SOC

Today I became informed a new digital threat on the horizon: Selectable Output Control. In previous posts I have noted my disdain for DRM (digital rights management), DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act), HDCP (high-bandwidth content protection) and the like. These terms are in effect in various forms in our media today. SOC is new to the game, and hasn't been put into effect yet, but if it gains ground and gets rolling, the way we view media and purchase media-viewing devices could change drastically.

Selectable Output Control is a creation of the FCC wherein the broadcast signals put out by cable companies would only be viewable through pre-approved video equipment - SOC-compliant TV's, DVD players, DVD recorders, home theater speakers and receivers, etc. This means that if you bought a brand new HDTV today, and SOC came into being in 6 months, it's very likely that you'd have to buy a completely new and different HDTV. SOC could give a cable channel the right to refuse your viewing rights if you had a DVD recorder hooked up to your TV, even if you weren't using it to record.

It's sounds like a scary "Big Brother" type concept, but this isn't the first time that big media corporations have tried to tell us what we can and can't do with broadcast media in out homes. Universal Studios and Disney sued Sony in 1976 when Sony tried to bring Betamax to the US. Betamax was going to allow people to record from their televisions at their leisure, and that was seen as profit-reducing in the eyes of Disney and Universal. (Disney made $100 million dollars in home video profits alone in 1986. Guess it wasn't such a bad idea.)

Betamax ended up losing the format war to VHS, just as HD has recently lost the digital format war to Blu-ray. There are many reasons as to why these wars were won and lost, and that's fodder for another post. Right now companies, such as Disney, are trying to make sure that we have limited access to that which as been paid for legally and fully. When I buy a DVD I should be able to do whatever I want with it, just like when I buy a CD or bought a VHS tape. I should be able to make a backup, I should be able to make a copy. If I have a timeshare in Florida, maybe I want a copy of my DVD collection down there so everyone can use it. I could have done that with VHS. (If I'd had the time, but that's not the point.)

SOC is just the newest blip on the regulatory radar. Buying a DVD makes that your property, for use as you see fit within fair use guidelines. Companies these days are not interested in fair use, and aren't learning from the past. The harder you hang on to something, the less control you really have. People who download the most illegal MP3's are also the ones who buy the most CDs, LPs and concert tickets. (Yes, I said LPs!)

SOC will potentially also control the type of electronic devices we buy, and if that happens, there are two outcomes: We lapse into consumer laziness and buy whatever we have to buy to watch TV; People get together and start manufacturing their own electronic devices that fall outside the realm of media conglomerates. Ubuntu is an example of the latter outcome: an open-source OS made by its users and contributed to by its users without any DRM whatsoever. Let's just hope that the people in charge realize that the more they let people experience their goods and services, the more people will want to buy said goods and services.

Articles of note:
- "Selectable Output Control", Cory Doctorow, Make Magazine
- "FAQ: Betamax - tech's favorite ruling", John Borland, cnet.com
- "50 years of the Video Cassette Recorder", Sylvie Castonguay, WIPO Magazine