From the “if ya can’t beat ‘em, legislate ‘em department” comes this scary little bit of news on the MPAA’s latest petition to the FCC on the topic of Selectable Output Controls. In a nutshell, SOC is the ability for content owners to control not just WHAT you are able to watch, but HOW and on what devices you are able to watch it. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has the story.

You want to watch my new movie on that digital TV you bought a few years ago? No, sorry, I don’t like your TV (perhaps because I’m afraid of the analog component inputs it uses). You want to space-shift using your Slingbox (which lacks DRM-enabling controls on its outputs)? Oh, no, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You were hoping to TiVo that show that’s on this afternoon so that you can watch it when you get home from work? Hm, not unless you upgrade to a new TiVo, because I won’t allow the signal to make it to TiVos that don’t have digital outputs. You want to record that program so that you can make a fair use of an excerpt? Dear dear, we can’t have that.

Seems kind of crazy, no? That’s what the FCC thought, too, which was why the agency forbade use of SOC when it last addressed this issue, in 2003. The FCC concluded that multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs - companies like cable television providers) can’t “attach or embed data or information with commercial audiovisual content . . . so as to prevent its output through any analog or digital output authorized or permitted under license, law or regulation governing such covered product.”

It seems that the MPAA is now seeking a permanent waiver from the SOC ban. I’m a little unsure what consumers can do at this point to speak out against that petition, (if anything), but supporting the EFF would be a good first step.

For some related reading on home media and perhaps why the MPAA and others might not want too much control in consumers hands, check out this fine series of articles at The Collective Shelf. Part 1: Why we don’t care about Blu Ray, Part 2: Collectionism and the Digital Revolution, and Part 3: Why Are Digital Movie Downloads So Important?