IP: "Tivo is Theft"

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>


http://www.xent.com/pipermail/fork/2002-May/011258.html


From: "Owen Byrne" <owen () permafrost net>
Subject: Tivo is Theft
Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 18:54:00 -0300

I like this little article (from 2600.com).

I'm sure DMCA 2 will require cable subscribers to install cable-enabled
bathroom door locks so that they are only open when there is not a
commercial on your television. (thus preventing you from committing theft).

Owen

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SKIPPING COMMERCIALS IS STEALING ACCORDING TO TURNER CEO
Posted 1 May 2002 11:05:57 UTC
It was inevitable. The broadcast industry is now describing people who skip
over commercials as thieves! And with new technology like HDTV and insane
laws such as the DMCA, they may very well make it stick in the future.

Jamie Kellner is the chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting, which
encompasses everything from CNN to TNT and is a part of AOL Time Warner. On
Monday, an interview with Kellner appeared in CableWorld.

In response to a question on why personal video recorders (PVR's) were bad
for the industry, Kellner responded: "Because of the ad skips.... It's
theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going
to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported
basis. Any time you skip a commercial or watch the button you're actually
stealing the programming."

While most programming on American TV is so insultingly bad that nobody
would ever need to steal it in the first place, there is great danger in
permitting this line of reasoning to become accepted. If this is seen as a
"problem," expect legislation forbidding any device that allows consumers to
skip the sacred commercial. Kellner, however, is not completely
unreasonable. When asked if he considers people who go to the bathroom
during a commercial to be thieves, he responded: "I guess there's a certain
amount of tolerance for going to the bathroom. But if you formalize it and
you create a device that skips certain second increments, you've got that
only for one reason, unless you go to the bathroom for 30 seconds. They've
done that just to make it easy for someone to skip a commercial." Heaven
forbid.

The text of the entire interview can be found at
http://www.inside.com/product/product.asp?entity=CableWorld&pf_ID=7A2ACA71-F
AAD-41FC-A100-0B8A11C30373 .




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