Re: [dvd-discuss] New Video on demand DVD (ie. pay per view)

["Michael A Rolenz" <Michael.A.Rolenz(at)aero.org>]

Ca Civl Code


1584.5.  No person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation,
or agent or employee thereof, shall, in any manner, or by any means,
offer for sale goods, wares, merchandise, or services, where the
offer includes the voluntary and unsolicited sending or providing of
goods, wares, merchandise, or services not actually ordered or
requested by the recipient, either orally or in writing.  The receipt
of any goods, wares, merchandise, or services shall for all purposes
be deemed an unconditional gift to the recipient who may use or
dispose of the goods, wares, merchandise, or services in any manner
he or she sees fit without any obligation on his or her part to the
sender or provider.
   If, after any receipt deemed to be an unconditional gift under
this section, the sender or provider continues to send bill
statements or requests for payment with respect to the gift, an
action may be brought by the recipient to enjoin the conduct, in
which action there may also be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and
costs to the prevailing party.

Followed by a section describing how bookclubs, record clubs etc have to 
operate.

Under the DMCA, AOL, Adobe, cuecat, Vimagazine or whomever can mail you 
all sorts of junk that YOU have to deal with and if you decide to use your 
gift in someway they don't want suddenly it's a criminal offense.




"John Zulauf" <johnzu@ia.nsc.com>
Sent by: owner-dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
01/28/02 08:21 AM
Please respond to dvd-discuss

 
        To:     dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
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        Subject:        Re: [dvd-discuss] New Video on demand DVD (ie. pay per view)


What is the case law on unsolicited mail?  Can someone send me a safe in
the mail and require that I pay them for the combination rather than
pulling out my hacksaw?

Anyway, "history is replete with the bleached bones" of this
distribution model.  Adobe's current corporate obsession with fighting
encryption hackers dates back to their own fail "font's on demand" model
-- in which Adobe freely sent out disks with the majority of their fonts
on them, and THEN (shock of shocks) it was cracked.  Between that and
the piles of free (but crappy "good enough") fonts that came with the
next version of Windows (3.1?) the profitability of Postscript fonts
disappeared.  Adobe has never forgiven the hackers.

The "I'll send you free, but locked, stuff model is doomed as it only
ever takes one cracker or hacker -- and the copyrighted good are back to
their native state -- protected from casual copying ONLY by the goodwill
of the customer.  Given the perceived overpricing of most software and
media today-- that is truly defenseless.

If these IP guys want to defend their "property" they better learn some
zen and know that the only defense is not to defend.  "Get your own d*mn
paper" is as good as it gets -- get over it.

.002

microlenz@earthlink.net wrote:
> 
> Also sounds like a repeat of cuecat. Read this
> 
> "Also in the works is ViMagazine, a monthly DVD ....will have both
> video-on-demand features and security functions that will allow 
consumers
> who watch the disc on a ViDVD.
> 
> Movies on the disc will be locked until viewers opt to rent the movie 
for
> three days or $3.49 or buy it outright for $14.99. Consumers will be
> charged for the film when they use the player's Internet connectivity to 
log
> back on the Vialta's server."
> 
> Sounds as if the disk comes in the mail whether you want it or not.
> Of course they can argue that by buying the service you are
> submitting to a license. So If I throw the disk away or lose it, or
> even if it gets received at the wrong address, whomever gets it
> afterwards isn't bound by the license.
> 
> Of course what makes all this work is "ViMedia, Vialta's
> patent pending technology, a single
> ViMagazine disc can contain up to 14 hours of video,
>  music and more."
> 
> Chances are it's nothing but compressed files on an encrypted
> DVD with them sending you the key over the internet...WOW that's
> truly novel.
> 
> From:                   Ronald Austin <ronald@caprock-spur.com>
> To:                     dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
> Subject:                [dvd-discuss] New Video on demand DVD (ie. pay 
per view)
> Date sent:              Sat, 26 Jan 2002 13:12:52 -0500
> Send reply to:          dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
> 
> > You need to check out http://www.vialta.com/News/Article_&_Reviews.htm and
> > read the plans to serve VOD on DVD. It sounds like a variation on 
DiviX
> > (circuit city one). I wonder how far this one will fly?
> >
> >
> > Ronald