The BPDG is nominally a consensus (i.e., everyone agrees). Except that everyone there except for the Hollywierdos and a couple tame Japanese consumer electronics companies hates the BPDG proposal. But the co-chairs (one from Intel, one from Mitshubishi, and their ringleader, Andy Setos from Fox) have decided that they will have a goddamned consensus, even if everyone disagrees! They're filing their final report on May 17, and anyone who disagrees can attach their comments as a "minority report."
So, to expose the ridiculousness of all of this, the EFF has ghost-written our own "Co-Chairs' Report" and asked the co-chairs to adopt it as their final report, after inviting the studios to write up their minority dissent to be attached to the ass-end of it. I love the raw chutzpah of this, truly I do:
Digital television benefits the entertainment industry
As with every other substantial technological innovation in media
history — piano rolls, radio, motion pictures, television,
computers, VCRs, DVDs — digital television will extend the reach
and hence the profitability of the entertainment industry.The entertainment industry relishes the opportunity to take
maximum advantage of digital television's high-quality video and
audio reproduction as a means of providing more compelling
experiences to its audience.The entertainment industry looks forward to new opportunities to
collaborate with its audience, and to discovering new business
models and opportunities made possible by an innovative
marketplace delivering ever-increasing capabilities to consumers.
