Television Industry Trying to Unify Itself on Anti-Copying Technology
News.com reports that TV networks, film studios, and consumer electronics firms are attempting to create a single standard for copy protecting broadcast television. Among other things, the article says:
The latest effort, a plan to insert digital tags into broadcast TV shows that would prevent them from being put online, is just part of that broader aim. But as more TV content shows up at digital swap meets, copyright owners see it as an increasingly urgent issue. They say they'll have a standard ready by the end of the first quarter of the year.
The big question is, how will appliances like TiVo will respond to these digital tags if they are implemented. It is possible for TiVo to do an on-line software upgrade to implement watermarking according to industry wishes. However, up to now, devices like TiVo have depended upon techniques like limiting the number of output interfaces built into them to hinder distribution of high quality copies.