Rule of Law Meaningless in New World of DRM
So, you thought that DRM schemes were just to make sure you paid for your copy of the latest CDs? Things are a lot more insidious that that, unfortunately. Not only do they want you to pay for the use of the content, but they also want to tell you precisely how you can use it in your own home once you've paid for it. And with the new High Definition television offerings coming down the pike, things are have become so much worse that the Betamax case, allowing us to time shift and archive programs in our own homes as we choose, has become largely irrelevant. Technology is being warped to disallow the Fair Use rights that copyright law was built around.
Both Dish Network and DirecTV now have DVRs (one Tivo, one Tivo "like") that allow you to record High Definition broadcasts. Both of them, prior to release of the units, advertised them as having firewire output so that you could archive the programs to your computer or to DVHS or DVD. This was a fantastic thing for those of us who were already archiving to DVHS tape via use of discontinued equipment (discontinued after it was found that we could actually record HD broadcasts and exercise our Fair Use rights). The ability to do this was destroyed when Dish changed satellites for High Definition broadcasts.
It was highly disappointing, but not surprising when both the DirecTV and Dish DVRs shipped without firewire outputs enabled. Now the only real way I know of to archive HD broadcasts in HD is to either purchase a new STB or send your old one into a company called 169time.com who puts in firewire outputs along with a small computer that allows you to synch the signal to a firewire equipped DVHS machine. And when you're stupid or confused, they give you fantastic tech support.
But it seems that's not enough. Now the MPAA is pushing to disallow us from even fast forwarding commercials. And, remember, this is for material we have PAID for either through subscription fees, satellite TV fees, cable fees, etc. Similar to purchasing a song through Apple iTunes and then being told you can't use it in Final Cut Pro to make it a background to your baby picture slide show.
So what's next? How else will corporations try to limit what we do with things we purchase? And the serious questions are 1) why do consumers put up with it and 2) why does Congress keep pandering to the content cartels?