G_Poobah
join:2004-01-17
Schenectady, NY
| reply to jjoshua
Re: Yet the sites are gone
You are correct.
But, a TV show on an over-air broadcast that you record. The million dollar question is thus "Did you 'purchase' that show when you recorded it?". Remember, they are going after TV distribution sites here, not movie sites.
The goverment 'grants the broadcasters the permission' to broadcast their vast wasteland over the public airwaves, but the other side of that implied contract is that (1) it can't be encrypted, and (2) the end users have a RIGHT to recieve it, and the thing that pisses the MPAA off, (3) the end users have a RIGHT to record/backup the show for personal use. I would argue that the act of legally recording the show on a legally owned recording device does in fact construe a 'purchase contract', and you can LEGALLY remove the crap from a show you don't like. (in fact, that's exactly what the Family Movie Act is trying to get across).
Problem is, the Family Movie act threw all of those rights into limbo, and not really by choice, by allowing 'editing of content for personal viewing'. Technically, the law was written to benefit ONE COMPANY that made the device, but the wording of the law allows other people to provide the service to a 'responsible party of a household'. So, you capture the show, legally. Then you choose to have a device remove the offensive content, or have someone do it for you. That's specifically allowed in the law.
Granted, you can't get a DVD from an over-air broadcast, you would need to purchase it, but NON-CABLE shows (NBC/etc) are broadcast over air, and in the process of recording the show, I legally 'own' the show, and can legally 'modify' the show to meet my moral standards (or have someone else do it). That's not what the MPAA wanted in the law, but hey, sucks to be the MPAA. Remember, they wanted the 'no-copy' bit for the sole purpose of preventing step 1 of this process (i.e. recording the show). If they had their way, you would pay them every time you even thought of a jingle or ad. Remember 1984, it's closer than we think.
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Grand Poobah |
