Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

Why would they need DPI kit for this? I have read through the PDF file, and it appears that the evidence has to be supplied by the Rights Holder, there is no internal evidence gathering, for example.....


That does not seem to imply that ISP's must install DPI kit, it says that the evidence must be supplied by the Rights owner.

So, I am still trying to work out how this will benefit the ISP financially.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

I am talking about the Detica kit presently being installed in VM's net work for monitoring p2p. That could quite easily be used for other purposes that will make money.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

I have no doubt of that.

However, ultimately this will make no difference - there are already appropriate laws in place to get access to user data and usage should Government deem it appropriate to do so.

There will come a time - in the not too distant future - when people will simply have to accept and realize that Governments, their legal systems and corporate interests are not going to allow their creative industries / GDPs to continue to be decimated just because people think it is ok to steal.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

Then with respect that may be off topic and already discussed in another thread, I sense some hijacking going on here. This is about how Ofcom and service providers are now required by law to deal with Copyright piracy, none of the methodology mentioned in the extensive report from Ofcom suggests ISP's have to install expensive, intrusive and complicated monitoring kit on their network.

I'd even suggest that this requirement could lift the burden away from ISP's in not having to install such kit - by placing the burden on the Rights holders to supply the evidence themselves, but I am still at a loss to see how an ISP can benefit from this law financially.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

So for instance :)

if a user is logged into a newsgroup provider who's servers are in the usa and that person is using a vpn from his location in the uk to a vpn provider in the usa and then on to the newsgroup server, who would have to supply the information, the only site in my eye's that will have the information on what has been downloaded would be the newsgroup provider in the usa as all the data would be encrypted via the vpn ??

---------- Post added at 17:28 ---------- Previous post was at 17:22 ----------

I agree the equipment is off topic but i think that the ISP's will decide its the only way forward, VM i feel has realised this already and its why they have decided to take that route. The impact that this will have on the isp's will be large to say the least. All the requests for information on who had a ip will grow and grow as the rights owners realise they have a new revenue stream to tap into.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

Yes, and there are international agreements to facilitate the transfer and exchange of such data - take for example the provider blacklogic whom you referenced earlier.

From their own T&C's:

You agree not to use our services for receiving and the distribution of pirated copyright materials, such as, but not limited to Pirated DVDs (such as movies), Pirated CDs (such as music), Pirated Softwares. This includes, but not limited to the following: The trading, selling, bartering, sharing, transmitting or receiving, of such materials.

And further

If we have reasonable grounds to suspect that an end user is involved in criminal activities, we reserve the right to notify law enforcement agencies.

These people are not fools - they are business operators who will take your money whilst protecting their own interests - anyone handing over money in exchange for these services who thinks that they are "safe" from prosecution is not well.

To assume that the entertainment and creative industries have not already infiltrated and road tested all of these services with a view to litigation in respect of the facilitation of infringement (especially on foot of the Limewire ruling) would be very, very naive.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

thanks for the explanation.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

And the point I was making is being missed. The ebook scenario could easily be applied to the music / movie industry. embrace the digital revolution, make e-distributions of some material free, ditch the DRM and the related expense of developing and using DRM. price the material accordingly to the reduced costs of production, stop being quite so greedy when it comes to per unit pricing. Think of it this way, if you make 2 pounds each on the sales of 5 DVDs you are making more money then 4 pounds each on the sale of 2 DVDs.

Legislation won't stop people waiting and using a library or DVD rental to avoid purchasing an expensive DVD, and those methods are legal. Has the music / movie industry complained about those methods of distribution yet?

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

They are probably aware of the issue, but obviously feel that online piracy is a greater risk to their revenue stream, and therefore requires urgent attention.

You also need to understand that it is a little more complicated to lift DRM material off its original source. I would imagine that the P2P network is awash with DRM free material, and therefore a much easier medium for piracy.

I'd suggest that anyone who has any interest in this should read the whole Ofcom report, it makes for very interesting reading.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

To be honest most of my stuff i stream these days. I use certain sites for streaming tv and movies and spotify for my music.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

DRM is not present in the original source, it is included at the duplication / distribution stage. After all, the studios want to make multiple copies to send to the duplicators, the duplicators also want to be able to make multiple copies. to simply not include the DRM would be the easiest step possible and remove a stage of the duplication process.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

Hand out the stuff DRM free it just speeds its' progress onto the P2P networks and newsgroups.

You can't compare Baen's works with music, movies, games or even more mainstream publishing, you can hardly say the following about J K Rowling:

You think people will pay for an album or movie after getting the finished product for free?

The 'costs of production' in terms of physical media are a fraction of the cost of music and movies, the majority of the costs are those involved in producing the content itself and, yes, marketing it.

Much as I wish I shared your faith in humanity I very simply don't. I see very little benefit in offering full, finished products to people for free, I know I would struggle to justify paying for something I already own.

---------- Post added at 19:05 ---------- Previous post was at 19:00 ----------

Remember how optical media is made. It's not with a great big bank of DVDRW drives.

DRM is an automated process, the content is delivered already encoded to the media producers to be 'pressed' onto optical media. There's next to zero overhead there in most cases.

Even PC games, the 'cutting edge' of DRM are usually protected automatically, the publisher sends the unprotected files to a 3rd party who return the files protected and ready to be pressed. Alternatively there's some integration on the part of the programmers, but hey it's what they are paid to do.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

It takes on average 90 minutes to turn a DVD with DRM into DRM Free Xvid/Divx/MKV files, less to turn it into a DVD Image burnable by 99% of all software. The same process will remove any 'ads' such as the 'Piracy is theft' garbage.

So, tell me again how much of a speed increase not putting DRM onto the media would cause? The encryption identification and removal stage of the above takes less than 10 seconds.

---------- Post added at 19:10 ---------- Previous post was at 19:07 ----------

you save the money involved in applying DRM. You stop the current EA debacle where to play games such as C&C4 you MUST have an internet connection even to play an offline skirmish game. Even if you bought the game in a retail store.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

Your point is not being missed - at least not by the various media industries. There are multitudes of avenues for free music similar to the ebook model. Many, if not all, major labels and distributors have abandoned DRM since 2007 lead by Apple. That said it has not, to any great degree, made much difference.

It has been highlighted many, many times that the costs of music (cd and download) and movies (specifically dvd) have both decreased very considerably over the past few years yet there are no signs, whatsoever, of your "surprises" to be had from doing so as piracy is as rampant as ever.

Most labels have also subscribed to free streaming services such as Spotify but even the free delivery of streams does not stop or dilute piracy and furthermore the figures to date show that the adoption of these models result in a vastly inferior return for artists over traditional models (even with piracy factored in).

You can keep driving the so called merits of Baen but it is a niche provider whose contributors voluntarily elect to give their works away "for free" (it's not actually free as Baen have already furnished them with a publishing advance).

No, because as you have pointed out those services are legal. You do yourself a terrible disservice by asking such silly questions, really.

Re: OFCOM speaks on Anti-piracy measures.
 

Not really, both methods could also be construed as lost sales...