Glyn, You have to ask the question about using Flash to distribute iPlayer content "what is providing the DRM? Answer - it's the flash player"
The idea of not having a download service for Linux/Mac operating systems is baseless - there is no reason that the DRM'ed flashed content could not be distributed using a Torrent. Once again, it's hot air from Mr Highfield. There is little wonder the BBC is in the mess it is in .. it is living a lie! On 17/10/2007, Glyn Wintle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The Open Rights Group commented on this yesterday. > > > http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2007/10/16/bbc-u-turn-full-iplayer-service-may-never-be-available-to-mac-and-linux-users/ > Heres the text, if you want the in line links you will need to get them > from the above link. > > Yesterday, the BBC announced that a cross-platform "streamed" version of > its on-demand service the iPlayer would be available by the end of the year. > According to this report from BBC News Online: > > "At the end of the year users of Windows, Mac or Linux machines will > be able to watch streamed versions of their favourite TV programmes inside a > web browser, as well as share the video with friends and embed programmes on > their own websites, sites such as Facebook and blogs." > > If the idea sounds vaguely familiar, that's because back in March, when > the BBC Trust put the iPlayer out for consultation, the Open Rights Group > gently suggested that streaming was a far better short term solution to > on-demand services than DRM-restricted market-distorting technologies that > would serve to widen the digital divide. We observed that: > > "Such an approach is cheaper, lower risk, more inclusive (it works for > example in libraries) and more flexible than the current BBC proposal. It > may not appeal to consultants looking to make huge profits at public expense > however, precisely because it is simple, clean and low-risk. > > "It does not, of itself, address the desire for users to obtain > content in DRM-free downloadable form for any platform, but it provides a > basis until the BBC is able to identify more open solutions for the download > of content, preferably ones which do not depend upon DRM… The Open Rights > Group considers it is quite possible that, as already is clearly happening > in the music world, the use of DRM will soon be abandoned by the market > itself." > > You can read our full submission to the BBC Trust here. But enough of the > I-told-you-so-s. Is yesterday's move good news for licence fee payers who do > not use Windows? Well, not really. Although they will now be given online > access to content their licence fee has helped pay for, there are still > fundamental inequities between users on different platforms, and this still > leaves the BBC deforming the market in favour of Microsoft DRM and Windows. > People on Macs, Linux, PDAs and other handheld devices are still losing out > on all the features that make the downloadable iPlayer different from, say, > the kind of streaming that the BBC has done for years with the RadioPlayer. > > And that's not all. Ashley Highfield, director of Future Media and > Technology at the BBC has now indicated that the full, downloadable iPlayer > may never be made available to those who do not use the latest versions of > Windows. When the iPlayer launched in June, Highfield was quoted as saying: > > "I am fundamentally committed to universality, to getting the BBC > iPlayer to everyone in the UK who pays their licence fee." > > But yesterday, he admitted: > > "We need to look long and hard at whether we build a download service > for Mac and Linux. It comes down to cost per person and reach at the end of > the day." > > The BBC could avoid all this mess if it eschewed DRM and instead employed > standard formats. The Open Rights Group believes that the BBC cannot be > truly public service in the 21st century until it gives the British public > access to the programmes that they have paid for without DRM or restriction. > This is not a technology problem, but cuts to the heart of what the BBC is > for and how it makes and commissions programming. ORG challenges the BBC and > the BBC Trust to re-examine the BBC's commissioning and rights frameworks > with the goal of creating public service content, owned by the public and > available to all. > > Update: The BBC Trust have hit back at the Future Media and Technology > team, reiterating their condition that the entire service must be platform > neutral and adding "we would expect BBC management to come back to us if > they are planning any changes to iPlayer." Read the full report here. > > > ------------------------------ > Tonight's top picks. What will you watch tonight? Preview the hottest > shows<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/tv/mail/tagline/tonightspicks/evt=48220/*http://tv.yahoo.com/+%0A>on > Yahoo! TV. > -- Please email me back if you need any more help. Brian Butterworth www.ukfree.tv
