Excuse the long post. I just finished an editorial and am wondering if anybody
else is following the Microsoft gaming news?
If you’re a video gamer, then you already know that Microsoft has essentially
declared war on libraries in all but name only with its upcoming
next-generation gaming console: the Xbox One, which is specifically built to
technologically circumvent the First Sale Doctrine.
Specifically, disc-based Xbox One games cannot—by purposeful design—be loaned
or rented. The disc installs to the Xbox One and then needs to be
“authenticated” through an online connection every 24 hours (no way to
circulate these, as the first person who checks the disc out literally owns it).
For those of you who aren’t gamers, the Xbox One also features a Blu-ray/DVD
drive. Technically, there’s no reason why Microsoft can’t in the future also
lock disc-based films. And, believe me, they are thinking about visual media.
Item 1: Xbox One also ships with a mandatory Kinect motion-and-voice-activated
sensor that connects directly to Microsoft’s server, and—in its default state
of being always “on”—is constantly watching and listening to all activity in
the room.
Item 2: Microsoft filed for a patent application last year that read, in part,
“The technology…is a content presentation system and method allowing content
providers to regulate the presentation of content on a per-user-view basis.
Content is distributed to consuming devices, such as televisions, set-top boxes
and digital displays, with an associated license option on the number of
individual consumers or viewers allowed to consume the content.”
Item 3: So, to imagine a real-world scenario, if Mabel wants to watch Brave
with friends at her birthday party, the Xbox One will theoretically be able to
count the number of beaming faces in the room and then suggest that Mabel go
get mommy (and her credit card). Notice that this racket involves neither
baseball bats nor little girls’ knees, just a rather dead-eyed machine that
scans the room and then voices some version of HAL’s famous comment in “2001: A
Space Odyssey”: “I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Libraries exist solely because of the First Sale Doctrine. I think we have a
potential nightmare coming our way.
Best,
Randy
Randy Pitman
Publisher/Editor
Video Librarian
3435 NE Nine Boulder Dr.
Poulsbo, WA 98370
Tel: (360) 626-1259
Fax (360) 626-1260
E-mail: vid...@videolibrarian.com
Web: www.videolibrarian.com
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues
relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control,
preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and
related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective
working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication
between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and
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