NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Update: How They're Blocking Google TV (Including Screenshots)
Update: How They're Blocking Google TV (Including Screenshots)
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000777.html
Greetings. In "Users as Toast: The Blocking of Google TV"
( http://bit.ly/bRDkhO [Lauren's Blog] ), I strongly criticized the
blocking of the new Google TV (GTV) products by a range of network TV
Internet services. In particular, I suggested that such selective
blocking of specific hardware devices for other than legitimate
technical reasons was not only inappropriate, but also should likely
be considered illegal.
The inanity of this situation is further enhanced by the fact that
users can display fullscreen images from these online networks
directly from PCs equipped with HDMI ports (or via inexpensive DVI to
HDMI adapters). So obviously the real issue "in play" isn't the
simple blocking of large screen video displays per se.
A number of persons have asked me for more detailed information about
how Google TV blocking is actually occurring. Let's look at a couple
of preliminary examples today (many thanks to Google for providing me
with a Google TV box for these explorations and experiments). Links
below point to associated screenshots and photos.
For all of these cases, a conventional Windows 7 PC and a Google TV
box (Logitech Revue) were connected to the same Ethernet switch, and
accessed the Internet via the same NAT'd address during the test
periods.
In practice, blocking of GTV is occurring at two different levels.
Hulu's GTV blocking clearly shows this in action. Upon first
accessing the site, the GTV user immediately receives a Google TV
"We've noticed you using Google TV" warning box ( http://bit.ly/bMW3HA ),
not presented to other users. It is possible to click through this
box and browse the site, though that's basically sucker bait as we'll
see.
This initial check by Hulu is apparently based on the Browser ID
string (user agent). Google TV currently identifies by default as:
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US) AppleWebKit/533.4 (KHTML,
like Gecko) Chrome/5.0.375.127 Large Screen Safari/533.4
GoogleTV/b39953"
However, it is possible to change this ID through the GTV settings
dialogue, either to a generic Chrome browser ID, or to a custom ID of
the user's choice.
Switching to a generic string causes Hulu to no longer present the
opening Google TV blocking notice box at all -- but don't get your
hopes up.
By the way, it's worth noting at this point that some other sites also
make use of the Browser ID to present GTV-specific user experiences,
but not necessarily for blocking purposes. "Crackle"
(http://www.crackle.com), for example, routes GTV users to a richer
display format, but apparently makes all of the same content
available.
Now as it turns out, browser client info is not the primary blocking
mechanism being employed by Hulu, NBC, and other sites engaging in GTV
blocking.
On all affected sites I've tested so far, the serious blocking occurs
during the process of Flash video playback startup, where an
"unsupported device error" will appear.
Here's Hulu showing playback blocking on GTV: http://bit.ly/9c4Wye
Here's GTV blocking from NBC: http://bit.ly/bz6vcW
And just for comparison, Windows playback success for NBC:
http://bit.ly/9QoTJf
The trigger appears likely to be the Flash version ID embedded within
the Google TV player: http://bit.ly/dotigu
Contrast this with the Flash version ID information on the companion
Windows PC: http://bit.ly/d5UjzI
Both Flash players are at functional level 10.1, further suggesting
that the blocking of GTV is not motivated by a lack of technical
playback capabilities. We can demonstrate that Flash playback is
involved by calling up the standard Flash settings dialogue
( http://bit.ly/a5L8s2 ) on the PC.
Unlike the browser client information, the GTV Flash player ID data
cannot be reasonably altered by users to bypass Google TV blockades.
Imagine the protests that would ensue if Internet services arbitrarily
blocked video only to Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers! Or if
Hulu and the other networks decided they'd refuse to stream video to
HP and Dell computers because those manufacturers hadn't made deals
with the services to the latter's liking.
I'm not a lawyer, but this appears to be an utterly scandalous
situation crying out for legal investigations. If this sort of
invidious behavior on the part of Internet video services is allowed
to stand in the case of Google TV, it will be difficult to argue
against a veritable stampede of similar unacceptable practices by
these and other services, aimed at an ever broadening scope of
hardware and software systems, ISPs, and of course Internet users
themselves.
This really isn't about Google TV or even Google itself for that
matter. It's about the right of Internet users to access Internet
services of their choosing -- in legal manners using technically
compatible equipment of their choice -- without inappropriate and
discriminatory interference of the sort we're seeing deployed
against GTV.
Today it's Google TV that's being blocked. Tomorrow, you may be
viewing these same sorts of blocking messages on an array of other
devices -- including even your home PCs.
And that's a future that none of us should ever have to see.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org
Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance):
http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz