RSSHBO: Stop Calling It 'DRM'
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published May 11, 2007, 5:14 PM
A report in Broadcasting & Cable yesterday quoted Bob Zitter, Chief Technology Officer for HBO, speaking at a cable broadcaster's conference in Las Vegas last Tuesday, as suggesting that customers might accept the concept of digital rights management if it were named something else.
Zitter suggested, according to the report, that the technology should be marketed in such a way that it conveys a message that viewers could "use content in ways they haven't before." For that reason, he is suggesting the term "Digital Consumer Enablement."
Such a term might be used to describe controls placed on HBO high-definition digital content, which could be rolled out later this year. HBO's flavor of DCE, some believe, may not be compatible with control mechanisms built into the current round of digital television sets.
Which leads Freedom to Tinker blogger and Princeton University professor and engineer Ed Felten -- a frequent partner of Microsoft security engineer Mark Russinovich -- to post the following comment:
"So what HBO wants is to disable the analog outputs on the set-top box, so consumers have no choice but to adopt HBO's favored DRM. Which makes the nature of the 'enablement' clear. By enabling your set-top box to be incompatible with your TV, HBO will enable you to buy an expensive new TV. I understand why HBO might want this. But they ought to be honest and admit what they are doing."
Idiots.
Everyone seems to give a crap about what something is called. What it's called makes no difference. What it does is what makes the difference.
If you see a steaming pile of poop on the ground and someone decideds to call it a 'sidewalk flower' from now on it still doesn't change that it's a pile of dung.
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Look Bob, the name ain't the problem. When a babe looks sweet, who cares what her name is. DRM ain't sweet. You get me?
DRM stinks. Customers don't like it and they don't want want it. DRM offers no benefit whatsoever to the paying customer. A new name won't change that.
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HBO: Please stop calling it what it is.
Me: No.
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just you wait till the airwaves lock thems selves down so tight that every time your eyeballs watch it you will be forced to pay for it again and again... Even if you own the DVD or record it from television whatever... That is the ultimate goal of the Crap technology of HDTV.. Not high definition but Take take take no matter what... and if you don't like it, Sorry there is no alternative, Might as well Take a knife and cut your eyes out now...
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Yes, and we all beleive in fairies, leprechauns dragons, a world full of DRM, and other fantasy creatures.
There will _always_ be DRM free alternatives. All DRM wil do is shoot itself up its arse. Sony rootkit anyone?
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The Pirate Bay on the other hand, are touting their alternative and superior Consumer Choice Enabling technology (CCE) enabling consumers and people alike to gain a choice in what they consume or use.
Consumer Choice Enabling technology allows you to make choices by yourself, for yourself, for low, low prices.
Don't be a fool, use choice enabling Consumer Choice Enabling technology today.
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Yes, because, for some reason, you have the right to view all that content you never paid to see...
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the problem with people these days...
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You missed my point ...
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Property Control, DRM, whatever.
I've no problem with the concept, it's the
execution---I'll be annoyed with anything
that is more difficult than listening to a
Walkman.
That low flow aerator that slowed up the water
flow so much it wouldn't clean my toothbrush?
I messed with it, it works now and doesn't annoy
me
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Ok, how about HBORM?
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Digital Rights Murder or Consumer Rights Removal. I would love to enable this schmuck to take my foot up his a**.
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philuk2000: "Ermmm. Should'nt it be called
"Consumer Users No-No Treatment System"? After all, it is used for restricting consumers! I like the abbriviation too :)"
Funny, I like it. Also try this one: "Public Restriction Interface for Content Key Systems"
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Just like those newfangled HDMI connections disable the ability to record anything off a cable box. Let's call it what it is, utter crap.
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Here's is the page to email HBO about copyright etc.....
http://www.hbo.com/apps/...mp;questiontype=general
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Hello Comcast. Please cancel my HBO service. Thanks, I feel so enabled now.
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The whole story reminds me of something our ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said one, that is not the policy that is wrong, but the presentation...
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... the statement was followed by the "Poll Tax Riots"!
anyone up for a DRM riot?
[MI5: not really, obviously]
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That's a huge problem in the US, also. There's so much to spin and how images are presented.
Take the President vs. Congress issue. They just released some poll results that showed Congress' approval is just as low as the President's.
Bush (or his PR folks) isn't nearly as effective as the folks that Ronald Reagon used were. But I don't believe for a second that their policies were all that different.
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Ermmm. Should'nt it be called
"Consumer Users No-No Treatment System"? After all, it is used for restricting consumers! I like the abbriviation too :)
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Zitter, you f***ing idiot. How did this guy end up "chief" of anything. Someone should "enable" foot up his ass.
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"Let's paint the turd green and people will instantly like it, even if the stench is still as bad."
They should call it "Secure Cosumer Rights Enablement Watcher", as that's what it does with the consumers.
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LMAO at Dsfargeg
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How about 'Snake Oil'?
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What a crock of "Post-Digestive Cuisine!"
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Considering what the technology does, isn't "Digital Consumer Enablement" an oxymoron? Or to put it more concisely DoubleSpeak?
I must admit I don't like DRM but I also don't like the use DoubleSpeak. Combining the two into a single situation just makes things worse.
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Digits don't have rights. People do.
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If it looks like sh*t, smells like sh*t, and feels like sh*t, then - yup, you call it sh*t...
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Maybe in the spirit of VAT - value added tax, as we have in the UK - we can call it "Value Added Restriction", or VAR. It's a similar name concept which leads us to the same question:
Where's my gain from it?
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"...suggesting that customers might accept the concept of digital rights management if it were named something else."
Here's another name you can call it: "expensive sex"
that way, people will know that everytime they pay for it, they're getting screwed at the same time.
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You can polish a turd, but it's still a turd.
I am reminded of two amusing quotes relating to HBO. One is from the Simpsons, when they get abducted by aliens.
Alien: On this cable system, we receive over one million channels from the furthest reaches of the galaxy.
Bart: Do you get HBO?
Alien: No, that would cost extra.
The second one is from Chappelle's Show.
"It's not HBO, it's regular a** TV."
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I'll cancel HBO just for this article.
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Stop lying, you never had HBO in the first place.
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His mom did! :)
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Not true kash, I cancelled once already but my wife called and put it back on our list just so she can watch Bill Maher.
What a waste of 15 bucks a month or whatever it costs to have that s***ty bunch of channels.
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HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
These guys are millionaires too.
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Digital Restrictions Management!
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"Lets not call it a rotten egg lets call it a slightly dated egg."
Call it what you want. The consumer is still not going to like it. Stupidest idea I have ever heard.
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Please don't call it piracy, call it "Consumer Freedom".
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I like it!
:-)
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ROFL! Best response so far!
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"Digital Consumer Enablement"
just what part of it 'enables' me ?
its all about restrictions not enables
NO
I will not buy your product (while it has restrictions)
Lose of money - HELLO !!!
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Let's call it "Digital Access Management Network".
Tim S
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Or maybe "Digital Universal Media Bypass Analog Security System"...
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"Digital Consumer Enablement"
Pahahahaha!
Maybe if they added an 'I' after digital.
Possibly 'Digital Information Consumer Enablement', at least it would have an acronym to be proud of.
Then maybe replace the Enablement part with Keepsake.
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this makes me want to cry. how stupid do you think we are?
"HBO: lets F***'em in the a**"
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Unfortunately, on people that don't come to BetaNews (and other such 'geeky' websites) it probably will work (at least until all the geeks persuade all the n00bs that this 'new' technology is nothing but rebranded crap).
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Just like not calling abortion a murder. We should call it "Pro-choice" or some other feel good - "it's not me, it's you" term of the day.
Give me a break - no matter what you call it, it still is a pain in the butt.
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Please do not compare abortion to DRM. While you may think abortion is "murder", a lot of people will disagree with you. On the other hand, almost everyone will agree that DRM is "bad" for the consumers.
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Don't try to hijack this thread with fundamentalism. We were having some fun with this...
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who the fvck do they think they are?! drm has only proved to be a pain up the arse. there is absolutely _nothing_ that drm/dce/hiv can "enable" anyone more than what they can do with ordinary unrestricted media.
Oh, unless it's "make it hard for everyday people while the _real_ pirates crack it and pirate it anyway"
they should wake up and change their hands, which I'm sure is getting pretty tired from pulling each other off.
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HBO:
Stop calling it Home Box Office. We get your shows via tubes, on a rectangular screen, and in our living rooms. AIn't no money changing hands though!
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You get their shows via tubes?? You must be from Soviet Russia, where televisions still use vacuum tubes. :)
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Digital Consumer Entanglement.
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or Digital Consumer Enslavement...
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ROFL
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
wait a minute...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
wow just wow
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Disingenious of Zitter. "Let's limit people from doing stuff, then claim that they can do more. And to top it off, let's change the name so that they don't catch on." He's talking like a politician.
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A rose (or thorn) by any other name...
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Even if it was called a s***smeller?
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Next HBO will announce that 'Red' is now 'Green', we've won the war on drugs, and their sh!t doesn't stink.
Dear HBO... we're not lemmings and we're not morons. To quote your very own Marcus Junius Brutus "You may call a cat a fish, yet it still will not swim."
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I take it you've never see a Catfish?
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some cats like water, i knew one that liked showers
back on topic, meh HBO? never owned it ^^
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