when using HD analog outputs.
Even if you use your cable company's set-top box instead or opt for satellite TV, you won't be able to escape DRM. In fact, innovators may face even worse DRM requirements when attempting to interoperate with these proprietary receivers. Satellite providers' conditional access devices can also include DRM, and each satellite provider can set its own set of DRM requirements in its license. Similarly, as discussed above, each cable provider can define its own restrictive licensing requirements for set-top box compatibility.
Limits on DRM
On the bright side, the FCC "Plug and Play" proceedings also put certain caps on how bad the DRM can get from both cable and satellite providers.
First, no copying restrictions can be put on any unencrypted over-the-air broadcast content carried via cable or satellite, including shows like Lost, 24, Desperate Housewives, and The Office. Satellite and cable providers must allow at least one generation of copies for "pay television, non-premium subscription television, and free conditional access" programming, though they can prohibit all copying of video-on-demand, pay-per-view, and subscription-on-demand programming. Of course, these caps provide only a little comfort; since the time of the VCR, TV fans have been technically able to time-shift using a device of their choosing and copy recorded content to any other device. Now those abilities can be taken away.
Second, the FCC prohibited use of "selectable output control," a technology that allows cable or satellite providers to block certain outputs on a program-by-program basis. For example, by blocking the analog outputs on which many existing digital devices rely, cable and satellite providers could force you to use DRM-restricted outputs or buy an entirely new set of DRM-laden devices.
Finally, the FCC prohibited "down-rezzing" of over-the-air content carried via cable or satellite. Like selectable output control, down-rezzing can be employed to encourage use of restricted digital outputs instead of unrestricted analog outputs. Unfortunately, the FCC left the door open for down-rezzing of other programming.
As noted above, anyone is also free to build a DRM-free device for recording and receiving broadcast over-the-air HDTV via antenna, rather than by cable or satellite. EFF, Public Knowledge, and a coalition of groups mounted a successful legal challenge to the FCC's "broadcast flag" DRM mandate. Congress has not reinstated it, though several proposed bills backed by Hollywood would do so.
Fight Back Against Digital TV DRM
So that's what you have to look forward to in the brave new world of HD. TiVoToGo is one endangered -- perhaps extinct -- gizmo. Many more novel uses may never be invented under these restrictions.
Still, there are some actions you can take to fight back:
1. Don't let cable companies block competition with proprietary set-top boxes.
The real solution to DRM's harm here is to reform the DMCA and revisit the "Plug and Play" proceedings. However, it is important to recognize that while DRM for CableCARD-compatible devices is bad enough, digital cable DRM as a whole could be even worse. As long as customers can forgo cable providers' set-top boxes and switch to alternative CableCard-compatible devices instead, the providers' set-top box DRM requirements can be kept in check by competition; CableLabs' licensing restrictions could essentially act as a ceiling. Starting on July 1, 2007, the FCC's "integration ban" will in effect oblige cable companies to rely on CableCARDs for the conditional access functions in their own set-top boxes.
But now cable companies are trying to hold CableCARD back, killing competition and squeezing even more money from customers by forcing them to rent proprietary boxes. Along with frustrating customers' attempts to get CableCARDs, the cable providers are petitioning the FCC to delay the "integration ban" for a third time. They insist that a superior technology to the CableCARD is right around the corner, but in the meantime customers are being denied the useful, competitive alternatives to proprietary set-top boxes that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was intended to produce.
Take action now and tell the FCC to reject cable companies' dragging their feet on competitive alternatives to proprietary set-top boxes:
action.eff.org/cablecard
If your cable company frustrates your attempt to get a CableCARD, submit your complaint to the FCC here:
svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm
Let us know about any problems by writing to hdtvdrm@eff.org, too.
2. Don't let Congress "plug the analog hole."
Though it is less convenient and you will lose picture quality, you can still use typical analog inputs to make DRM-free, digital copies of recorded content. For instance, you can use DVRs to record satellite or digital cable TV through analog inputs at standard definition quality. But that will be restricted if Congress passes "analog hole" legislation.
3. Don't let service providers violate the FCC's DRM rules.
The FCC imposed some limits on DRM, but it is hard to determine the extent to which the service providers are abiding by those rules. For example, in its first review of the TiVo Series3 HD, CNET had trouble using the analog output to save content to a VCR or a DVD recorder. Was this a random technical glitch, or could it have been a purposeful use of selectable output control in violation of the FCC's ruling? The answer is not clear.
If you run into any problems like this, submit complaints to the FCC here:
svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm
In addition, remember that FCC rules say that basic tier cable must be provided in unencrypted form. While the FCC declined to clarify whether that regulation applies to digital cable, you should file a complaint if you face such restrictions using the URL above.
Let us know about your problems, too, by writing to hdtvdrm@eff.org.
4. Support DMCA reform.
But for the DMCA, the DRM stranglehold wouldn't be nearly as bad. The DMCA limits your ability to circumvent certain DRM for non-infringing uses. Moreover, it restricts third-parties -- in particular, ones that aren't bound by the cable and satellite providers' restrictive licensing agreements -- from distributing new technologies that strip the DRM. DMCA reform could lift these limits; at the same time, circumventing to obtain access to cable content you haven't paid for could still be prohibited, and that already was restricted even before the DMCA under "theft of service" laws.
5. Keep over-the-air HDTV DRM-free.
Remember that broadcast HDTV is still DRM-free, so long as Congress does not reinstate the broadcast flag mandate. If you run into DRM on over-the-air HDTV, let us know about the problems by writing to hdtvdrm@eff.org.