Jack Valenti: The Exit Interview

thecounterfeit writes "Engadget has an interview with Jack Valenti, the outgoing president of the MPAA and the object of hatred for many hacker after he took he on DVD Jon, who is retiring tomorrow after more than three decades on the job. Engadget could have been a little harder on him when he says stuff like, "When you go to your department store and you buy 10 Cognac glasses and two weeks later you break two of them, the store doesn't give you two backup copies," but it is at least slightly encouraging to hear that he owns a TiVo."

Comments

Let me ask everyone here...

[ScottGant]

First, this is NOT meant as a flame at all. I would just like to know. Who here actually backs up their DVD's or CD's?

I ask this because I do not back up my media. Nor does my family. Nor does anyone in my wife's family. Nor does anyone I work with or even know. NO one I've met in "the real world" has backed up a DVD or CD. Ever! Sure, back when albums and tapes were the big thing I would make a tape of an album...but to listen to in my car really. But then again, they weren't really back-ups as the sound on analog tape was horrible compared to an album.

So I ask you, are there really people out there backing up all their media like this? By the way, I have kids, my wife's family also has many kids. So far, we haven't had anyone get a scratched DVD...not saying that we won't, but I guess we show the kids how to handle DVD's...not that it takes a genius to grasp the concept.

Re:Let me ask everyone here...

[AKnightCowboy]

Who here actually backs up their DVD's or CD's?

I do. When I used to buy CDs I would make a copy of it and keep the original at home. The copy went into a binder in my car. If my car was broken into then all I lose is the copies... and heaven forbid my house should burn down then I can still make copies from the ones in my car and have perfect copies of the originals. I bought a license to listen to the songs, not the physical media. If you believe I bought the physical media then I STILL have the right to make a backup copy of it in case it gets broken. This is codified in law, not just my crazy commie brain.

Re:Let me ask everyone here...

[Zorilla]

While I wouldn't go out of my way to back up DVDs for home use, I would definitely back them up if I wanted to travel with them, leaving the valuable originals at home in case something happens to my bags. Also, being in the military, DVDs and desert winds don't mix...obviously. (Also learned Playstation 2 DVD trays break very easily in the desert. About 2/3 of the units people brought out broke.)

My point is that when you're deployed for 4-12 months, or even a couple years (I'm Air Force, thank goodness), you gotta have some movies to watch to kill time while on a 12 hour shift, but I'm not going to wreck original DVDs doing it.

I babied the CDs I brought with me to the desert. We weren't exactly roughing it, since we had tents with A/C. Even then the CDs came back a little scratched. The DVDs people brought got destroyed, mainly because they were being borrowed from each other.

Re:VCRs

[MarcQuadra]

The funny thing is that cable TV was originally commercial-free, you PAID to not watch advertisements. I remember those days faintly, one of my neighbors had cable and it was quite a hoot at cookouts and block parties.

Somehow cable became so common and people became so passive that cable now has just as much advertising as broadcast, and the quality of the ads and programming is generally lower on cable.

So now we pay the content providers to watch the content, and the advertisers pay them to slip us ads. We even get advertised to when paying the ultimate in high-prices at the theaters. I think that in a decade's time you'll see movies with one or two commercial-filled 'intermissions' under the pretense of letting elderly folks use the potty. Just watch.

Another Quotable from Valenti

[spiffturk]

From the page the parent linked to:

[Valenti]:The average number of cassettes per household -- this is fascinating -- Mrs. Schroeder, was 27.7, 28 cassettes. Now, if you are just time shifting, all you are doing is you are away from home and you are taping something and you come back and you watch the commercial, then you time shift, you don't need 28 cassettes. You need one cassette or at the most two. Why do you have 28? Why? Because of the next line. Seventy-five percent have a permanent collection. My own home, we do it in our on home. I know about that. Anybody that has a VCR, talk to them, and I ask you to use your own commonsense, Mr. Chairman, Mrs. Schroeder, Mr. Railsback, just think of you as human beings. If you had the power to sit on a playback of a recording and you could wipe out the commercials or not wipe out the commercials, what would you do? You would do exactly what you said, sir. That is terrific. Of course. We all do it.

But when you do it, you strip away the reason for free television. Now, let me --

Mr. KASTENMEIER. Jack, let me ask you. Do you consider yourself and your family infringers when you engage in that practice?

Mr. VALENTI. I consider myself and my family believing what the plaintiffs in this lawsuit said and they said publicly, they have said it to the press, they have said it to the lawyers, they have said it to the courts. They do not intend to file any actions against homeowners now or in the future. I mean, that is obvious and they have said that publicly, Mr. Chairman, so I believe them. As far as I am concerned, I am going to continue taping because the plaintiffs have said they aren't going to do anything to me. I am not committing any crime. They know that.

Mr. KASTENMEIER. That wasn't my question.

Mr. VALENTI. Do I consider myself an infringer?

Mr. KASTENMEIER. When you engage in such practice.

Mr. VALENTI. Yes, sir, I do. I am taking somebody else's copyrighted material without their consent and I know damn well I am infringing. But as far as court action or anything else, I am safe. First, it is not a criminal act. Again, the opposition would tell you video, police, and criminals. They show an astonishing lack of the copyright law. They know good and well that that is not a criminal infringement unless you do it for profit. But on the other hand the plaintiffs have said they are moving against anybody in the homes. There is no problem, but 1 know and everybody else knows they are infringing.

Beautiful.

--
Will