Worrying content developments over the Pond

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Currently before the FCC is a proposal for SOC. That's Selectable Output Control to you and me..

Arstechnica has an interview with Kyle McSlarrow, Head of the National Cable and Television Assocation about SOC which is worth reading, and will be followed tomorrow by the other side of the debate.

The worrying part is that this all comes hot on the heels of the copyright etc furore and the Digital Economy Bill this week in the UK. It is beginning to look as though a single industry appear to be attempting to gain control of pretty much everything, including your access to the Net, your A/V kit, your viewing habits and so on.

We have long argued that what is required is a separation between content and service, especially as many of us do not need nannying, thanks, and just want a dumb, fat pipe. Then the market and consumers can decide which products sink or swim.

Where an industry can dictate whether or not you have access to the Net, there is a major problem. For instance, we are already seeing the results (also over the Pond) when this industry has such control. This month's lunacy comes when an entire community wireless network has been closed down, courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment, because one individual illegally downloaded a film.

Just reading page 2 of that article shows what "inconvenience" the closure of the network will bring to that community, all on the whim of a content industry that refuses to accept it needs to move with the times and seriously adapt its business model. As others have done.

It is unlikely that Mr Murdoch's latest rant about Google stealing his pages will see anyone illegally accessing his meeja suffering the same fate, but let's face it, if Mandy continues the route he is currently taking, nothing is impossible in the UK where that industry is concerned. Be worried.

Be especially worried because we don't have the likes of Dave Isenberg within our regulator to speak sense and prevent this all going too far, far too far.