Re: [dvd-discuss] LA Times Article about Replay TV lawsuits

[Ole Craig <olc(at)cs.umass.edu>]

On 02/12/02 at 08:15, 'twas brillig and Michael A Rolenz scrobe:

> Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 08:15:19 -0800
> From: Michael A Rolenz <Michael.A.Rolenz@aero.org>
> Reply-To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
> To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
> Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] LA Times Article about Replay TV lawsuits
> 
> Hmm....lets see remote controls, fast forwards, the mute button, channel 
> surfing, getting up and going to the bathroom during the commercials ALL 
> must be copyright infringment and included in the lawsuits....I'd say that 
> the studios thought "lies between the pit of man's fears "....
> 
> The real question is if the courts can separate copyright from the 
> business models the copyright holders have....last paragraph is the best 
> soundbite.
> 
> "What difference does it make how I do it?" Wood
> said. "The dilemma is, the technology is turning
> the business model upside down. But that doesn't
> mean it's copyright infringement." 
> 
> The only thing different about digital is that there are a lot of dodos 
> out there running the studios have to learn a new word...not that they 
> ever understood what analog meant.

	A) Broadcasters buy programming (content) and then 
	B) broadcast it, using it as bait to 
	C) lure audiences which they
	D) resell to advertisers. 

	They are now complaining because technological advances have
empowered audiences, enabling them to get the bait without being
exposed to the advertising, which short-circuits the above sequence at
mid-(C). The broadcasters are loudly crying copyright infringement,
hoping that no-one will notice that in fact the only transaction which
implicates copyrights takes place in (A) above, allowing the
broadcasters to do (B).

	Why should society be constrained in its use of information
simply because the broadcasters are enamored of a business model
predicated upon limitations inherent in 1950s-era technology?

		Ole
--
Ole Craig * olc@cs.umass.edu * UNIX; postmaster, news, web; SGI martyr *
CS Computing Facility, UMass * <www.cs.umass.edu/~olc/> for public key 

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