Consumer Impact of the BroadcastFlag Scheme

1
Consumer Impact of the Broadcast-Flag Scheme

• Mike Godwin
• Legal Director
• Public Knowledge

2
The Big Questions

• Even if we assume broadcast TV needs protection
  now, how much consumer pain and cost is Congress
  willing to inflict to protect it?
• How bloated will the authority of the FCC have to
  be to implement the broadcast-flag scheme? Are
  there any practical limits?
• How much does Congress care that the costly,
  painful, broad broadcast-flag scheme is also
  deeply ineffective?

3
Of course, Broadcast-Flag scheme hurts lawful
copying ...

• Example NCSU Libraries help professor make short
  broadcast clips of El Show de Christina
  available over the Internet (in
  password-protected format) for distance-learning
  Spanish-language course.
• If El Show de Christina is flagged, this course
  can no longer use this material.

4
... but its not just about making copies.

• Compatibility -- Consumers will find it much
  harder, and frequently impossible, to make copies
  on one system and play it on another.
• Innovation -- New technologies that touch
  television will have to be approved by the FCC
  before they can come to market. Increased time to
  market equals fewer products at market. Federal
  Consumer Electronics Commission.
• Cost -- Adding new components means much greater
  cost than before. Higher repair costs.

5
DTV and Internet Piracy -- no connection

• Analog TV is more piratable than HDTV. (Smaller
  file sizes. Digital-to-analog, analog-to-digital
  conversion is trivial -- all DTV sets do it.)
• If Internet TV piracy is a problem, its not a
  DTV-transition problem. (Captured DTV files are
  larger, harder to copy.)
• Best immediate fix -- a hard cutoff for analog
  broadcasts.

6
One Example of a Compatibility Issue

• Congressional staffer records TV home-team
  football game on 4C DVD-R (via personal video
  recorder) to share with boss.
• Boss cant playback the DVD on his Windows
  laptop, which uses a different protection scheme.

7
Yet Another Compatibility Issue

• Teacher asks librarian to record public-affairs
  show and televised Shakespeare play for playback
  in classroom.
• Librarian records flagged content on library
  computer using Windows Media DRM.
• Teacher cant play it back on CPRM-enabled DVD
  playback device in the classroom.

8
A Nightmare to Repair

• Broadcast-flag scheme requires that covered
  devices be both compliant and robust --
  difficult for individuals to get inside and
  tamper with. But this makes expensive new DTV
  devices harder to repair

9
Compatibility Today? Easy!

• Todays world -- any new media device can be
  easily integrated into existing investment in CE
  equipment.
• CE makers provide several connection options,
  including a range of digital and analog
  connectors.
• New components can be added at any time, and each
  component may pass through content to other
  components.

10
Compatibility Tomorrow? Ouch!

• Broadcast-flag world -- only devices compatible
  with approved digital protection scheme youve
  already purchased can be added. E.g., once you
  buy TiVo, youre stuck with TiVo.
• If you want to add Windows Media functions to
  your 5C-based system, youve got to
  replace/upgrade nearly everything to do so.
  Nothing passes through to another digital
  protection scheme.

11
Analog Compatibility The Next to Go

• Broadcast Flag scheme doesnt prevent analog
  hole copying. By itself, it is ineffective,
  since it deals only with digital connections, and
  not analog connections.
• Analog connections are a primary source of
  compatibility for consumer electronics devices.
• FCC will be asked to close analog hole, thus
  eliminating remaining compatibility choices.

12
What about TiVoToGo?

• TiVoToGo allows (extremely limited) ability to
  share recorded programming over the Internet, but
  ...
• ... those features will only be available to TiVo
  subscribers ...
• ... who will be paying a monthly fee of 13 to
  receive free over-the-air television.
• Even so, TiVoToGo is opposed by MPAA, slowing or
  halting its final approval. The same will be true
  of any other system that allows protected
  Internet copying.

13
Broadcast-Flag and Plug-and-Play schemes

• Broadcast-flag scheme outlaws non-compliant
  devices.
• Plug-and-play scheme does not outlaw
  non-compliant devices.
• Broadcast-TV content that is retransmitted via
  cable is not yet protected and can be captured by
  non-compliant devices, like ElGatos EyeTV, that
  expand consumer choice.

14
What are the alternatives?

• If we assume there is a broadcast-TV piracy
  problem, pick a more effective system, such as
  encryption at the source. FCC could facilitate
  encryption at the source with only minor
  jurisdiction/authorization changes, if any.
• Decryption keys could be licensed to CE and IT
  manufacturers with minimal regulation, if any --
  allowing manufacturers to build in compatibility.
• Converter boxes for earlier HDTV sets could be
  subsidized (for example) by broadcasters who want
  to maintain that part of their audience. (Its
  only a small fraction of the cost of subsidizing
  converter boxes for analog TVs.)