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View Full Version : tivo may be against the law


Ray Zee
11-19-2004, 12:53 AM
senator orin hatch, reb. is sponsoring a bill that makes it illegal to not watch the commercials in the beginning of a dvd if you rent it. also if you record off the tv, you would be braking the law to fast forward through the commercials. this is real and happening now.
its part of something else, but that is its effect i think. but sure, who knows what you do at home. but with tivo it isnt private what you do totally. or is it.
its funny how the politicains say they want to keep the govt. out of our lives but look what they do.

Non_Comformist
11-19-2004, 12:56 AM
Wow I am a Republican but this is insane.

Clarkmeister
11-19-2004, 12:57 AM
[ QUOTE ]
its funny how the politicains say they want to keep the govt. out of our lives but look what they do.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup. The Republican party has thoroughly lost it's way on this. It used to be the party of smaller government, fiscal responsibility and personal freedom. Now it stands for none of these. Scumbags like Hatch are a great example.

ArchAngel71857
11-19-2004, 01:07 AM
Sony got sued for this back when the VCR came out. Basically, the TV program with the commercials was an "origianl work" so if you record it and fast forward through the commericals, it is a copyright violation. I find it hard to believe that this law would get passed. Then again, the Republicans are shamelessly copping a feel for big business, so they may bribe enough people to get this through. I remember my teacher talking about this during class, but i was busy playing poker (kidding, kidding).

-AA

mmcd
11-19-2004, 01:26 AM
Yup. The Republican party has thoroughly lost it's way on this. It used to be the party of smaller government, fiscal responsibility and personal freedom. Now it stands for none of these. Scumbags like Hatch are a great example.

But they paid him to do it.

Boris
11-19-2004, 01:42 AM
Don't bother me with this crap right now. I'm trying to shave my balls.

PhatTBoll
11-19-2004, 01:47 AM
[ QUOTE ]
I remember my teacher talking about this during class, but i was busy playing poker (kidding, kidding).

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't lie.

This will never pass. It's a token gesture to some crony or another. Lawmakers propose bills that they know have no chance at passing all the time. Also, just because a Republican is proposing the bill doesn't mean that it has the support of Republicans. Politics is a dirty game, and what we see as casual observants only scratches the surface.

Zeno
11-19-2004, 02:12 AM
Has pointed out by Archangel the reasons are probably some legal mumbo-jumbo about copyrights, or ownership, or intellectual rights or other blather that the lawyer set can manipulate for their own unspeakable ends. They can all Kiss My Ass.

Why pick on Orin, this is nothing new or surprising, in fact, it is so commonplace that one wonders why it merits a post. Try finding an honest, capable, worthwhile, and intelligent politician then post his or her picture. Now that would be News.


Record off the TV? What for? What's tivo? VCR and all the newer gizmos - What For. I have a TV to watch sports, cartoons, Book notes, Extreme elimination challenge, and a few sit-con reruns. Mostly it has been off since the World Series.

What's all the fuss? Blow up your TV and Listen to Mozart. Better than listening to a bunch of no-nothing politicians that what to run your life.

This post does, in an off-hand way, illustrate why everyone needs to own at least five or six firearms. And some larger arms as well, say a tank or a small size nuclear device.

-Zeno

P.S. I have more posts than Ray Zee. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Blarg
11-19-2004, 02:48 AM
It sounds bizarre that any legal theory could be drawn up which could have any effect on fast-forwarding through commercials. As bizarre as the theory is that commercials are actually part of some sort of coherent piece of entertainment when they are created entirely outside of that piece of material and then just placed in the middle of or around it, I can see that theory being advanced by some screwball.

How the hell they're going to know if I fast forward, I don't know. And I'm not sure how they could keep me from fast-forwarding, either, unless they disabled DVD players entirely. Even those nasty commercials at the beginning of DVD's you can't fast forward through already can be circumvented just by hitting the "menu" button on your DVD player.

I did see an ugly thing Disney did to an animated movie from Japan once -- they integrated the "who asked ya?" introduction by one of their figureheads into the movie itself, so it was the first chapter sort of. Not many companies are uglier than Disney, but I've only seen that once, and hope it doesn't spread.

BusterStacks
11-19-2004, 02:53 AM
TiVo is also considering implimenting banner ads.

Blarg
11-19-2004, 03:30 AM
I read that they were thinking of putting some kind of clickable ads on that you could see, from what I gathered, while you were fast-forwarding through commercials. As long as you can still fast-forward, I guess that would be fine. I'm more bugged about them gathering marketing data on me, though. That always gives me the creeps.

astroglide
11-19-2004, 12:36 PM
IT IS NOT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION

http://www.tivo.com/1.6.2.asp#5

The once and future king
11-19-2004, 12:40 PM
Hmmm wonder who contributed to her caimpaighn funds?

Blarg
11-19-2004, 10:40 PM
Companies change. Bank of America and Amazon are two companies that both promised they would never share customer info -- and both did and do. They simply changed their minds. Disgusting, eh?

The thing about unilateral contracts -- where only one side sets the terms and your only recourse is to quit using the company's services if they change them
and if you have time and even know of the change -- is that you never really know how or when they're going to change, and the companies usually say as little about changes as they can get away with. By the time you know your information has been abused, it's generally too late.

Once the information is collected, your real guarantee that it will not be sold or abused is absolute zero. It's a good-faith agreement between the customer and an entity that is essentially devoid of good faith by design, and a situation devoid of punishment or even significant disincentive in case of abuse.

That's the thing about information -- you can't ungather it once it's gathered. At that point, it's a product like any other and you've lost control over it, and just have to hope for the best. Which, when there is even a hint of commercial incentive, is extremely optimistic, at best.