[Kosh]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060121-6025.html

The post points to broadcast flag draft legislation sponsored by Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) that contains provisions which appear to limit digital broadcast media reception devices to "customary historic use of broadcast content by consumers to the extent such use is consistent with applicable law and that prevents redistribution of copyrighted content over digital networks." In other words, if it does anything heretofore unheard of with the digital content that it receives, then it's illegal.

Gordon Smith is a bastard.


But this is unreal. I didn't think even he would sink that low........

[an0n]

Yes, because existing copyright laws are fully and universally enforced on the internet....


It's like going "We're making crack ten times more illegal!"

[aldo_14]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060121-6025.html

The post points to broadcast flag draft legislation sponsored by Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) that contains provisions which appear to limit digital broadcast media reception devices to "customary historic use of broadcast content by consumers to the extent such use is consistent with applicable law and that prevents redistribution of copyrighted content over digital networks." In other words, if it does anything heretofore unheard of with the digital content that it receives, then it's illegal.

Gordon Smith is a bastard.


But this is unreal. I didn't think even he would sink that low........

Aah, I love politicos....

Proudly standing in the way of technological progress in the name of campaign contributions.

[an0n]

The ironic thing being that by the associated ****ery of innovation, they're ensuring that the market becomes over-saturated with technology and people stop buying players.

Which in turn destroys the economy and causes massive long-term losses for the companies lobbying for all the regulations in the first place.

[aldo_14]

The ironic thing being that by the associated ****ery of innovation, they're ensuring that the market becomes over-saturated with technology and people stop buying players.

Which in turn destroys the economy and causes massive long-term losses for the companies lobbying for all the regulations in the first place.

Not to mention collapsing said market into continuing stagnation such that it shrinks even as they over-saturate it.

[an0n]

I don't get why they don't just give up, stick all their songs and movies for $2 download on their websites and rake in a ****load.

Who the **** wouldn't pay $2 for a legal movie torrent with guaranteed connection-max speeds and DVD quality?

[aldo_14]

I don't get why they don't just give up, stick all their songs and movies for $2 download on their websites and rake in a ****load.

Who the **** wouldn't pay $2 for a legal movie torrent with guaranteed connection-max speeds and DVD quality?

Well, me..... but then I'm Scottish.


These guys....they thrive on the battle for monopoly, keeping the same position and targets; they don't want to open up any sort of new market they can't control, and the net is exactly that sort of place; unlike conventional retail, you don't need to have lots of connections with physically disparate  shops to compete, all you need is to be flexible and adaptable to the changing tech.  Exactly what big companies are bad at.

[Kosh]

The interesting thing is that if this law existed, then in 1970 the VCR would have been illegal, in 1990 TiVo would have been illegal, and in 2000 the iPod would have been illegal. All of those wonderful gagdets never would have existed.

[Grey Wolf]

Which is the goal.

[aldo_14]

The interesting thing is that if this law existed, then in 1970 the VCR would have been illegal, in 1990 TiVo would have been illegal, and in 2000 the iPod would have been illegal. All of those wonderful gagdets never would have existed.

Yep.  Imagine all the video sales.... not only that, the sales of TV programmes, repeat sales as copies wear out, and the savings made from not needing to ever revise the production facilities.  The only thing that actually drives innovation, anyways, is competition; because companies are suppossed to be legally barred from collaborating to slice up the market between themselves.  But when they can create a 'threat' like digital media, then they get away with doing just that.

[Ace]

I can officially vouch for his idiocy.

His senatorial office is 1970s design with a Greek facade that's wearing out in places, and he rants on about how the place is "Simple and elegant in a true American tradition."

All the while sipping coffee in his green business suit.

Of course then there's the Washington senator who didn't even look at the implications of CAFTA and just signed it because 'Well Washington depends on trade, and this says free trade on it!" Despite the fact that the state makes money by sending products to areas with purchasing power, and the purchasing power of those entire areas is nada, meaning that CAFTA only exists to allow for more tax and labor shelters...

Bah! A government full of people with no grasp on reality...

[Nuke]

theres something karmatic about the whole thing you know. i remember when i could go buy a tape for $4, sure the media would wear out or get eaten in a tape player eventually, but they sounded good and most importantly were cheap. now comes the cd, they are cheaper to produce, they can me copied indefinately without data loss, yet they decide that they should cost more. seeing as cds usually sell for between $12 and $15 thats about a 3x hike there. but then computers get faster, cd burners get cheaper, and we can convert it to mp3. i think that shoulda been the great equilizer there, but now, they still want more. so now i listen to underground bands who dont care if you pirate their music, which  they wouldnt even bother selling in quantities of more than 666 copies. black metal rules

[WMCoolmon]

What bands/sites would you recommend, Nuke?

RE: an0n's torrent idea, that's really what companies should be doing. Using this to their advantage. The situation means that whenever somebody does something like that, it gets a lot of attention. Complaining over lost profits doesn't work, because people are selfish creatures and have a hard time understanding why they shouldn't do something, when it isn't hurting anyone. (I could pirate 400 of the newest CDs, the only person I would be hurting would be the person hosting them and myself, by using up bandwidth. It wouldn't be like I was going to buy them anyways - hell if I can buy 4 without taking a significant chunk out of my spending money, and it's just that much more likely that I'll find songs or bands that I like and start recommending them to people, who may actually have the money to buy the album and ending up doing so.)

Wow, big run-on sentence there.

[Grey Wolf]

theres something karmatic about the whole thing you know. i remember when i could go buy a tape for $4, sure the media would wear out or get eaten in a tape player eventually, but they sounded good and most importantly were cheap. now comes the cd, they are cheaper to produce, they can me copied indefinately without data loss, yet they decide that they should cost more. seeing as cds usually sell for between $12 and $15 thats about a 3x hike there.

That's not entirely the RIAA being assholes. Inflation plays a major role there.