OneAndOneIs2

I'm seeing a lot of this today:

• BBC looks to copy protect content
• License to Kill Innovation: the Broadcast Flag for UK Digital TV?

It's already annoying me, on several fronts.

Firstly: The BBC is the world's oldest and largest broadcaster, funded by the license fees payable by all UK residents that use equipment capable of receiving their broadcasts.

That means if you watch TV, you pay your fee. If you BUY a TV, OWN a TV, or use a TV for nothing but gaming or DVDs, you don't pay anything.

It's notable for being one of the biggest, most well-known broadcasters in the world; having no adverts and only a handful of channels (and if you haven't watched the crap that Americans consider quality TV, you have no idea how big a difference this makes); and being unusually (for a broadcaster) concerned with consumer rights and consumer interest.

DRMing their content would be a huge change in strategy for the BBC. Not quite on the level of RMS deciding to close-source GNU, maybe, but still in that ballpark.

So under the "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" tenet, this story needs very close scrutiny before you get unhappy with it. And it requires very little scrutiny of the facts to see that this has been over-hyped.

First off: The BBC is fundamentally not allowed to encrypt its content. This is written into the rules: It can't do it. "The current licensing regime requires that content is broadcast free to air." It's also in their own policies: "This is why the BBC will always be on the side of universal provision, open access and unencryption"

Aside from their questionable use of "unencryption" that's a pretty clear statement against DRM. And if you own any BBC DVDs, you may have noticed that they're set to Region zero and will work in any DVD player - none of that regional bollocks.

So what *is* the BBC talking about?

Well, it's sent a letter to the regulatory board, stating "that third party content owners are seeking to ensure that reception equipment will implement the content management (copy protection) arrangements"

In other words, when the BBC shows, say, Hollywood movies, Hollywood wants those movies to be DRMed.

Except the BBC can't DRM their stuff. See above.

So, the proposal? Well, the BBC's digital content goes out with metadata. This is data that you don't see on your screen, but the TV itself does. Stuff like the name of the show. So when you tell your TV "Record all episodes of Doctor Who", it can do so easily just by looking for broadcasts labeled as being Doctor Who.

They figure that by using a simple compression algorithm (Which is KIND OF encryption, but not really) they can prevent players from seeing this data unless they have the keys. Which only DRM-friendly hardware would have.

The actual content would remain wide-open. You couldn't say "Record Doctor Who" but you could say "Record BBC2 at 8pm every Tuesday" or whatever, and still get the recording. You could also use an alternative supply of the metadata - MythTV and other such DVRs can get TV listings from online, for example. And it would only be for non-BBC-owned content - so Doctor Who would be safe even if this proposal came into being.

So.. what is this proposal all about? If it plainly provides no copy protection at all?

To me, it looks like a sop to the MPAA et al - a stupid proposal that's meant to get shot down, and that will do virtually no harm at all even if it's passed. It's perfectly clear to everyone that the *AA have no clue about technology in general or encryption in particular, because they cling to the idea that DRM can, someday, work. So "a proposal to compress the service information data on the upgraded multiplex using BBC developed look-up tables" would probably sound exactly like a real DRM solution to them.

Overall conclusion about this story? Storm in a teacup. But if it bothers you:
Comments should be received by Ofcom by 16th September 2009. Any comments should be directed to:

Andrew Dumbreck
Ofcom
3rd Floor
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London, SE1 9HA

Tel direct +44 20 7981 3796
Tel operator +44 20 7981 3000

Andrew.Dumbreck@ofcom.org.uk

Ofcom is aware that there has been some discussion around the similar compressing and uncompressing of service information text carried by other multiplexes, for that part of the service information relating to HD services. Ofcom would also welcome comments on this.

Feel free to write and tell Andrew what a bad idea you feel this to be. Myself, I don't see the point.