SPOILER°

noun (Science and Technology) An electronic device incorporated into a piece of recording equipment so as to prevent unauthorized recording (for example from a CD on to DAT), by means of a spoiler signal which cannot be heard during normal playing, but which ruins any subsequent recording; also, the signal itself. Etymology: A specialized use of spoiler 'something which spoils'. History and Usage: The first spoilers, really a form of electronic jamming, were developed experimentally in the late seventies. During the eighties, demand for some kind of spoiler system was quite intense in the EC and the US as the introduction of DAT approached; manufacturers of CDs in particular expressed their DATphobia (see DAT) by lobbying governments to require DAT tape decks to carry some kind of built-in spoiler to prevent widespread pirating of their recordings. CBS recently tried to introduce a 'spoiler' system called Copycode. This, it was claimed, would prevent any CD/DAT recording. Which? July 1988, p. 345