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

[Jeremy Yates <jyates1(at)nc.rr.com>]

Ole Craig wrote:

 >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.
 >

Doesn't the "Cable Act" allow them to collect royalites from the cable
companies.

 >
 >	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
 >
 >perl -e 'print$i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
 >
 >