[Infowarrior] - Broadcast Flag by any other name...

[Richard Forno]

  May 28, 2008 4:34 PM PDT
Microsoft denies Windows Media blocks digital broadcasts
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9954223-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20


Microsoft says that there isn't anything in Windows Vista Media Center  
that would have stopped users from recording two NBC Universal shows  
earlier this month.

Microsoft said in an e-mail to CNET News.com on Wednesday that Media  
Center honors flags sent to protect against the recording of pay-per- 
view channels or video on demand (VOD). The company said that it  
doesn't prevent the recording of over-the-air digital or QAM digital  
broadcasts.

"Windows Media Center currently supports and adheres to CGMS-A," a  
Microsoft spokeswoman said in the e-mail. "Content distributors use  
CGMS-A in very limited circumstances, such as to protect programs  
intended for video on demand. Please note that Windows Media Center  
does not support Broadcast Flag, sometimes referred to as Digital  
Broadcast Television Redistribution Control, on ATSC and clear QAM."

A controversy began on May 12, when people who attempted to use  
Windows Vista Media Center to record digital broadcasts of NBC  
Universal shows American Gladiators and Medium received a message  
saying the copyright holder had blocked recording of the shows.

This isn't supposed to happen. Television viewers have the right to  
record shows (that aren't pay per view or video on demand) for  
personal use. NBC Universal later acknowledged that it accidentally  
flagged the shows, but what irked some Vista users is that the block  
couldn't have been carried out unless Windows adhered to the flag.

NBC Universal also said Wednesday that it had discovered that the flag  
it sent out was CGMS-A.

"It was a CGMS-A flag, not a broadcast flag, that was inadvertently  
set on those programs," wrote an NBC spokeswoman. "We're not aware of  
any other issues since then, and the flags were simply mistakes, not a  
change in policy here."

So where does this leave us? Right back to where we started, with a  
major media company and the world's premiere software maker denying  
blame. On the bright side, if you can call it that, the situation has  
illuminated just how much control over home recording broadcasters  
have as the country moves from analogue to digital broadcasting.

"This shows the dangers of having these technologies baked into your  
devices," said someone who deals with such issues and who asked for  
anonymity due to potential dealings with the companies involved.

Microsoft's response comes a week after saying it had built technology  
into Vista that adhered to "flags used by broadcasters" that allowed  
them to "determine how their content is distributed and consumed."

This set off warning bells to some because it looked like Microsoft  
was obeying an FCC proposal that would have required software and  
hardware makers honor restrictions on recording digital broadcasts--or  
flags--issued by TV networks. The courts threw out the FCC's plan in  
2005 so Microsoft wasn't required to adhere to such restrictions.

More than a week later, Microsoft says what it meant was that Vista  
Media Centers adheres to flags for analog broadcasts. CGMS-A is copy  
protection for analog TV signals and they aren't supposed to be able  
to block digital signals. But If nothing in Windows Media Centers was  
designed to block digital broadcasts and NBC Universal never sent a  
flag to block digital recording, then how were the shows blocked?

Is there a glitch that Microsoft doesn't know about that can be  
triggered by a CGMS-A flag that prevents the recording of digital  
broadcasts? Why has Microsoft chosen to adhere to CGMS-A flags?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation isn't waiting for NBC Universal or  
Microsoft to hand over information. The group that advocates for  
Internet users has has begun looking for the causes of the block and  
has asked for help from Vista users to shed light on what's happening.

EFF staffer Danny O'Brien wrote on the group's blog:"We're looking to  
obtain raw data dumps of the ATSC stream next time your copy of Vista  
chokes on an over-the-air digital TV feed."