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-- more on -- Auntie's Digital Revolutionby the author
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 21:07:19 -0400
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 15:04:27 -0700 From: Brian Dessent <brian () dessent net> Subject: Re: [IP] -- more on -- Auntie's Digital Revolutionby the author To: dave () farber net Dave Farber wrote: > >The question of whether such files can be restricted from non-licence > >payers is a key one here. On one side, the BBC has traditionally divided > >its approach between domestic and foreign markets, taking a more > >commercial approach outside the UK than when dealing with the licence > >paying public. > > > >However, we are dealing with a new situation. If the BBC's back > >catalogue is provided in such a way as it could be distributed by the > >public themselves - using technology as sophisticated as BitTorrent, or > >as simple as fans passing copies between each other, then it would > >actually be *cheaper* for the BBC to provide its resources to all than > >attempt to restrict them to the UK by including complex, proprietary and > >ultimately hackable digital rights management systems. > > > >My conversations with individuals within the BBC indicate that they know > >this. I suspect the great stumbling block may be whether they can > >explain the new situation to the licence-paying public: that being more > >generous with their heritage will be less costly than hoarding it. This was a very timely email... A few of us have just started an online petition to urge the BBC to use a "free" video encoder (such as XviD which is open-source) that doesn't tie anyone to a particular type of software, and BitTorrent to help distribute the load between peers... Anyone interested can sign below: http://www.petitiononline.com/bt4bbc/petition.html I'm not sure if online petitions are really that effective these days, but it sure couldn't hurt to show the BBC that we are not interested in proprietary formats. Brian
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- -- more on -- Auntie's Digital Revolutionby the author Dave Farber (Aug 28)