On 13/03/2008, Matt Barber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > "Wrong - the door is open with a welcome sign because all the progs are > broadcast first of all on TV without DRM. Adding DRM later on is just a > meaningless waste of money. If people want to get content online, they can > and they will." > > This is irrelevant really because we're after a legal, long standing > solution. Uploading rips of torchwood to youtube is illegal. Not saying it's > not done, but it's still not what we're after here is it?
what he said. I can't help but feel a bit sorry for the BBC here. Rock and hard place. It's just removed DRM from the last two iPlayer releases (90% of iPlayer users do not suffer from DRM) That must have entailed some very hairy conversations with rights holders (see reference to Writers Guild) given it's the first major TV broadcaster to put hundred of non-DRM'd versions of its current TV schedule on t'internet (I could be wrong here... but hulu et al are all still DRM'd) Given that Anthony Rose (man running iPlayer, ex-Kazaa) is very very far from being a fool, there's a small cynical bit of me that thinks going non-DRM mp4 with iPhone is a very smart move for the BBC. There's no way that someone as smart as Rose would not have anticipated the consequences of using the mp4 iPhone release of iPlayer as a back door. You may think people in the BBC are stupid - I can assure you they're not. Non-drm'd mp4 (h264) has been the obvious cross-platform way forward for yonks - to the BBC, if not to the rights holders. By introducing non-DRM'd mp4 iPlayer onto a sexy devices like the iPhone/iPod touch, the BBC must have known it was entering an arms race it can't win in the long term. That may not be to the BBC's disadvantage. In time it'll be able to go back to rights holders and say "look, piracy has not gone through the roof since we launched non-DRM versions of iPlayer, meanwhile usage has gone through the roof (10x increase), we're fighting a losing battle on the iPhone - this is an arms race we can't win, but which delivers negative user benefit. Let's just ditch the DRM for downloads too and see what happens" One step at a time, innit. - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
