FC: Federal judge says ReplayTV doesn't need to collect viewing data

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous Politech message:

"SonicBlue ordered to track ReplayTV users' viewing choices"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03488.html

EPIC's Megan Gray wrote this amicus brief:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/replaytv/amici_brief_eick_order.pdf

-Declan

---

fwd:

The Washington Post, June 01, 2002
Copyright 2002 The Washington Post

The Washington Post
June 01, 2002, Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: FINANCIAL; Pg. E02

LENGTH: 281 words

HEADLINE: Studios Lose Court Skirmish; TV-Recorder Maker Doesn't Have to 
Collect Data on Viewers

BYLINE: Joyzelle Davis, Bloomberg News

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES, May 31

BODY:

-- A federal judge overturned a magistrate's ruling ordering Sonicblue 
Inc., the maker of ReplayTV recording devices, to turn over data on its 
customers' viewing habits to major film studios and television networks.

The media companies contend that the ReplayTV recorders violate copyright 
law by letting viewers share video over the Internet and skip commercials 
when viewing TV shows. But Sonicblue, joined by privacy advocates, argued 
the original order constituted an unnecessary invasion of consumers' privacy.

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper acknowledged those concerns, 
although she overturned the order on the basis that it "impermissibly" 
requires Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sonicblue to create data that doesn't 
currently exist.

Sonicblue "would be required to undertake a major software development 
effort, incur substantial expense, and spend approximately four months" to 
gather the required information, Cooper wrote in an eight-page order. She 
said the plaintiffs could get the same information through a survey.

[...]




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