[sclug] Defective by Design - BBC London Protest - August 14th (also, Manchester?)
ed
Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft.
With today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most
basic of duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line
distribution of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a
Microsoft operating system to view BBC programming on the web.
****** http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted *******
Please Digg: http://tinyurl.com/3dzo57
Please Reddit: http://reddit.com/info/2a0qt/
Also, if you're in the North of England and would be interested in a
potential protest at BBC Manchester on the same day, please considering
joining 'Manchester Free Software'. As you may know, the BBC is soon to
move large amounts of its London operations to Manchester and Salford.
http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsuk-manchester
If you're a British citizen or resident, you can also sign this
petition:- http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/iplayer/
You can also leave comments about the service, and demand a service that
works on free software systems, such as GNU/Linux, on the BBC iPlayer
Messageboard - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer/F7357542
Cheers,
matt
---
Matt Lee - Free Software Foundation/GNU Project
--
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invasion from a parallel universe. OneMain.com is practising the jedi
mind trick. :: http://www.s5h.net/ :: http://www.s5h.net/gpg
Mark Kent
> From: Matt Lee
>
> Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft.
> With today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most
> basic of duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line
> distribution of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a
> Microsoft operating system to view BBC programming on the web.
>
> ****** http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted *******
>
> Please Digg: http://tinyurl.com/3dzo57
>
> Please Reddit: http://reddit.com/info/2a0qt/
>
> Also, if you're in the North of England and would be interested in a
> potential protest at BBC Manchester on the same day, please considering
> joining 'Manchester Free Software'. As you may know, the BBC is soon to
> move large amounts of its London operations to Manchester and Salford.
>
> http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsuk-manchester
>
> If you're a British citizen or resident, you can also sign this
> petition:- http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/iplayer/
>
> You can also leave comments about the service, and demand a service that
> works on free software systems, such as GNU/Linux, on the BBC iPlayer
> Messageboard - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer/F7357542
>
> Cheers,
>
> matt
>
> ---
> Matt Lee - Free Software Foundation/GNU Project
>
I just went to the bbc messageboard site, but I can't sign-in using
Lynx.
Some fool was questioning why someone who spent time in Spain would have
a BBC licence, and, amazingly, saying it was "just a trial" so it's okay
to only serve Microsoft customers using the Microsoft iPlayer.
The message was so badly spelt and constructed that I suspect he's not
even been paid to post it.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
Roy Schestowitz
Have you seen the reviews? They are abysmal, just like the player (even if you
have XP SP2+IE+WMP to actually **use** the darn blob, which tax money bought
from a convicted monopoly abuser).
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Linux: the most popular, but not most widespread
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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Mark Kent
Microsoft do /not/ write good software. I'm not sure that they ever
have done. Afairc, the only good code has been that which they've
bought-in.
The decision to waste licence-payer's money paying Microsoft to develop
code which could very easily have been done by capable local or foreign
people in a platform agnostic way is one for which heads should role.
I'm assuming that Ashley Highfield is at the centre of this, but it also
appears that the BBC Trust should be dissolved, and that Alistair
Faquarson also should be removed from the National Archives, as he is
clearly not pro-open-standards, which is not a position an archivist
should even /contemplate/ taking.
John Locke
>From: Matt Lee
>Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft.
>With today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most
>basic of duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line
>distribution of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a
>Microsoft operating system to view BBC programming on the web.
I used to admire the BBC. Their programming, in earlier days anyway, was
always superior to the U.S. crap. Fawlty Towers, Balck Adder, Red Dwarf, etc.
You would think they would have had the sense to reward their
loyal customers by allowing them to watch a bit of TV unencumbered by
DRM. I would have settled for some Xvid or DivX downloads.
John Locke
>Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>> ____/ Mark Kent on Sunday 29 July 2007 12:13 : \____
>
>The decision to waste licence-payer's money paying Microsoft to develop
>code which could very easily have been done by capable local or foreign
>people in a platform agnostic way is one for which heads should role.
>I'm assuming that Ashley Highfield is at the centre of this, but it also
>appears that the BBC Trust should be dissolved, and that Alistair
>Faquarson also should be removed from the National Archives, as he is
>clearly not pro-open-standards, which is not a position an archivist
>should even /contemplate/ taking.
I've decided to ignore all of this TV web crap. Besides, I have my Fawlty
Towers, Black Adder and Red Dwarf DVDs. Now there was some REAL TV
programming back when the BBC had great heart.
ed
I think part of this comes from wanting to keep the content in the UK
if it came to it. I have no proof of this, but it was just one of those
things brought up on LR.
--
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Verizon is hacking aquarium.org.
:: http://www.s5h.net/ :: http://www.s5h.net/gpg
ed
You probably shouldn't ignore this topic. The beeb are planing on some
drastic changes, such as phasing out the TV licence and introducing a
computer licence. This came from their studies of the number of people
who watched the Olympic games via the web.
Who knows... maybe they will phase out terrestrial TV with web tv in
our lifetimes, with News 24 moving to the web before other programmes.
--
The 14.4 dialup to 3rd floor is bitching like Perrin because of Brad
White. Verizon is smoking a big fatty.
:: http://www.s5h.net/ :: http://www.s5h.net/gpg
Roy Schestowitz
> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 09:59:41 -0700
> John Locke <johnloc...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:46:43 +0100, Mark Kent <mark...@demon.co.uk>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>> >> ____/ Mark Kent on Sunday 29 July 2007 12:13 : \____
>> >
>> >The decision to waste licence-payer's money paying Microsoft to
>> >develop code which could very easily have been done by capable local
>> >or foreign people in a platform agnostic way is one for which heads
>> >should role. I'm assuming that Ashley Highfield is at the centre of
>> >this, but it also appears that the BBC Trust should be dissolved,
>> >and that Alistair Faquarson also should be removed from the National
>> >Archives, as he is clearly not pro-open-standards, which is not a
>> >position an archivist should even /contemplate/ taking.
>> I've decided to ignore all of this TV web crap. Besides, I have my
>> Fawlty Towers, Black Adder and Red Dwarf DVDs. Now there was some
>> REAL TV programming back when the BBC had great heart.
>
> You probably shouldn't ignore this topic. The beeb are planing on some
> drastic changes, such as phasing out the TV licence and introducing a
> computer licence. This came from their studies of the number of people
> who watched the Olympic games via the web.
>
> Who knows... maybe they will phase out terrestrial TV with web tv in
> our lifetimes, with News 24 moving to the web before other programmes.
True, and that's why it's such a big deal. They might also have plans to make
their Web site .NET-only. The BBC's technical department is Microsoft Corp.
You are paying Microsoft via your taxes, which is unacceptable. There's a
similar trend in American TV channels too. Stop it now before it gets too
messy. That's what the Defective by Design campaigns is all about. We have
been successful on the audio front (to some extent), but Hollywood is harder
to defeat. They look at the anti-DRM folks as though they are mob, rebels.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Prevalence does not imply ideali$M
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Cpu(s): 27.0%us, 4.5%sy, 1.0%ni, 62.9%id, 4.1%wa, 0.3%hi, 0.2%si, 0.0%st
http://iuron.com - semantic engine to gather information
spi...@freenet.co.uk
There's still the odd good thing to come out of the beeb...
Usually not from bbc tv centre though...
Dr who/torchwood/sarah jane (bbc wales/cardiff)
Still Game (bbc scotland)
Even red dwarf began at bbc manchester.
--
______________________________________________________________________________
| spi...@freenet.co.uk | |
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| in | "THAT WOULD BE AN ECUMENICAL MATTER!...FECK!!!! |
| Computer Science | - Father Jack in "Father Ted" |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roy Schestowitz
> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 09:43:39 -0700
> John Locke <johnloc...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 10:51:53 GMT, ed <e...@noreply.com> wrote:
>>
>> >From: Matt Lee
>>
>> >Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by
>> >Microsoft. With today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has
>> >failed in its most basic of duties and handed over to Microsoft sole
>> >control of the on-line distribution of BBC programming. From today,
>> >you will need to own a Microsoft operating system to view BBC
>> >programming on the web.
>>
>> I used to admire the BBC. Their programming, in earlier days anyway,
>> was always superior to the U.S. crap. Fawlty Towers, Balck Adder, Red
>> Dwarf, etc. You would think they would have had the sense to reward
>> their loyal customers by allowing them to watch a bit of TV
>> unencumbered by DRM. I would have settled for some Xvid or DivX
>> downloads.
>
> I think part of this comes from wanting to keep the content in the UK
> if it came to it. I have no proof of this, but it was just one of those
> things brought up on LR.
DRM does not work. Don't they already know this? Who they they consult with?
Bach and his gang? You can't prevent duplication of data that a human can
consume. It's the old same fundamental argument. All you do is you punish the
innocent.
Those who want to copy data will achieve this easily. It only needs to be done
_once_. Without the DRM shielding layer, Hollywood shackles are pointless. The
data will move from one peer to another, one way or another (killing P2P or
BitTorrent is like 'killing' Linux, or suing the sky).
BTW, Vista does nothing with its DRM pipeline
(wire/GPU/kernel/buffer/DAC/dislay/whatever). It looks nice on paper and just
sucks up resources and kills devices (waste/environment), not to mention
digital preservation concerns. iPods, for example, eat up 40% more battery
juice when playing Defective by Design tracks.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | HTML is for page layout, not for textual messages
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Mem: 515500k total, 450440k used, 65060k free, 1212k buffers
http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms
John Locke
wrote:
You guys are are right on this. If I remember right, TV licensing was going
to attempt to fine people for watching the Wold Cup over broadband if they
didn't have a TV license.
ed
Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> wrote:
> True, and that's why it's such a big deal. They might also have plans
> to make their Web site .NET-only. The BBC's technical department is
> Microsoft Corp. You are paying Microsoft via your taxes, which is
> unacceptable. There's a similar trend in American TV channels too.
> Stop it now before it gets too messy. That's what the Defective by
> Design campaigns is all about. We have been successful on the audio
> front (to some extent), but Hollywood is harder to defeat. They look
> at the anti-DRM folks as though they are mob, rebels.
I put less faith in any organisation when I see it runs on .net (.aspx
pages). For one thing, it means that for any site handling any real
loads, they probably need 10 times the number of webservers for a
start, this means they probably need 10 times the number of admins...
so they're probably charging 10 times the RRP.
In the case of the beeb, hell, I dont want to pay 10 times the TV
licence. Leave it on Apache.
One of the regular attendees at the SCLUG meetings is a technical guru
at the beeb, working mainly on streaming protocols I believe. I hope he
has a lot of influence there with the direction of the server software,
sadly it's normally a middle management fuckup that destroys things.
--
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The Network Admin is wearing womens panties.
:: http://www.s5h.net/ :: http://www.s5h.net/gpg
Linonut
> John Locke <johnloc...@comcast.net> wrote:
>> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:46:43 +0100, Mark Kent <mark...@demon.co.uk>
>> >Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>> >
>> >The decision to waste licence-payer's money paying Microsoft to
>> >develop code which could very easily have been done by capable local
>> >or foreign people in a platform agnostic way is one for which heads
>> >should role. I'm assuming that Ashley Highfield is at the centre of
>> >this, but it also appears that the BBC Trust should be dissolved,
>> >and that Alistair Faquarson also should be removed from the National
>> >Archives, as he is clearly not pro-open-standards, which is not a
>> >position an archivist should even /contemplate/ taking.
>> I've decided to ignore all of this TV web crap. Besides, I have my
>> Fawlty Towers, Black Adder and Red Dwarf DVDs. Now there was some
>> REAL TV programming back when the BBC had great heart.
>
> You probably shouldn't ignore this topic. The beeb are planing on some
> drastic changes, such as phasing out the TV licence and introducing a
> computer licence. This came from their studies of the number of people
> who watched the Olympic games via the web.
And you brits tell us that America is losing its freedom!
And -- get this -- Microsoft, IIRC, is working on video distribution
services in Europe.
Those darn public airwaves! You just can't control 'em! Anybody can
watch 'em! Without paying per view! They're taking food off our
plates!
--
Tux rox!
Roy Schestowitz
On Friday I contacted the FSF and spoke to some others who organise the events,
but an event in Manchester seems unlikely. This might be about the future of
TV in the UK (ITV are in the same s**t as well, but it's privately own).
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Free 3-D Othello: http://othellomaster.com
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Swap: 1510068k total, 243180k used, 1266888k free, 75704k cached
Mark Kent
> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:23:32 +0100
> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> wrote:
>
>> True, and that's why it's such a big deal. They might also have plans
>> to make their Web site .NET-only. The BBC's technical department is
>> Microsoft Corp. You are paying Microsoft via your taxes, which is
>> unacceptable. There's a similar trend in American TV channels too.
>> Stop it now before it gets too messy. That's what the Defective by
>> Design campaigns is all about. We have been successful on the audio
>> front (to some extent), but Hollywood is harder to defeat. They look
>> at the anti-DRM folks as though they are mob, rebels.
>
> I put less faith in any organisation when I see it runs on .net (.aspx
> pages). For one thing, it means that for any site handling any real
> loads, they probably need 10 times the number of webservers for a
> start, this means they probably need 10 times the number of admins...
> so they're probably charging 10 times the RRP.
>
> In the case of the beeb, hell, I dont want to pay 10 times the TV
> licence. Leave it on Apache.
>
> One of the regular attendees at the SCLUG meetings is a technical guru
> at the beeb, working mainly on streaming protocols I believe. I hope he
> has a lot of influence there with the direction of the server software,
> sadly it's normally a middle management fuckup that destroys things.
>
Indeed it is. It's worth noting, though, that you cannot do reliable
streaming on IP anyway, so trying to move television into net space is
not going to work until we have proper 3-mode networking working, which
means that most current generation devices will need, at least, a second
interface in addition to the one they already have.
I agree with you on the cost stuff, I tend to avoid organisations which
are using aspx and the like for the same reasons; it also implies that
not only will things cost more, but they're more driven by political
concerns than they are by technical capabilities, which is typically
reflected in their products and services, too.
Mark Kent
It's impossible to recognise just how dangerous Microsoft are. Recently
someone compared them with terrorists, but that was unfair, terrorists
are very poor at presenting themselves with a positive image; Microsoft
are able to do the most dreadful things, and yet can afford to pay for
huge number of people to create for them a very positive image indeed
whilst they are doing it.
Mark Kent
> After takin' a swig o' grog, ed belched out this bit o' wisdom:
>
>> John Locke <johnloc...@comcast.net> wrote:
>>> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:46:43 +0100, Mark Kent <mark...@demon.co.uk>
>>> >Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>>> >
>>> >The decision to waste licence-payer's money paying Microsoft to
>>> >develop code which could very easily have been done by capable local
>>> >or foreign people in a platform agnostic way is one for which heads
>>> >should role. I'm assuming that Ashley Highfield is at the centre of
>>> >this, but it also appears that the BBC Trust should be dissolved,
>>> >and that Alistair Faquarson also should be removed from the National
>>> >Archives, as he is clearly not pro-open-standards, which is not a
>>> >position an archivist should even /contemplate/ taking.
>>> I've decided to ignore all of this TV web crap. Besides, I have my
>>> Fawlty Towers, Black Adder and Red Dwarf DVDs. Now there was some
>>> REAL TV programming back when the BBC had great heart.
>>
>> You probably shouldn't ignore this topic. The beeb are planing on some
>> drastic changes, such as phasing out the TV licence and introducing a
>> computer licence. This came from their studies of the number of people
>> who watched the Olympic games via the web.
>
> And you brits tell us that America is losing its freedom!
I think that most places are at the moment... the raft of so-called
"anti-terror" (ie., anti-terrorism) laws which were passed recently here
contain the most incredible reductions in freedom. We have government
contemplating increasing the time which suspects can be held without
charge to something well beyond the current 28 days, to more like 56 days.
Similarly, not that long ago, the right to remain silent was, whilst not
eliminated, certainly eroded.
>
> And -- get this -- Microsoft, IIRC, is working on video distribution
> services in Europe.
Has been for some time, indeed, it's done deals with several Telcos in
the EU and the US.
>
> Those darn public airwaves! You just can't control 'em! Anybody can
> watch 'em! Without paying per view! They're taking food off our
> plates!
>
Quite!
Roy Schestowitz
Microsoft (and the BBC) will probably be served with some antitrust documents
over this whole fiasco. My COLA postings are proving useful here because I am
able to gather and supply evidence to build the case.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Open Source Reversi: http://othellomaster.com
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Load average (/proc/loadavg): 1.26 1.11 1.28 3/144 22130
Mark Kent
They build up a good historical picture, and ensure that these issues
are considered in context, rather than out of context, which is what
perpetrators of such things always prefer.