[Fsfe-uk] Behind the scenes - TV show about copyright, the Internet and DRM

[Shane M. Coughlan]

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Well, M J Ray was watching the show and told you guys what it looked
like.  Now you get the top-secret behind-the-scenes gossip.

Legal TV is a pretty small outfit, and finding their studio was a
challenge.  It's hidden in a small industrial warehouse thing behind
steel bars down a small road in Aston.  There is a no sign.  Found it
eventually, mainly through luck.

The research who asked me on the show is clearly informed about digital
issues, but she didn't have much confidence in speaking English.  She's
French, and tended to lapse into silence.  Her explanation of what would
happen on the show was exceptionally vague.  However, just before we
went to the studio another assistant appeared and gave me a copy of the
questions we'd be asked.

I had about thirty minutes to talk with Andrew (the lawyer) before we
went on set.  We found a lot of common ground, and we basically compared
the answers we'd give to various questions.  This ensured we'd both stay
on message, avoid needless confusion.  This has the disadvantage of
meaning that the agenda is limited to our common ground, but the
substantial advantage of allowing Matt (BPI person) to get squished when
his time came.

The show was rushed.  The producer and presenter had no time to meet us
before we were due to go live.  We sat on the sofa.  The producer rushed
over to me and asked me to look at the wall and under no account to look
at the presenter.  He said "if you look at the presenter your face will
turn from the camera, so avoid that if possible."  This meant addressing
blank space when replying to questions, something I am not particularly
used to.  Lucky Andrew.  He got the good seat, and could gaze lovingly
into the presenter's eyes.

The first half of the show was really Andrew's arena.  The second half
was largely ad-libbed.  Matt was meant to be on the show directly after
the ad break, but they could not locate him.  That meant a quick word
about whether DRM was good or bad, and a sudden cut to Matt once they
found him.

Matt is a good speaker, and his language is carefully prepared.  His
point about DRM protecting companies while allowing consumers to have
access to services like streaming music tasters is wonderfully
deceptive.  He's trying to create a connection between technological
empowerment (i.e. the existence of streaming music) and DRM.  Indeed,
the consumer could come away with the impression that DRM *allowed*
streaming music.

I was quite lucky at this point.  I knew Andrew would follow me
relatively closely when I went for Matt's throat.  I was a bit mean, but
I think DRM as envisioned by the BPI is meaner.  Andrew, ever the
peacemaker, suggested that the new digital paradigm would need new ways
to deal with distribution issues.  He did not reject DRM, but had
previously agreed that this was a legal copyright issue.  I think that's
all the support that can be reasonably requested from a lawyer in this
field.

After the show we were thrown out of the studio pretty fast to make way
for everyone else.  Andrew hit the highroad (after we agreed to exchange
more information), and I hassled the producer for a DVD.  He said sure,
and I will be annoying the researcher assigned to me until I get one.
I'll then make copies for all you guys.

Good point: host of the show said she wants me back.  Bad point: I don't
like looking at blank spaces!

Shane

- --
Shane Martin Coughlan
e: address@hidden
m: +447773180107
w: www.shaneland.co.uk
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Projects:
http://mobility.opendawn.com    http://gem.opendawn.com
http://enigmail.mozdev.org      http://www.winpt.org
- ---
Organisations:
http://www.fsfeurope.org        http://www.fsf.org
http://www.labour.org.uk        http://www.opensourceacademy.gov.uk
- ---
OpenPGP: http://www.shaneland.co.uk/personalpages/shane/files/publickey.asc
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