‘I’m not a sucker …
p2p news view / p2pnet: The audio module on one of my VCRs blew yesterday. I know because every time I record a show the video portion records fine, but the audio comes from the existing program I had taped over. My house is filled with used tapes. I have saved older programs on a few of them, but the rest are just copied over again and again. As I understand it this is how everyone else records broadcast entertainment, to time shift.
Time shifting, that concept that allowed the US Supreme Court to reverse a lower court order that declared the VCR an infringing device and home taping a criminal offense, is not just alive. It is an accurate representation of how we go about recording broadcast programming whether off of the TV or the radio.
The VCR did not hurt the television and movie industries as claimed in the early 80’s by media executives and their congressional lobbists. It eventually developed a new revenue stream that brought huge growth to both of them. The same with the cassette recorder and radio broadcasts. Record sales grew every single year from the 70’s to the 90’s when home cassette players were at their peak in the home.
On the few tapes where I have saved older shows for posterity I find advertisements selling tapes of the same program I had taped on my own. The difference is this is the official product, the "official" part implying value as a means to sell something one can acquire for free. Guess what? These official products sold extremely well in the pre-DVD era. DVDs of television programs sell even better, driving tremendous revenues despite the fact I can still record Desperate Housewives and the Gilmore Girls for free.
Now the movie, television and record industries want to again outlaw what the Supreme Court wisely deemed fair use back in the early 80’s.
Anyway, I need to purchase a new VCR, which should run me a very reasonable $60 (or the cost the first season of some popular show). I can also purchase a recordable DVD, an idea that I am toying with despite the higher cost, because storage of recorded media is less intrusive. Anything I purchase today will allow me to do what I have done for years, record a show, watch it, then record over it. In a few years this may no longer be the case.
On the table are not one, but several bills sponsored by the movie, TV, and record industries that look to outlaw home recording. The bills will require manufacturers to cripple these devices so I can no longer use them in a manner I am accustomed.
This crippling comes in many forms. One is broadcast flag, a signal positioned in the broadcast signal that will prevent equipped recorders from saving any program the producers of that show don’t want you to record. The broadcast flag bills will require all recordable devices to have this technology if they wish to be sold in the US.
Likewise, the record industry wants to criminalize recording from satellite radio. You can still record the same song legally on broadcast radio, but somehow the record industry in its warped reasoning has deemed that satellite radio is different and therefore recording from that should be illegal without some copy restriction technology.
I will not buy any of these crippled devices should they appear. There is no value in such products for me.
First, I take offense in being called a pirate for performing a legal activity. Second, I’m not a sucker. If the record industry wants to force damaged goods on the populace they do so at their own risk, ’cause I ain’t buying. If Microsoft wants to install code that prevents today’s monitors and TVs from receiving future HD broadcasts tell the manufacturers they won’t get my business on the new sets. I won’t pay extra to cover overly-complex technology I don’t want.
I suspect many others won’t give them their business either.
If these laws manage to get passed by an media coddling Congress so be it. What it will create is an eBay black market of un-crippled VCR’s and DVDs, some new, but most probably older pre-broadcast flag players that still function. There are millions of them, some still in the original box in households that already have several of them.
And if I never can record a television or radio broadcast again? The media conglomerates think I don’t have a choice, but I do. I can walk away. I have done it before (I no longer have a cell phone) and I’ll do it again. Paperbacks are cheap and plentiful. I also have a turntable and a large collection of vinyl that I need to re-acquaint myself with.
For now though, I have a choice. I think I’ll just pick up that VCR while it still does everything I want it to do. Maybe, just to play it safe, I’ll pick up two.
Rich Menta – Mp3NewsWire
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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
- Mohandas Gandhi
Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.
November 9th, 2005 at 6:07 pm
I agree. As a matter of fact, I will work in whatever way I can in order to hack around any circuit or code that cripples what I own. These conglomerates are nothing more than thieves who want their thefts to be sanction by the courts and government. Unfortunately, enough Americans will do nothing but bitch and groan and continue to buy crappy and crippled product to keep the cartels functioning. This is because most American people continue to get their news from Lamescream media. Most American continue to believe the newsspeak that comes from their TV.
Letters to lawmakers as well as a complete one month media boycott of video stores, theators, and even cable/satelite TV channels is what would be needed in order to force the cartels to see their customers’ point of view. Is it time to start advertising a January boycot of the media? I think so. A month and a half should be enough time to allow everyone to hear about it.
November 9th, 2005 at 6:12 pm
“I will work in whatever way I can in order to hack around any circuit or code that cripples what I own. ”
This is a federal crime, be careful.
I agree with these sentiments to the point that many other methods of entertainment are available, and if it’s better for you to stand on your principles than have some modern technologies and methods of entertainment, then great.
Hacking the technologies though is a bad idea from a legal standpoint. YOU may not be found and punished, but some will.
November 9th, 2005 at 7:01 pm
It is not a crime, because any law that is unconstitutional is in fact no law at all. Now if I am caught hacking around the crippled product and some kommisar decides to prosecute, then I will most likely be put in prison. That is unless people go to http://www.fija.org and read the info contained therein.
Hacking the technologies is a great idea so long as any jury you stand in front of has even a bit of inkling as to the power they possess in protecting your (and their) rights.
November 9th, 2005 at 7:21 pm
Here is the problem: The law was originalyy meant to protect the people. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. The law is now designed to protect the cartels and governments FROM the people. What does this mean for us exactly? It means that the government IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. The government is YOUR ENEMY. This is how I see it anyway. I see the government as the destroyer of dreams and the usurper of any moral values. I have zero respect for most of what is called the government here in the P.S.A. I am sick and tired of the two faced political party that most politicians here belong to.
When it appears that I am obeying the law, it is the law of the Bible that I am obeying, not the so called law of the land. The true law of the land i.e. the Torah and the Constitution has been overthrown by the government lawmakers and court system years ago. If you read this and are a naturalized citizen, a police officer, or served in the military or public office, remember that you swore an oath to SUPPORT and DEFEND the CONSTITUTION AGAINST ALL ENEMIES BOTH foreign and ***DOMESTIC***. I find however that there are very few public officials who are actually brave enough to live up to this oath.
Anyone who enforces the DCMA IS a TRAITOR themselves as this law is plainly UNCONSTITUTIONAL. IF I were on a jury deciding the guilt of someone accused of violating the DCMA, I already know what my verdict would be. The jury that I would be on would either vote not guilty or it would be a hung jury. I refuse to convict anyone accused of breaking a BAD LAW. If everyone did the same, the P.S.A. would once again become the U.S.A. The link in another post http://www.fija.org is very good reading. I highly recommend it.
November 9th, 2005 at 9:06 pm
I am under the impression that these copy “protection” (me thinks RESTRICTION is a much more descriptive word) measures are being designed for HD digital recording devices (PVRs, HD-DVD recorders, etc…). Am I misinformed? Are there plans to hobble future “standard” resolution VCRs, DVD recorders, and PVR devices as well? Anyone know the answer? I guess it would not surprize me if they did. VCRs and DVD recorders already have macrovision crap now, why not add broadcast flag and watermark scamware as well? Kind of the old “why does a dog lick it’s balls? Because it can.
What’s the difference between a dog and big media?
They’ll both lick their own butts, only the dog won’t shoot itself in the foot.
November 10th, 2005 at 6:40 am
Nope. It’s constitutional, you would be convicted, and further, stealing other people’s property is bad karma.
November 10th, 2005 at 10:20 am
“I suspect many others won’t give them their business either.”
Sorry to tell you – but even more will…
Thats why it is important to educate people! Everyone around me knows whats going on and will boycot DRM infested products…
How about you? Your family? Your friends? Co-workers?
November 10th, 2005 at 1:45 pm
“Nope. It’s constitutional, you would be convicted, and further, stealing other people’s property is bad karma.”
1. It’s not constitutional to prohibit someone from doing whatever they want with the property they legally purchase. The thieves are the officials that want to deny people their fair use rights.
2. The ones who are stealing are the politicians and judges that pass these kinds of laws, not the ones who modify their equipment to use what they have purchased or downloaded.
3. Don’t call me a thief just because I refuse to listen to or view cartel produced crap. I mainly watch and listen to indie stuff. Granted, much of the indie stuff is crap, but the same can also be said of the cartel produced stuff as well. Why would I “steal” cartel product when I don’t even like it? The answer is that I don’t steal it nor do I download it.
November 11th, 2005 at 4:27 pm
Absolutely incorrect. You can buy a baseball bat, it is constitutional to prohibit you from hitting people with it. Admittedly, fair use is a fuzzy concept, but cracking protection is nowhere near it, and is clearly illegal. Just because you don’t LIKE something, doesn’t affect it’s legal status.