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TiVo OS Update Adds Content Protection
generic-man writes "According to PVRBlog, TiVo's new operating system update enables content protection flags on a per-show basis. On some programs, notably syndicated shows, a red flag appears to indicate that the copyright holder has requested that TiVo devices not save a program past a certain date and that the program may not be copied to a PC using TiVo to Go. TiVo users were told to expect this style of flag only on pay-per-view and video on demand programming, and as such are upset that TiVo has restricted the capabilities of the receivers they bought and subscribed to use. The TiVo Community boards have some screen shots and firsthand accounts."
There's something wrong about selling a device to do something, and later limiting the ability of the device to do what it was designed to do.
People will continue to plunk down cash for these products and services, because most people don't care about DRM. Even this won't really affect them, why do you think you can buy the Superbowl on DVD, or the World Series on DVD? People shell out $$ for seasons and seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc. So they DRM the shows on your Tivo after a month.. by then people have either wiped it, or bought the damn thing on DVD.
Then there is the minority, who are not media consumers, who remain unaffected by this.
Before the tinfoil hatters come out, and blame the ??AA or the Government, think: when was the last time you watched one of those old Star Trek episodes you taped 15 years ago "in case you ever wanted to watch them again"?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Tivo deliberately built a crippled product: Unless you paid them for a monthly subscription you got no guide data, and that made it unuseable. The monthly subscription is exhorbitant, and the flaw in their business model is that they wanted to sell you the box.
If they had kept the boxes and let you have one as a rental that business model might be valid and the idea that you received some "service" for your monthly fee might have some validity.
But they sold them, and through the crippled nature of their product and the monthly fee they are trying to maintain ownership and control over you and your box, which unfortunately for them they SOLD you.
You can't maintain control over things you sold. If you want to maintain control, don't sell it.
That is now over since they have tipped their hand, first by sending you ads and taking up part of the guide data that YOU ARE PAYING FOR. Now by limiting what you can do with items you have stored in your box, which you own.
I think it's about over for the current Tivo business model.
They should just start being honest, give the boxes out as a rental and then they can control them.
Once sold they lose the ability to control them and I can see the handwriting on the wall, internet accessable guide servers will soon abound and Tivo has no more revenue from people who own those boxes- their current customers.
That is completely fair.
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...if you have no way of knowing what you bought.
The most insidious thing about DRM-enabled devices is their ability to change the deal long after you've made your purchase decision.
No doubt there is a legal fiction that you agreed to some fine print somewhere that says, in effect, "I know I'm buying a pig in a poke."
We need a "truth-in-DRM" law. If there were a conspicuous sticker saying "Warning: this device may not actually record the programs you want to record. There is no way for you to know in advance which programs you can or can't record. The fact that you can record your favorite programs now does not mean you will be able to record them in the future," then purchasers would know what they were buying and the free marker could operate.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
And the phone carriers aren't supposed to have an issue with that?
Since this is the slow class . . .
First. I buy a cellphone. Not rent, lease, or recieve as part of service, but buy. Purchase. Exchange money for. Not a subsidised purchase, an outright sale. Am I clear enough?
Second, my service agreement with the carrier expires, lapses, ceases to be in effect, and I decide to shop around for new service.
Now, I find another carrier with service compatible with the instrument that I own, you know, hold title to, legally possess. I decide to use this new carrier's service with my instrument. Is my old carrier supposed to have an issue with that? Maybe, but I don't care. It's my instrument. If they try to prevent me from using my instrument with another carrier, then perhaps they need to be investigated under the RICO act (in US). Get it? Or do I need to "dumb it down a shade"?
I am not a crackpot.