Comments on: BBC versus P2P

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:35:31 +0000

Just because no profit is gained and just because the product may or may not have been acquired legally, does not mean that you automatically have the right to upload it to users who do not have the rights to view it. It’s still copyright infringement, punishable by civil law and, as of the NET Act of 1997 in the US, criminal law. Do I agree with this? Of course not! I despise WIPO and their horrendous treaties which give almost unlimited monopolies to copyright holders. I personally believe that when you publish a product for public consumption, you should not be able to stop its distribution because, upon publishing, it should become the property of the general public. Some may call me a communist for that, but I really don’t care. But at least I’m not arrogant enough to state that unauthorized redistribution of copyrighted works is legal when the law clearly states that that is not the case.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:01:04 +0000

Once again a TV show I love and have always recorded on a weekly basis was blocked via CGMS-A, something that has been happening more and more frequently over the past year or so. The show in question was the latest episode of Stargate Atlantis, which was blocked the previous week as well. Despite paying over $100 per month for my cable service, and nearly $1000 for my PVR when it was new (they’ve come down in price a lot since then), the industry has decided that my money is theirs for the taking and that I have no rights at all as to when and how I watch my favorite television shows. The reason I wasn’t able to watch this particular episode when it actually came on was because I was REALLY sick that night. I was relying on my PVR to record the show so I wouldn’t miss it. Once again I have been forced, by the very industry that wants to prevent this sort of thing, to go online and find the episode in question for download via BitTorrent. Illegal? I don’t give a damn! My fair use rights are continually being violated here, and I will do whatever I feel is necessary to correct the problem. Considering that the quality of the downloads are often of far better quality than what is provided by my cable service, especially the ones available in HD, really makes it hard not to simply download everything I like to watch and get rid of my cable service and PVR altogether. Too bad the industry is so damn blind to the obvious profit just waiting to be made in this area. But instead of harnessing this power, they prefer to suppress it and sue anyone for daring to do so themselves. They deserve everything they have coming to them, and my only hope is that it comes sooner than they think. Just like evolution dictates, those that refuse to adapt eventually die. And I’ll be there, dancing with glee on their grave, laughing all the while.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:27:00 +0000

It’s not often that I feel let down by the Beeb, but I’m afraid this is one of those rare times. This episode of Click seemed shoddily researched, shoddily produced and as if it were in the pockets of the Multi-Nationals. Not the sort of thing that I usually associate the Beeb with. Let’s hope this isn’t a harbinger of bad news. We’ve got the Murdoch media machine to ignore, heaven help us if the Beeb were to go the same way!