Today (June 12th, 2009) the DTV transition takes effect. Analog video signals no longer are available in the United States. Why does this matter?
Not many are aware just how much of our freedom and privacy has been lost to DTV, but the mechanism to control, track and charge you for anything video are now in place. This includes all; news, weather, politics, opinion, scientific, and cultural information we consider critical to our ability to function in the modern world.
ISSUE #01
Today marks the end of our freedom to share ideas with broadcast video.
Every digital signal will now contain DRM or Digital Rights Management embedded into the actual picture brightness (luminance) of the video image using a technology called VEIL (Video Encoded Invisible Light). This mechanism of control is intended to prevent copyright fraud (the duplication of rights managed material for profit), but also prevents sharing for legitimate uses. Combine this protection with legislation that prevents the manufacture of devices lacking support for DRM and you can see the problem. For older videos that may lack VEIL, CGMS-A (Copy Generation Management System – Analog) is available.
Say you are watching a story on local news of an event you attended earlier in the week. To your surprise, you appear in the background! You want to share that 15min of fame with a friend in another state (fair use). You save it on your Tivo, but the friend cannot come over to watch. You record it on a DVD recorder, but all DVD players/recorders have DRM so playing the DVD at the friends’ house will display a blank screen. Any attempt to use a computer-based recorder will result in video that will not display through DRM aware ports. This is a trivial example, but issue extends to serious matters as well.
Over the past decade our television news has disintegrated into nothing more than corporate supported propaganda. Gone is the reputable and independent television journalism we knew only so briefly. Gone is this journalistic watchdog of democracy. It has been replaced with a corporate news perversion that sells lies of shock and awe to promote illegal wars for profit. Corporate news exists only at the behest of it’s corporate sponsors and their interests. Since the fall of television news, the watchdog reigns had been taken up by bloggers with computer based DVR’s (digital video recorders). These new watchdogs used subscription television services to record the hypocrisy and perversion being spewed by corporate cable news in support of shadowy agendas. Using the Internet to post video examples of political/corporate corruption was a literal thorn-in-the-side of corrupt or collusive interests. No more.
Thousands of computer based video recorders have lost their ability to change channels when hooked up to newly encrypted cable or satellite subscription services. Instead of rich capabilities like time-shift television and electronic programming guides (EPG) that automatically record and name programs, users are left with simple video converters.
Those who choose to keep their computer-based recorders will find themselves locked-out of all subscription content (even if they pay for it). Only those with the resources to afford professional equipment (purposefully priced out of the general populations reach) will have access to DRM free recording of DTV. Welcome to a world where all content sharing (if allowed) is monetized, with the ultimate goal of restricting knowledge to those who can afford it. Remember, knowing is half the battle.
ISSUE #02
Today marks the end of our privacy to view broadcast video without being tracked.
The Neilson Ratings company tracks television viewership using “sample families”. These families agree have their viewing tracked in exchange for compensation (many have extremely invasive experiences). This mechanism (and ones like it) provide the industry with a framework to price television advertising (media buys) and track results. The information is also data-mined for ways to generate additional revenue. The holy grail of this mechanism (to track every individual channel change) is now at hand. Corporations then integrate this information with other databases to create accurate profiles of the entire population. How long will it be before those databases are breached and the data falls into criminal hands?
Every generation will have all television viewing logged and recorded for their entire life. From birth to death, a lifetime of split decisions in one database file. Similar to how your credit score now determines what you can purchase, these profiles will be bought and sold on the open market. Complete with a full history of everything you have ever watched and for how long, a potential employer purchasing your profile may not appreciate the weekend-long porn fest your roommates had while you were out-of-town.
Or maybe during the “next war” our government will decide that knowing what every person watches is a matter of national security. During the draft procedure, they use this information to determine who is appropriate for what positions. Yes, your child’s DTV watching could be used to decide between the danger of front-line infantry or the safety of a code breaker desk job.
They call it television programming for a reason, we are now being crafted from birth to think in a select number of narratives. This is how your children will identify themselves in society. Some will watch violence and stupidity to reinforce their small view of the world. Some will watch sports and stocks and go on to business success. Others will spend their time mired in the poisonous celebrity that western culture has idolized. The status quo will need to know who is choosing what programming track in order to provide matching societal opportunities. This power should be terrifying to all.
ISSUE #03
Today marks the success of a 40-year strategic campaign by government, corporations and industry associations to reap untold profits.
Timing is everything. The VCR debuted at CES in 1970. Ever since then, the debate over the ability to record copyrighted material for fair use has been raging. On October 27, 2008 JVC stopped producing VHS-format videocassette players and will end global sales when existing inventories run out. The VCR has always been a sore spot in the TV industry, so much so that it was called the A.Hole (analog hole). Advertisers balked this would be the end-of-the-world since the VCR allowed one to skip past commercials. Televisions viewers could share VHS tapes with friends instead of just passively watching (the way television had always been experienced). The public won the VCR battle but forty years later, lost the war. Millions of televisions and recording devices are now obsolete for no reason.
Industry groups such as the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) combined with government legislation passed during the Bush Administration and a consumer electronics industry addicted to planned obsolescence are all standing to make billions.
The key selling point for DTV is the high definition picture quality. However, to support this quality, DTV must have the full signal to display anything. Many areas trying to pick up free terrestrial DTV are finding few channels where dozens of analog had previously been. That is despite getting expensive new digital antennae (something most don’t realize they will also need to buy). The only DTV solution available to these individuals is to become a subscriber to a paid cable or satellite service. This scenario maximizes paid DTV and minimizes free DTV, generating more revenue for the broadcast industry. The ultimate goal of this strategy is an entire population of paid DTV subscribers.
Paid services like cable or satellite are taxed heavily, thus providing the adequate incentive for government participation. Billions in revenue have also been collected from the auctioning of our airwaves to the private sector.
ISSUE #04
Today, your DTV signals can be embedded with hidden signals and encryption.
“We need a program of PSYCHOSURGERY for POLITICAL CONTROL of our society. The purpose is PHISICAL CONTROL OF THE MIND. Everyone who deviates from the given norm can be SURGICALLY MUTILATED. The individual may think that the most important reality is his own existence, but this is only his personal point of view. This lacks historical perspective. Man does NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must ELECTRICALLY CONTROL THE BRAIN. Some day armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain.” Dr. Jose M.R. Delgado Director of Neuropsychiatry Yale University Medical School testifying on Congressional Record, No. 26, Vol. 118 February 24, 1974
That was over thirty years ago, today we have a cost effective and efficient alternative to the insane “surgically mutilated” mechanism of control proposed by Dr. Delgado. Beside the embedded DRM, the digital signal can also hide a variety of content. Currently this is use for PPV (pay per view) and on-demand services. In the future, these signals could easily contain messaging, advertising, or propaganda that are broadcast to specifically affect our subconscious decision making ability. The technology exists in several patents but requires a set-top box for every television, today we fulfilled that requirement.
US Patent # 5270800: Subliminal message generator “A combined subliminal and supraliminal message generator for use with a television receiver permits complete control of subliminal messages and their manner of presentation… Alternative embodiments include a combined cable television converter and subliminal message generator, a combine television receiver and subliminal message generator and a computer capable of presenting subliminal messages.”
US Patent # 6506148: Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors “Physiological effects have been observed in a human subject in response to stimulation of the skin with weak electromagnetic fields that are pulsed with certain frequencies near Hz or 2.4 Hz, such as to excite a sensory resonance. Many computer monitors and TV tubes, when displaying pulsed images, emit pulsed electromagnetic fields of sufficient amplitudes to cause such excitation. It is therefore possible to manipulate the nervous system of a subject by pulsing images displayed on a nearby computer monitor or TV set. For the latter, the image pulsing may be imbedded in the program material, or it may be overlaid by modulating a video stream, either as an RF signal or as a video signal. The image displayed on a computer monitor may be pulsed effectively by a simple computer program. For certain monitors, pulsed electromagnetic fields capable of exciting sensory resonances in nearby subjects may be generated even as the displayed images are pulsed with subliminal intensity.”
ISSUE #05
Today, the foundation to control humanity for the next 1000 years is in place.
For thousands of years, humanity has shared its knowledge through storytelling. Today we continue this tradition by utilizing the technology of our day, video. Be it television or movies, the video medium is where the narrative of the next millennium will be crafted. Those who control this medium will control the human narrative, free to create any history or reality they see fit.
Examples of this can be found in the careful crafting of current-day history textbooks. Depending on the country, state or region of the school, the content of history books will always be skewed to teach a perspective that reinforces a “status quo” supporting narrative. This pattern can also be found in early developmental literature (children’s books).
We know that simply providing the proper validation can reinforce a particular perspective (especially in children). Reinforcing established views is always preferable to new ideas. But slowly weave any new perspective or need throughout the cultural tapestry and eventually, it will be adopted as the norm. This is how fast food corporations are able to sell fattening poison to an obese population with no health insurance while drug companies enjoy a growing diabetic population.
Every aspect of our reality is inextricably tied to corporate control. Our work, transportation, communication, and recreation are simply a selection of choices from a predetermined script. What opportunities are available is simply a matter of who is performing best according to your lifetime data pattern. Following the rules and making “normalized” decisions from the moment you are born is the new 720 FICO. This is truly insidious.
The consolidation of television content providers to a few global corporations puts the entire human narrative, our human narrative in the hands of psychopaths. They will rape and pillage it so that humanity remains a vacuous, consuming automaton who’s only reason for existence is to support the privileged reality of a lucky royal few. But don’t worry; with 2000 channels I’m sure your favorite show is on right now.
Stations Turn Off Analog Signals as Digital TV Deadline Arrives
Nielsen Ratings on Wikipedia.com
TV Converter Box Coupon Program Website Reviews on xomreviews.com
CGMS-A (Copy Generation Management System – Analog) on Wikipedia.com
VEIL Video Encoded Invisible Light on Wikipedia.com
HOLLYWOOD WANTS TO PLUG THE “ANALOG HOLE”
MPAA looks to bolster its dominance by plugging the analog hole
“Analog hole” legislation introduced
US# 5270800: Subliminal message generator
US# 6506148: Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors
Watch The Corporation: Diagnosis Psychopath on Youtube.com
Watch The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
