[opendtv] Re: Recordable DVDs New Target of Hollywood
- From: Eory Frank-p22212 <Frank.Eory@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 11:28:15 -0700
>From: "John Golitsis" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 12:09:01 -0400
>My brother was over yesterday and noticed a DVD rental on the table that I was
>going to return later that day. He chastised me for renting a DVD without
>making a copy of it. I just gave him a dirty look as we've been down that road
>many times before.
>
>It's like a sickness, really...this 'thrill' of taking what isn't yours,
>usually
>'justified' because someone else is already rich enough or some such nonsense.
But John, this has nothing to do with the subject of the proposed change to
the DMCA and consumer recording rights. Yes, a DVD recorder can be used to
infinge, but it also can be used for many non-infringing purposes -- language
we have heard before in the Sony Betamax decision. Unfortunately, protecting
your investment in pre-recorded DVDs by making backups for personal use is not
currently a legal use of a DVD recorder, because DVDs are encrypted and the
DMCA makes it a crime to defeat that encryption, regardless of the reason.
Consumers take it for granted that they are allowed to make backup copies of
thier favorite audio CDs, or make their own audio CD mixes for personal use.
Lucky for them, encryption or other means of copy prevention were not included
in the original redbook CD standard, so this is one of the few areas where
consumer recording rights have survived the transition from analog to digital.
Unfortunately, it will be the last, unless the DMCA is amended to acknowledge
and permit consumers to exercise the recording rights they have enjoyed in the
past.
There is a huge difference in consumers' perceptions of what is legal and
ethical between a rental and a purchase. No offense to your brother, but I do
not believe most law-abiding consumers share his cavalier attitude about making
copies of DVD rentals simply to avoid paying the purchase price. On the other
hand, ask a parent with young children -- a parent who routinely forks over $20
for every new Disney DVD -- how long he or she thinks the physical disks will
last. Kids have a tendency to watch those titles over and over, failing to
return the disk to its case when finished, not handling the disk with care,
etc. In many households, the desire to watch the content will outlive the
error-free life of the medium. Now ask him how he feels about the fact that it
is a federal offense for him to make a copy of that disk when it is still new
and functional, so that he doesn't have to buy it again 6 months from now when
he finds the horribly scratched disk under the entertainment!
center, out of its case and no longer watchable.
The vast majority of consumers understand that it is wrong to make a copy of
something rented or borrowed, simply to cheat the rightful owner out of the
purchase price. They also understand that it is wrong to make copies for thier
friends or to distribute copies freely on the internet, so that others can
avoid paying the purchase price. But if you tell them that something that they
bought -- something they believe that they OWN -- cannot be copied even once,
even to protect thier investment in the event that the original is damaged --
they will tell you that is simply wrong. And they will not understand or accept
that the rights they used to enjoy to make copies for personal use have
disappeared simply because "this stuff is digital" or more specifically,
"because this stuff is digital AND it's encrypted."
I'm glad to see that at least some of our Congressmen believe that consumer
recording rights are not dead in the digital age.
-- Frank
----- Original Message -----
From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., author of the Digital Media Consumers'
> Rights Act (search), says consumers should not always have to worry
> about being slapped with a lawsuit every time they make a copy of
> their favorite videos.
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