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NFL, MLB Support Ruling Against DeCSS

Chuck Fu writes "Both the NFL and Major League Baseball submitted their brief today in support of the lower court's ruling against DeCSS, stating that DeCSS 'threatens to destroy the legitimate marketplace for works of art, music, film, software, literature and other video programming (including sports programming), and will deter the development and distribution of new works in state-of-the-art digital media.' ZDNet and CNet has the story."

11 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. A Few Things. by JesusFish · · Score: 3

    Obviously, I'm sure these sports organisations only know what the MPAA has told them about DeCSS.

    This case is pretty much the only reason I have DeCSS on my computer, I don't have a DVD-Rom and the DVD Player I do have is a different region than the DVDs I have (which annoys me to no end).

    Also:

    Unchecked, such piracy threatens to destroy the legitimate marketplace for works of art..."

    Yes, because everybody on the net is a pirate. Gimme a break, I don't see the Recording Industry going down in flames because of "piracy".

  2. Works of Art = Pieces of Work by WinPimp2K · · Score: 3

    Hmm...
    MLB has claimed ownership of all facts (statistics) resulting from their 'performance art' They wanted to charge the media for the right to report game scores (as an anti-fan I considered this vindication in claiming that sports isn't news)
    The NFL took to trademarking the names fan groups applied to themselves - so they could charge the fans in direct proportion to their enthusiasm (being an anti-fan, I of course applauded this move - soak the fans for enough and they will eventually get a clue)

    An important point to remember is that the sports cartels do spend most of their time dealing criminals and 'morally challenged' individuals. These people - which is what the sports cartels base their opinions of everyone else on are known as 'players', 'agents', 'media', and 'lawyers'. Given the nature of these people it is easy to understand how the sports cartels are concerned about the billions of dollars they are losing illegal viewing of their 'performance art'.
    All these talk of 'performance art' has reminded me - when will we be seeing the briefs from the real performance artists (pro wrestling). After all, they do have real money at stake here.

    --

    You either believe in rational thought or you don't
  3. MLB DVD? Say what? by BIGJIMSLATE · · Score: 2

    Okay, let me ask you a question. Have any of you bought, or plan to buy an NFL or MLB game on dvd? No, didn't think so. Not unless they're starting to actually use film to record the games, shooting it in a nice 2.35:1 ratio, with six channel surround sound, and the OPTIONAL commentaries. Oh yeah, and then there's the problem with making the game actually SEEM interesting, which is virtually impossible since the strike.

  4. Sports may be a bit more savvy by L-Train8 · · Score: 3

    These guys are probably doing more than just parroting the Jack Valenti. The NFL was a big player in the lawsuit that shut down iCrave. The Canadian website was webcasting TV shows, including football games, that it received from US TV station broadcasts.

    I don't know that the NFL or MLB release any DVD's yet (though they do put out greatest highlights and season retrospectives on VHS), but I'm sure they are very aware of the potential damage to their traditional revenue stream that new technology poses. It's unfortunate that they, like the RIAA and the MPAA, choose to fight progress with legal action, rather than try to embrace technology and fing new ways to make money that take advantage of it. But sports fans have long ago learned to live with the annoying, misguided, and down-right evil actions of sports team owners.

    --

    Don't forget that Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.
  5. Re:what the...?! by JCCyC · · Score: 3
    They own all the copyrights to their sports events' recordings, so every time someone wants to show it in a highlight film or something, they get a cut.

    Whoa. Isn't the use of snippets Fair Use? (as opposed to an entire copyrighted work, which would mean replaying the entire game)

  6. Re:DeCSS by Ultra64 · · Score: 3

    Not sure, but I've tried a few DVDs and DeCSS either couldn't decrypt them or the resulting files were corrupt. Although it did older DVDs just fine.

  7. Re:what the...?! by Ig0r · · Score: 2

    Haven't you heard?
    Fair use was outlawed in 1998 by the DMCA.

    --

    --
    Soma: because a gramme is better than a damn.
  8. Re:DeCSS by Andux · · Score: 2
    What the hell is windows.h

    Windows API libraries to help the average programmer write small, efficient programs like Microsoft does. Remember: They're not bugs, they're features.

    --
    (Do not sign anything.) -- Fell, Planescape: Torment
  9. Re:MLB DVD? Say what? by Begin2See · · Score: 2

    Ever heard of NFL Flims or the MLB films archive? They shoot in high-res digital video now, in the 16:9 aspect ratio.

    Remember all of those NFL archive films narrated by the late, great John Facenda? You know, the ones that start off, "From the snowy, frigid tundra of Lambeau Field..." They're all on film stock - a great medium for transferral to high-res digital.

    Of course noone will buy a game on dvd... but they will buy the aggregate highlights of a whole season, of the career of a player.

  10. Re:so? by Lord+Kano · · Score: 2

    I take offense to this in that I was a high school jock ( college and post college ), and
    I do say some intelligent things. I usually found dweebs like you to be the real losers


    Did you ever think that maybe the intent WAS to offend you?

    While the tech sector may have succeeded at producing the likes of assholes like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, at least we didn't create wife beaters like OJ Simpson and murderers like Rae Carruth.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  11. Re:DeCSS by e_n_d_o · · Score: 2

    My evil twin who lives in a non-extradition treaty country managed to get DeCSS to work perfectly on his computer, which happens to be an exact replica of mine. :)

    Anyway, he reports the following DVDs work properly:

    - Titan A.E.
    - A Bug's Life
    - Jakob the Liar

    (These are all the one's he's tried so far)

    This was done using the patched DeCSS enabled xine, version 0.3.6, I believe. This player is available from:

    http://gape.ist.utl.pt/ment00/linuxdvd.html

    I *cough*, I mean he, had to set the DVD drive to region one before Xine would work, using a little prog called rpcmgr11.c, commonly found on the net (just google for it, compile it, read its instructions and set your DVD region code to 1). This worked for both a Toshiba SD-M1401 DVD-ROM and one of those Pioneer slot loading ones, think its called the "305S" or something like that.

    I've got at least one DVD, Sting's Brand New Day album, that is not CSS enocded. (Maybe the evil between the MPAA and RIAA cancel each other out :), as its beyond me why this DVD isn't CSSed.)

    Sure is neat to be able to watch movies you own on your own Linux box.
    ---