A while back, I
mentioned that the BBC were trying to get
clearance from Ofcom to use "broadcast flag" DRM on their Freeview HDTV services. I (and many others) sent in
objections to the initial request, prompting a
further consultation (the
Open Rights Group covered this). The consultation ended in April, and a
statement was issued by Ofcom last week detailing their response. Here are some notes on the statement:
- Ofcom are generally in favour of the BBC's DRM ("content management") proposal.
- The response is measured, at least. As far as I'm aware, the proposal would only restrict access to the EPG (programme guide), and wouldn't encrypt the broadcast signal itself. Section 1.9 criticises more heavy-handed DRM schemes (like full broadcast encryption) for being disproportionate. I question whether such weak protection is enough to fulfil the stated aim of "[controlling] the multiple unauthorised copying of broadcast HD content and its retransmission over the internet", though.
- In Section 1.10, there is some discussion of the impact of DRM on fair-use. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, consumers are allowed a number of "fair dealing" rights over copyrighted works (such as timeshifting). There were concerns that the DRM scheme would prevent people from exercising some of these rights. Ofcom wriggle out of this one; they claim that they don't have regulatory powers over the BBC's choice of content management system, only over whether the BBC is licensed to use any sort of content management or not. They go on to offer some reassurances that the impact on fair dealing rights would be limited. But these seem weak; protection of fair dealing appears to be wholly down to the individual broadcaster, with no regulatory oversight (from Ofcom, at least). The strongest statement they can offer is that some public-service broadcasters have made an "undertaking to respect current consumer 'fair dealing' rights for HD content and any future extension of these rights". In other words, all that stands between your fair use rights and oblivion is a "promise" from the broadcasters.
- Also in Section 1.10: We at least have a promise that no DRM will be applied to standard resolution programmes.
- In Section 1.11, Ofcom give permission for the BBC to use the proposed DRM scheme, under two conditions. One is that the DRM licence is made available to manufacturers for free (no cost). Quite who counts as a manufacturer is debatable. It seems likely that the distribution of the encryption key (or similar) would be restricted by the terms of the licence, and that these terms would be incompatible with many open-source licenses. Open-source media centres like MythTV would thus be unable to handle HDTV broadcasts properly. This is touched on some more in Section 1.8; concerns about the DRM excluding users of open-source software are dismissed, because the "mass market" for HD receivers won't be affected.
All in all, not a great result.
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philbull) wrote,
