A revelation at a recent Electronics House Expo is making my blood boil. Apparently Microsoft has decided to once again to kick consumers to the curb in restricting your ability to use and distribute content you are paying for.
This issues revolves around the ability of being able to use a CableCard with Vista for those of you that were looking forward to pushing recorded TV content to other PC’s within your homes will not be able to. In an even more shocking development even though Microsoft bowed to the cable industry on this and threw consumers under a bus. They were able to make provisions to be able to send recorded data to a Xbox 360.
It is rumored that those devices that are aka certified as media extenders by Microsoft will be able to be granted download rights as the Xbox 360 does but for now if you want to push videos to other computers in your home you will be restricted from doing this.
This also means pushing that recorded content to a portable media player will be restricted as well. There is no doubt in my mind that Microsoft and all the other big players are so deep in the media industries pockets that consumer rights will continue to be eroded to the point where we will have to ask permission someday to turn a TV on.
With the restrictions CableLabs has placed on vendors, and the cable companies demanding control not to mention how the DMCA has been abused to the loss of consumers it’s surprising that anything even works. [ArsTechnica]
Let’s face the facts it is early in the game and people are already getting OS X running on regular PC’s that normally run Windows. It is such a nightmare for Apple that they have their lawyers serving DMCA notices to anyone that links to sites that show how to do it or even discusses it. They are demanding site take downs and legal notices are flying.
Guess what Apple I have no sympathy, for years you have charged consumers a premium for your computers and had people locked in. People like choices and you have to face the fact that your decision to move to Intel based chips is opening the door for people to run OS X on computers that used to be reserved for Windows and Linux. [ZDNet]
If manufactures were smart they would insure that they made it easy for people to do this. They don’t have to break the law to introduce feature sets on their computers that run better when run on OS X
Having traveled all over the world I can say that I have been in plenty of stores that sell mod kits for game consoles. Not being a gamer I never really paid much attention but based on the amount of traffic these main street stores were doing I would say a lot of people on vacation come looking for mod chips.
What I did not realize is that gaming consoles were being modified here in the United States, guess I should not be that surprised as some people love playing games and do not have the $50.00 to pay for each game so instead shell out between $250.00 and $500.00 and have their consoles modified to play games that have been ripped hacked and loaded on large hard-drives.
It appears the feds took down one shop that was modifying Xbox consoles. The curious thing is that they defendants claimed that Xbox 360 mod chips would be available within two weeks of release if this claim is true that would be pretty amazing. [TechWeb]
I found some information tonight that made my mouth fall open in disbelief. I have been hammering away at you folks for a while on Fair Use and talking about the evils of the DMCA. Little did I realize the extent to which companies are pushing agendas forward to take us back to the stone ages.
Thanks to Doc Searls for the links to these two sites and the proposed treaty. I think you will understand the ramifications once you get through the materials.
WIPO Treaty for the Protection of the Rights of Broadcasting, Cablecasting and Webcasting Organizations. More details and analysis!
You know I am a very vocal proponent of Fair Use, but because organizations like the MPAA and RIAA have their lawyers hiding in alleyways waiting to slap and injunction on every citizen of this country that does not use the media we buy from stores exactly how they tell us to. I am at the point were I just will not support those industries that stifle fair use.
But it is nice to hear that even the corporate executives are banging their heads against the wall when it comes to trying to stay in compliance with that ugly four letter abbreviation known as the DMCA.
How many times have you broken the law according to the DMCA today. [Darknet]
The U.S. Copyright Office ruled this week that a manufacturer of low-cost, third-party printer ink cartridges can continue to make and sell cartridges for Lexmark printers. This ruling will have broad impact on the printer consumable market as alternative brands of ink cartridges may now move from the black market to retail store shelves.
Lexmark International sued Static Control Components (SCC) for copyright infringement of computer code contained in Lexmark’s printer ink cartridges, charging SCC with violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) ban on circumventing digital technology that protects copyrighted material. SCC had reverse engineered Lexmark’s software and created it’s own brand of ink cartridges for Lexmark’s printers.
Dave’s Opinion
The Copyright Office took an tack, rather than considering whether SCC had violated Lexmark’s intellectual property protection, the office ruled that the DMCA does not restrict SCC’s actions. This means that software developers may not be free to reverse engineer code if the intention is to create interoperability with another’s computer application.
With this ruling in hand, I expect that there will be a flood of third-party ink cartridges for both Lexmark and Epson printers, the two manufacturers who are most frequently faulted for imbedding chips in their ink cartridges and forcing users to buy the more expensive primary brand consumables.
Call for Comments
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
References
U.S. Copyright Office Ruling (the interesting details start on page 172)
Lexmark International
Static Control Components
Epson
