It seems to me that people are making an awful lot of assumptions. To get from new DVD technology to Big Brother, we have to assume first that there’s going to be enough of a market for this that it’s even going to be worthwhile to keep making the stupid things. Then, we have to assume that the people who support this sort of thing are going to lobby to get it made mandatory. Then, we have to assume that they will be successful. Then, we have to assume that the technology will require regular updates, and that these updates would require a modem for the DVD player itself, rather than the consumer buying or burning a disk to put into the player. Then, we have to assume that anybody gives enough of a shit about what we’re watching to go to the trouble and expense of monitoring us. To automatically make all those assumptions with no evidence to support them, well, that smacks of needing to get the wrinkles out of your little foil hat.
It’s not the thought police, it’s a bit of niche marketing.
Very true. I have had very civil discussions with any number of posters in this forum. But your post was idiotic and it annoyed me.
I am guessing that the next post will be something along the lines of “grow thicker skin”, or some other nonsense. Understand that your personal opinion of me matters not one bit.
Your objections were not reasonable. In fact, they were very, very stupid.
Not your personal objections as to why you would never buy the device in question, of course. I, also, have no desire to purchase the thing.
Nor is your claim that marketing organizations could use this to monitor people’s viewing habits (I’m sure that if there was a DVD player hooked into a regularly updating computer, something like this might happen).
However, your scenario that when the device is mandated by law to be placed into the DVD player that people will be constantly monitored is just silly. If such a device really were automatically installed, then the easiest way to correct it would be to simply not connect it to anything. There, problem solved.
The fact that you are personally worried about this affecting you, despite such a simple and obvious way of preventing it, leads me to believe you are a little bit paranoid.
I don’t worship the free market, even though I do believe that if there’s a demand then that’s enough justification to bring it to market for most things (obviously portable nuclear devices should not be brought into mass production and sold at Wal-Mart, etc.).
However, the fact that your unintended consequence could be so easily avoided by simply not plugging the thing in makes it not a concern for pretty much anyone in this thread. And to paint it as some sort of major threat, as Big Brother increases his malevolent hold on everyone is just downright paranoid, frankly. If you don’t want it, don’t plug it in. Case closed.
I don’t know, perhaps I just am not expressing myself well. All that have been saying is that the potential for abuse exists and that this is something that is worth thinking about.
It is not as if any of the scenarios that I have suggested to not have historical precedent. Again, look no further than the V-Chip which is required by law to be in new TVs. It is not at all a wild scenario (especially in light of the current indecency concerns) to think that this technology could in the near future be required to be in new DVD players.
And it is not as if I am worried that it will personally effect me. I know that chances are excellent that I can circumvent this tech if I so wish. I am not seeing a major threat here at all, and am at a loss as to how folks are reading that in my posts.
All that I am saying is that there are aspects of this technology that are worth thinking about and that in general it is a fucking stupid thing. At the end of the day, I don’t really care if it winds up being easy to get around or not.
Sometime in the mid-90’s, just before DVDs hit the market, one of the selling point of the format was seamless branching.
One of the features that was to be (and still can be) available was the ability to offer two rated versions of the same movie on one disc.
This would be available mainly on movies in which alternate scenes or dialogue were shot. Blake Edward’s 10 was shot with R and PG (PG-13 did not exist at the time, IIRC) scenes so that the netowrks would have to censor the movie when it became available to them and the actors wouldn’t have to be recalled to loop in clean words. Nude scenes were shot with the actors wearing clothes, naughty language was replaced by un-naughty language (eg when Dudley asks Bo Derek what she likes to do when listening to Bolero, in the R version she says “Fuck”, while in the PG version she says, “make love”).
I was thinking of starting a separate thread and linking to this, but hey-I’m the OP so I can hijack my own thread if I want to-right?
An article by Alan Dershowitz (sorry-no link available) indicates Congressman Doug Ose from California has introduced legislation to ban far more than the 7 words quoted by George Carlin in 1973.
Says he, “I don’t want to be sitting there when a guy blurts something out over the TV and have my daughters ask me what those words mean.”
Guess what, Sparky-your comment is first of all sexist, as I’ve known some women who can outswear the best of sailors, and secondly stupid. In what parallel universe do you live such that you’re under the delusion that your little dears have never heard these words? My daughter is 8, and every now and then she asks a question about something she has heard. I answer factually, put in a pinch of ‘we don’t use that word’ and call it a day.
He can urge the FCC to ban all he wants, but the reality is that these words predate TV and radio both. They are part of the language, just as menstruation, copulation, ejaculation, lactation, defecation, urination, masturbation, and flatulation are parts of the life process.
Censor content in your home as you wish, but don’t try to restrict the availability of movies and literature in mine. I’ll deal with an occasional nasty word without your legislation, thanks.
If these devices become mandatory in all new DVD players, what we’ve got here is simply another V-chip in the making People who want their sex and violence simply don’t activate it. Parents who want to shield their kids from naughty bits, words, and actions either:
A) Figure out how to use the Clearplay features
or
B) Don’t even bother doing that much, and continue bitching.
To say nothing of the fact that Clearplay will probably be cracked inside of a week of its release.
And just out of curiosity, does anyone here know anyone who’s actually USED their V-chips?
I don’t. Tell you what, next time I’m using a new-enough TV (probably the next time I go home, which’ll be a while), I’ll sit down and see if I can figure it out without a manual. Then I’ll see if it actually works. Then I’ll see if I can figure out how to circumvent it without access to the manual and whatever else is normally needed to change/take off the blocking.
For that matter, there already is basic blocking technology inside a lot of DVD players, based on the rating. It is possible to set the player to only play a certain level of rating without having to enter a password. Of course, I doubt that anyone actually uses that either.
It’s all more work for struggling video artists. Imagine a future with a slightly differently edited version of a given film for every middling to large religious denomination, for example. For instance, Shiite and Sunni verions of Grease. Or a 7th Day Adventist version of Witness.
I really don’t think there’s anything to worry about regarding Clearplay technology. I saw a demo today of it being used and all the filters were optional; someone was scrolling through the types of content that could be blocked and selecting what they wanted to censor.
Clearplay employs people who attempt to create very specific fliters for, what I assume, “salvagable” movies (Who wants to see a half hour version of Jay and Silent Bob?). New filters will be available but I didn’t catch how people could update them - other than buying a new DVD player. DVDs remain the same.
I don’t think anyone will be able to drum up public support to make this technology standard because it is so… stupid. (Much stupider than the V-chip anyway, because you decide what DVD’s to put into the machine, it’s not broadcast TV)
I went to the ClearPlay website. You can find all of this stuff under the “What is ClearPlay” tab.
Q. How do I ClearPlay a movie?
A. ClearPlay works with the regular DVDs that you already rent or purchase from your local stores.
The technology is made to work with DVD’s as they now exist.
… Ahem… WHAT?
Q. How do I update my ClearPlay DVD player with new movie filters?
A. You can get more ClearPlay Filters by inserting a ClearPlay Update CD into your DVD player. ClearPlay can mail you Update CDs, or you can download and burn them yourself.
Why did you just assume there would be modems and such? I think that is why a few people jumped on you. You can look at a picture of the entire machine, front to back, at the (shudders) Walmart website. This machine will be as easy to moniter by the government as your toaster. Have you seen any other products where the ablity to connect to the internet wasn’t IN GIANT BOLD LETTERS?
**SALE! SALE! SALE! MAYTAG 3000 WASHING MACHINE
*Low Price = $599
*Energy Efficient
*There is a click beyond that “Super-wash” click
*That click is called the “Super-duper wash”
*It does nothing
*But your neighbors won’t know that probably NEW! CHOOSE FROM THREE COLORS
Disclaimer. This machine coincidentally can connect to the World Wide Web, a virtual library that serves as the finest forum of internantional information exhange, additionally the ability to send and receive private mail instantly. Blah Blah Blah. Did we mention the “Super-duper wash”?
That later point wasn’t really “a point” but a fun imagination scenario, as is this “point.” And after they find out what movies we are watching, it won’t be long until they display subliminal messages during children’s programming encouraging them to turn in their parents if they suspect them of not loving Big Brother.
asterion: The V-chip is easily enough configured without a manual, but I doubt someone could crack it without actually guessing the password. A DVD player is something else, though. One could always slip in a slightly altered copy of the DVD (which the censorware probably couldn’t recognize). Or else someone will look at the code that ClearPlay uses to update the DVD players and come up with a disk that wipes out the censor tables.
So, the fact that this device will update via CD rather than connection to a network will mitigate some of my concerns about potential for abuse. I will, however, not be surprised to see it connect to such a network one day at which point I will become suspicious again. After all, we want to update this thing as close to real-time as possible so the delicate sensitive folks can watch sanitized new releases. I will also point out that the potential for abuse was but one aspect of my objections to this tech that folks latched on to (I assume that it is some sort of blood in the water thing).
The quoted post raises and excellent point. I am seeing a lot of contemptuous statements directed at those of us that find this stupid and annoying telling us that we should just not buy the thing, or not use that feature if we do. Everyone agree with Zebra, then? That the poor offended people should just avoid media that has content to which they object.
