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Australian Consumer Body May Attack DVD Zoning.
__Paul__ writes "The Age has a
report that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
is considering launching an attack on DVD zoning, because it restricts competition. At least this Australian governmental body still has a clue, even if the rest of them don't." I lust after a DVD region free world. Its just such a pain.
So then America would have to blackmail the rest of the world again, threatening with trade war if others (Australia, Europe) don't do as the USA wishes, in order to protect US domestic industry.
This has happened time after time, sometimes with success. It is to be hoped that such an anti-consumer measure as DVD zoning, and US backing of that (with threats and blackmail) would get so much negative public attention in the rest of the world that these maffia practices will no longer be accepted.
Personally, I am impressed with countries that, both do the
I support the idea of only giving companies and registered organizations domains, and in that case, giving each only one. It encourages the use of subdomains, and it doesn't litter the namespace with useless domains, whose only purpose is because the domain was avaliable. (Free registration services like Name Zero make this even worse). If you really want a domain, register a company (as i was going to do to obtain a .ca) The cluttering of the .com/.net/.org namespace has almost rendered the DNS system a bit impotent.
Just my $0.02
-legolas
i've looked at love from both sides now. from win and lose, and still somehow...
In my opinion, it just takes one major country to step out of line to render the DVD zoning attempts by the industry moguls more or less obsolete.
The way it's going it's going to be at least one continent given that New Zealand has already taken the same position.
DVDs and players produced in the US will continue to be zoned,
How many players and DVDs are actually produced in the US anyway? At a guess the closest they'd get to being produced there would be Mexico.
Democracy cannot exist when representatives and parties are allowed to get "funding", i.e. be bribed by lobby groups, i.e. those with most money to spend, the big corporations, get their way over the will of the people.
It's probably worst, there are undoubtedly political lobby groups in the US who have managed to get tax revenue to fund their lobbying. e.g. those claiming to represent "oppressed minorities".
You can bet that there are already sweatshops and factories churning out bootleg DVD players (along with the bootleg DVDs) all over the place,
"bootleg" DVDs are utterly trival. Unless the production lines had the security of a mint. Either run off a few (thousand) extra or inflate the number of "duds".
Most region free players sold here (Switzerland) also have the option to manually set the region, making it look 100% like a region 1 player, or a region 4 or whatever. This is exactly meant to play such DVD's (they already exist for a while).
The biggest risk is the DVD manufacturers being forced to make DVD players where the zoning is harder (impossible?) to crack. If they don't cooperate they might loose their license to produce them.
OTOH, with prices of players dropping, and also portable DVD players becoming more widespread, you might just buy one or two extra DVD players abroad to get the missing zones. Maybe in the future we'll all have 3 DVD players because of this crazy zoning scheme.
Unless the DVD Mafia even gets to control worldwide trade there's not much they can do about that. Once they try that, politicians might finally realise what bunch of criminals they have been supporting.
The French sued over Echelon, meanwhile the Americans government is still playing dumb with the citizens.
American courts are taking cues from American (or international-but-mostly-American) corporations to bully 16-year-old kids on the other side of the world.
And now Australia, which is not generally big in world politics (no offense), is the one to step up and say "hey, this sucks!" to the MPAA.
My fellow Americans...we're doing something wrong!
Got Warez?
DVDs cost about a buck to make - not much different from a video cassette. And prices are getting cheaper all the time so much so that PC magazines ship DVDs on their covers
More likely similar costs to CD's since they are a similar technology. Video Cassettes are likely to cost far more. Since they use more material and the production is more complex/labour intensive.
While the Aussie Government occasionally shows some signs of intelligent life, keep in mind that they're the same ones that passed internet censorship laws unparalleled in the free world. Personally I prefer our government, which is uniformly stupid and therefore much more predictable. That way you don't have to worry about getting your hopes up.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The world is in a constant downward spiral as a result of everyone infinitely suing everyone else. Is it not obvious that the world revolves around money? Can't we just do things for each other and be happy? Apparently we are too far gone for such a thing, but wouldn't it be nice.
I like cheese.
The only way I can see my vision being thwarted is if the major film companies decide to boycot the Australian market alltogether. It may be worth it for them, financially, in the short term to do so, but I think the ire and publicity would be too much.
God bless Australia fair.
KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.
KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.
There is no
...other government agencies couldn't "think" so clearly.
But ACCC chairman Professor Allan Fels says they also act to keep prices high by restricting competition.
"These restrictions are artificially imposed by a group of multinational film entertainment companies," Professor Fels said.
It's a good bet we won't see any US agencies speaking out the same way. And that's a shame.
Blaming guns for crime is like blaming keyboards for first posters. More Guns != More Crime
This is rather interesting, especially coming out of a government which over the past two terms of power have shown a great arrogance towards anything which may boost Info Tech or any other form of Technology in this country.
Oh for the election in 2001!
Must not have Liberal Party henchmen on it's board.
--- acb!irc.slashnet.org
Its just such a pain.
Apparently CT believes the proper use of apostrophies ranks right up there with DVD zoning. For those interested in leet skills like correct grammar, the word "it's" is a contraction of "it" and "is". On the other hand, "its" is a possesive pronount. You can check by breaking it out as in "It is just such a pain."
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
They done a good job of messing around with cable ISPs, but they don't really have a great deal of juristiction over this do they? Can they force Australia DVD players to be multi-region? I doubt it.
--
enterfornone - logging in for a change
Actually, most movies available on tape cost around $20 apeice before DVD's came out. Now DVD's cost $20 a pop and VHS tapes are starting at about $12 (with the "bargin bin" tapes going for $8).
VHS got cheaper -- dvd's didn't get more expensive.
Rich
OK, totally off topic rant here. Be forewarned...
Free world, free world, free world!!! What the fuck is the free world? I'll tell you--the free world is the USA, and it allies of the week. That's what people mean when they use the term, and it all goes back to George Bush (sr.) claiming to be the Leader Of The Free World. (and we abuse Al Gore for his 'inventing the internet' slip, which was taken out of context???)
Well fuck the free world, the poor enslaved world (everyone else, presumably) and the lot of it. The irony of the US (of all places!) being the leader of the free world is just sickening. I propose we ban the phrase from common use.
Whew! OK, end of rant.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Yeah, I have heard something about that before, but I have been away from NZ (and watching one-eyed Aussie TV for too long) to keep up with the news over there. Can anyone elaborate?
It would fit in with NZ's ideas on "the freedom to parallel import" (and the freedom to sell lamb in the USA) quite well. They already told Chrysler to get knotted when they tried to stop people bring in second hand cars. (Not that anyone buys American cars over there anyway - Ha!)
I would even be happy if they just made it 100% legal to de-region players in NZ. Not that it is hard to find region-free players over there, but it could be a good industry for them - selling DeCSS based software and hacked firmware updates to US customers!
Also if everyone in NZ started buying DVD's from the overseas on the Internet (or off someone who had) then they would eventually have to drop the price of disks there, bring out a better selection, and start playing movies in the cinemas on time (rather than 6 months after the rest of the world).
Zilch
The Australian Consumer and etc commission is actually an *independent* body, seperate from the Government (although funded by). It is set up to challenge actions *it* regards as damaging to competition. You have to realise that this body takes its job *very* seriously, and does actually have huge powers (defined by Australian law - so actually anyone could make this claim, but the ACCC just has the nouse to do it). If it decides that DVD zoning is harming competition, then it will use the courts to made it illigal in Aus. It should also be noted that it wasn't so long ago they broke the music industry's monoploly by allowing cheap asian imports. This could turn into a very good thing
lemonade was a popular drink and it still is
The Rules of DVD and how they hurt consumers [not just RPC and CSS]
* Consumers have to pay inflated local prices, becuase unlike books and CDs, we can't get content overaseas at resonable prices that works with our system
* Limited range of titles - especially those of us who are fans of foreign cinema
* Being forced to wait until a movie has been released at the cinemas locally and had a full run before we can own a film. As an example of that, Bring it On has just been released in Australia. In the US, its been out on DVD for quite some time.
* Inability for consumers to create content on DVDRs due to the relevant bits already being pre-written as part of licensing for the technology
* Users are forced to sit through anti-copyright statements and DVD consortium ads, with a disabled fast forward button. Many movies force the user to sit through the same copyright statement in a variety of languages before the movie starts. The DVD versions of current [one minute or so] VHS anti-copyright advertisements are inevitable.
In my considered and informed opinion:
They use zoning to screw as much profit out of each market place - GREED. We in the UK are specially profitable to them.
Intellectual Property is the excuse big business use in the courts for this greed. We as individuals have no rights in this area - see what the United Nations organization WIPO are doing, stealing peoples domains.
Details on my site - WIPO.org.uk - This Organization has no connection with, and wishes to be totally disassociated from, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO.ORG).
True, but that does not give the industry unlimited control over how their products are used after they are sold. See the "first sale" and "fair use" doctrines, both of which the DMCA unconstitutionally attempts to destroy. If I'm in the US and I want to buy a Japanese DVD, certainly the movie producer is not obligated to sell it to me. However, if I find a willing seller who obtained their copy legally, the producer should have no authority to prevent that exchange. But region coding and DMCA-backed penalties for circumventing it do in fact prohibit that, which is just one of many reasons why both should be eliminated.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
I'll give you two examples of what fair use means, and how DVD's encryption breaks it:
I was born in the French-speaking spot of America known as Québec, but now live in Europe. Recently, my family sent me a DVD of a local production that became quite popular there, but I could not view it because it was encrypted for America, while my DVD player only accepts discs encoded for Europe.
It doesn't stop there.
I also happen to speak Russian and recently wanted to view DVD re-issues of classic movies from the Soviet era that some Russian friends recommended. I cannot, because Russia is in a different zone than Europe, so my DVD player refused to show them.
In effect, DSS prevented me from viewing two legally purchased DVD's, simply because of the Motion Picture Industry's greedy attitude.
So, as far as I'm concerned, the more countries that follow New Zealand's lead and demand zoneless DVD players, the merrier.
--
Software is not supposed to be about how to work around a useability issue. - Ken Barber
May I say, simply, YES! Thank you, Australian Government! However, I hate to admit, our goverment is so spineless (an amobea has more of a verterbre than our current government) that Sony or someone will frown slightly, or raise an eyebrow, and the guys in the big-white-funny-looking-building will do their usual belly-crawling and say 'Oh no, it was a big misunderstanding'
No, not cynical. Realistic.
--Rob
Comics:
Sluggy.com - Poing!
Schlock Mercenary.
i believe (although i may be wrong), that dvd region restrictions are already illegal in new zealand. or rather, they break an already in place law.
so any player you buy in nz is multi-region. certainly all the players i've bought have been unrestricted.
can anyone confirm this one for me? and are there other countries where this is already the case?
matt
I think the flip-side to that argument is that while DVD producers should be allowed to create zones and only create players that match those zones, other people should not be restricted from reverse engineering their format and making zone-free players.
Otherwise in a competitive race between zoned and un-zoned media, distributors are naturally more likely to go with the zoned option because it helps them keep more direct control over their media.
I think the only way an alternative zone-free format could succeed in direct competition is if and when there's some obvious commercial advantage for distributors not to zone their information. Even then, the new format would have to offer more, and be well supported.
===
I recently heard on the radio that Warner are about (if they had not already done it) to implement a test in their DVD movies : If the player is region-free, then the film will "refuse" to be played.
IMHO this is illegal and will force them to reimburse most of the people I know who bought their player before 1999/12/31st.
Maybe some "clever" law from Down-under has just made a step further.
BTW, "they" justify DVD-zoning by talking about the non-simultaneous movie availability around the world.
So : Why are "The Ten Commandments" only available in Zone 1 and not in Zone 0 ???
Is it about to be broadcasted in some hidden part of the globe (or on Mir) ?
--
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Way to go Australia!!
I had to flash my DVD drive and decoder card to region-free it.
I pay a buttload of money to get obscure French DVD's for my collection and since they are not made in anything but Region 2 I do not see why those in non-region 2 zones should not be able to watch them. I can see maybe for those who try to pick up stuff from a country that sells them much cheaper.. but the DVD market would likely make more money by going region free, not everyone is willing/knows how to flash their DVD drives and such to be able to view rare disks
---The proceeding comments were not paid for by the following advertisers.
is Strine.
--
enterfornone - logging in for a change
If I want a PS2, I wait for it to be released in the US. I don't go out and import one from Japan. How will they know where it ends up?
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Name one country where a copyrighted movie, coming from another country, is "legal" to be released for free.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
If you don't like the restriction codes, why not buy VHS copies of foreign films you are interested in? That's what I do (owning a DVD player and a movie player have distinct advantages).
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Again, buy VHS for the movies that are not yet available in DVD in your area.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
If the ACCC "does" act against DVD zoning, then australia will be the SECOND country in the asia region to do so ( New Zealand being the first). So what does this mean to the movies companies and MPAA and australians: Australia is about >10% of the total consumers in the zone 4 area, of which there are 25 or so countries, which equals to no big financial profit. If the supply of new released zone 4 movies were to be stopped (in australia), that would be ok, we'll just import them from Mexico . The ONLY major concern to movie companies and the MPAA, is the fact that ANTI-ZONING "law" might spread to the other Asia countries (which is currently divided into 4 different zones). This would mean that the movies companies would loss control over distribution and "price inflation" two over two billion consumers. Big Bucks!!!! This will leave the movie companies with only one last card, restrict supply. But no chance in that happening, that would only incourage people to pirate DVDs. In the end the most real outcome will be that australia and the rest of asia will be full of imported DVDs and pirated DVD. No matter what governments and the movie companies do. People are only interested in watching the movie, and paying the lowest price.
I wrote a letter to my local member in the Australian Federal Parliament, and he forwarded this onto the Attorney General. This shows they listen. So everyone else do it too.
Dear Attorney General, I have recently received a letter from one of my constituents, Mr Cameron Gray, concerning international and Australian policy toward the decryption of digital information for personal use. Whilst Mr Gray strongly agrees that copyright should be legally protected, and that the owners of information should be duly paid for their product, he is concerned that copyright legislation is being used by private corporations to simply enforce market monopolies, to the detriment of the consumer. Mr Gray argues that copyright legislation as it now stands prevents a person from developing software to bypass access controls, even where the viewing of the material so protected is entirely legal. An instance he provides is software that allows a person to view DVDs from other countries. He informs me that under current legislation, the development of this software is currently illegal, which reinforces market monopolies but is not related to effective protection of copyright. In the new information age, it is desirable for laws to allow as much access to digital information as possible without infringing rightful copyright. I would appreciate your consideration of Mr Gray's concerns, and your response as to how the Government will preserve the right of Australians to access the digital information now available locally and internationally. Thank you for your consideration of this matter and I look forward to your reply. Yours sincerely DR BRENDAN NELSON MP Federal Member for Bradfield
Sorry about the formatting. I just copy/pasted from WordPerfect.
-- Cheer, Cheer, The Red and the White.
Furthermore, it's not much hassle to import region 1 titles either, plenty of Internet stores such as ThunderDVD.com and Bigstar.com to send me the goodies.
I haven't bothered to check regioncodes for many months now. And even if regionfree players aren't for sale where you live: there are plenty of websites to tell you your player can be turned into one with a $25 all-in-one remote-control.
The irony behind this whole situation is that the regions are supposed to stop DVD piracy but what sort of pirate is not going to know how to modify their player to play all regions? Meanwhile people who actually buy DVDs and DVD players get screwed with higher prices and an unnecessary annoyance.
I'm glad the government of a large country is starting to at least think about standing up to these media companies. We all know the US Congress is owned and paid for by these companies so don't expect any help from over here...
If you account for all these things DVDs should be cheaper that video tapes. Unfortunately consumer ignorance prevailed just like it did with CDs - "DVDs are better quality therefore they must cost more to make and I must pay more!". Now we're stuck with the outrageous scam prices.