Curtains for Digital Show Sharing

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow" <geoff () iconia com>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 04:05:47 +0100
To: "Dave E-mail Pamphleteer Farber" <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: Curtains for Digital Show Sharing

Curtains for Digital Show Sharing
By Katie Dean

02:00 AM Jan. 18, 2003 PT

Part of a website that facilitates sharing recorded programs between
ReplayTV
owners abruptly shut down late last week because the webmaster feared a
lawsuit
and was concerned about members' privacy rights.

On Thursday, Chad Little closed the sharing section of Planet Replay after
being deposed by an attorney representing the entertainment companies that
are
suing Sonicblue, which manufactures ReplayTV.

"Under the gaze of the entertainment companies, who can be litigious, that's
when we made the decision to take that part of the site down," said Greg
Klingsporn, Little's attorney.

Little, a Web designer from the San Francisco Bay Area, built Planet Replay
in
December 2001 as a way to flex his computer programming skills while
establishing a community for ReplayTV users.

"It was clear from the questions that the entertainment companies were
interested in knowing what sort of data Chad had, or could gather, about
people
who were sharing shows and the shows being shared, and (that they were)
interested in whether Sonicblue had any relationship with Chad," Klingsporn
said.

Klingsporn said the entertainment attorneys' questions were designed to find
out whether Chad had user data in his possession. "They said at one point
that
they hoped (Chad) wouldn't destroy that information," he said.

"It became clear that they considered Planet Replay to be sort of a
facilitator
of copyright infringers."

Little said there is a "huge amount of user data in that database," which is
the key reason he decided to shut the section down. He said he'd rather do
that
than put his users at risk of being sued.

Planet Replay attracts about 2,700 users to its forums section and 1,900
people
used the sharing section, Little said.

Before the sharing area went dark, ReplayTV users would log on to the site
and
post the shows they had saved on their ReplayTV box. If another user was
interested in one of the shows, the site generated an e-mail to the original
poster. It was then up to the users to share with one another at their
discretion.

To complete the share, the show's owner would select the program on the
ReplayTV box, enter the recipient machine's ID number and press "send" on
the
remote. The user on the opposite end would accept the show, which would be
transferred on the Internet, usually over a broadband connection.

"It was a meeting place that listed people who had shows and people could
post
requests for shows," Klingsporn said. "He never hosted any show files on his
website."

Users who used the show-sharing area, however, had to be committed to the
endeavor. Transferring a 30-minute show took about one day. Little said a
one-hour show could take three days or more.

"It's a useful feature if you need it. The truth of the matter is you don't
need it that often," he said.

When he closed the sharing section, Little posted a message explaining the
situation, which prompted a discussion in the Planet Replay forum.

"As far as I am concerned, I pay $40 a month for cable -- and that should
give
me the right to not watch commercials if I don't want to, or get the show
from
someone else if I miss it (I paid for it already anyway). $40 a month is not
free TV," wrote a poster called gpeden.

"Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! This thoroughly sucks! This site was great and very
useful to me on a couple of occasions when I forgot to record something
important," wrote bkrodgers. "You know, the media companies are idiots. This
is
not like music, where downloading a song may be done instead of buying a CD.
With TV shows, they want you to see the shows. While yes, a shared show
doesn't
directly help their ratings, if it helps someone become hooked on a show,
that
may get them to tune in next week."

Still, some members were concerned enough to ask that their accounts be
deleted.

Scott Cooper, an attorney with Proskauer Rose, a firm that represents
several
entertainment companies participating in the lawsuit against ReplayTV, had
little to say about the news that Little shuttered the sharing portion of
his
site. Cooper said he was not aware of any plans to take legal action against
Planet Replay.

"The deposition was to obtain evidence in connection with the lawsuit
(against
ReplayTV)," Cooper said. "'Send show' is one of the features that's being
challenged. His site involves the use of 'send show' to distribute such
shows."


Counsel for the so-called Newmark plaintiffs, who, led by the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, are suing all 27 studios that are suing Sonicblue, said
the situation was another example of Hollywood destroying new technology to
consumers' detriment.

"Hollywood seems to think that if any possible new use of technology could
be
infringing, it should be shut down," said Ira Rothken, co-counsel in the
case
with the EFF.

"In my view, as long as the technology has substantial non-infringing uses,
it
should be allowed to continue."

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57271,00.html

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
geoff.goodfellow () iconia com * Prague - CZ * telephone +420 603 706 558
"success is getting what you want & happiness is wanting what you get"
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/01/biztech/articles/17drop.html
http://www.tapsns.com/members-bio/geoff-goodfellow.shtml



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