129: Content Protection
| Content Protection |
 Title text: If you think the purveyors of DRM simply want to protect artists, check out chapters 13 and 14 in Free Culture, by Lawrence Lessig. Their goal is the elimination of all culture they don't control. |
Explanation
This comic is a commentary on HDCP, a media standard which requires all the devices from player to cable to display to be "approved" to carry HDCP content. HDCP is intended to protect media encrypted with DRM from being intercepted between the player and the display. Interestingly, however, it is literally impossible for DRM advocates to completely prevent copying (even with such drastic measures) because of the analog hole: since the content must be shown in a human-perceptible form, it can be captured by analog means, such as recording the display with a video camera.
In addition to illustrating the absurdity of HDCP, the comic presents the darker idea that when your devices control what information you are exposed to, the controlling companies can act as "thought police" and ensure that your mind only contains "approved content".
With the title text Randall is referring again to DRM. The Free Culture movement (Lawrence Lessig being one of their activists) is fighting for free content. DRM advocates claim that their technology "protects" artists by preventing piracy, while in reality DRM is more effective as a means of giving media companies control over devices than it is at preventing piracy.
Transcript
- Content Protection System:
- [Megan sits on a couch watching a large flat-panel television, connected to a box labeled HDMI.
- The screen is labeled with "Approved screen"
- The cable is labeled with "Approved connection"
- The HDMI box is labeled with "Approved player"
- Megan's head is labeled with "Approved content".]
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Lessig, mentioned in the title text, announced his candidacy for the 2016 US presidency on September 6, 2015. Mountain Hikes (talk) 00:00, 13 September 2015 (UTC)
I think that the minimal comments on some of the smartest comics here says a lot about even the readers of XKCD. —Kazvorpal (talk) 01:49, 21 September 2019 (UTC)
Comments say a lot about the people that make them.
There are no comments because no one disagrees. Everyone knows the comic is right about bashing DRM. JackGreenEarth (talk) 12:48, 17 September 2023 (UTC)JackGreenEarth
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Sound like Randall needs to read this again. 23:26, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
