Podcasting Part II of “The Internet Heist”

Podcasting Part II of “The Internet Heist”

This week on my podcast, I read the second part of “The Internet Heist,” a series of three articles about the weirdest, most far-reaching, most bonkers battle of the copyright wars of the early 2000s.

https://onezero.medium.com/the-internet-heist-part-ii-cb2add31a4fb

Last week, I read out Part I of the series, which told the story of the Broadcast Flag, wherein the movie studios and TV broadcasters conspired with a corrupt Congressman to make it illegal to build a general-purpose computer unless it had DRM.

https://onezero.medium.com/the-internet-heist-part-i-3395769891b0

The Broadcast Flag’s notional purpose was to prevent high-def digital TV broadcasts from being captured and shared online. The idea had powerful political support, because it was seen as key to shutting off analog TV broadcasting and reclaiming its spectrum for auction to mobile carriers.

In this week’s installment, I explain why the most important consumer electronics and tech companies participated in the exercise: Intel tricked them into it. Intel ran this initiative, and it was the senior member of the two largest DRM consortia (5C and 4C).