Why we can't record our TV shows (was: In case you have not seen it.....Linux Media Center)

[Seth Cohn]

Replies to a number of emails:

> I'm transition to this solution, but the legality of it is debatable.

For free-to-air programs, I suspect it would be very hard to make truly illegal.
For other programming, I'd still look to the Sony time-shifting
decision and ask what the difference is between this and making a VCR
copy (or more than one) and giving it to a friend. That is and remains
entirely legal.  Frankly, the Bono copyright extension was a
perversion of justice, and I'd be glad to prove it to a jury in a
court of law.

> I'm still trying to figure out a good working solution to
> automatically download the shows I like without getting dupes or
> incorrect versions (like a french version for example).

Ah, but the sites do a great job of filtering just for such a thing.
For example, http://tvrss.net/feed/unique/ is a feed that doesn't list
duplicates (ie any show episode only appears once)  There are others
that do the same and more...

> I also can't get a few shows I enjoy. Such as This Old House,
> Gardening By The Yard, and a few others.
>
> still losing out on one HBO show I enjoy.

Just a matter of knowing where to look.  Almost everything is out there.
In other words, everything is on the Internet, and google is your friend.
(Google isn't evil, so it must be legal, right?)

> I'm curious...is there a model in which you'd consider paying for
> content?

Actually, I did pay for content... I paid hundreds of dollars a month
for satellite and cable.
I paid far more than the content was worth, due to the monopoly
pricing, for example.
I have and do pay for DVDs I wish to "own", though of course, the
entire copyright system, DVD encryption, DRM, etc attempts prevents me
for doing with the paid for content what I wish, so my 'ownership' is
reduced to some form of rental.

>  The model could have reasonable prices and fair/non-existent
>  copy-protection or whatever else you'd like.

Sure, if the pricing was minimal, or perhaps with commercials to
subsidize it, I'd pay a very small amount - on the order of $1 an
episode or much less.  As someone else pointed out: the TV->DVD market
has set a very low pricepoint once they do release the content on DVD,
so pricing it higher makes little sense.

> One may want to avoid boasting of one's illegal activities in such a forum.

That assumes that it is illegal.  Since there is plenty of free-to-air
content, foreign programming, etc, I'm not talking about downloading
"illegal" items.

>  For that matter, it just occurred to me that, as the legal owner of
>  the server this list is hosted on, I'm probably exposed to some sort
> of liability for such discussions.  :-(

No, the laws are very clear that you aren't.  You aren't responsible
for discussion on what is effectively a common carrier.  In the same
way, the 'torrent' sites are now being told that a mere LINK or
pointer to information is now illegal, and that really shouldn't hold
up in court, because if it is allowed to, your website can, without
your knowledge or consent, have a mere comment link make you liable,
which would effectively destroy the free flow of information on the
Internet, thanks solely to lawyers.

> Heck, even when it isn't illegal, the media cartels have demonstrated
> that they will sue you anyway.  It is an effective tactic.

No, it's not effective.  The RIAA is learning that the hard way in
general neither ISPs nor colleges will give out private info to them
so they can identify those who download 'illegal' music, and the
number of lawsuits brought against clearly innocent folks are large
enough that all it should take is a bit more of a public outcry to
stop the tactics.