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The RIAA's Halloween Tricks
deus42 writes "BoingBoing has an interesting article about a joint RIAA/MPAA move started yesterday on Capitol Hill. From the article: 'Hollywood has fielded a shockingly ambitious piece of Analog Hole legislation while everyone was out partying in costume. Under a new proposed Analog Hole bill, it will be illegal to make anything capable of digitizing video unless it either has all its outputs approved by the Hollywood studios, or is closed-source, proprietary and tamper-resistant. The idea is to make it impossible to create an MPEG from a video signal unless Hollywood approves it.'"
I agree with parent - what a load of crap from the RIAA. Video is becoming more and more mainstream, with the average consumer having access via traditional video camera's, webcams, and even phone's. And if I buy the recording device and shoot the video footage, don't I "own" it anyway. Heck, does this mean that I can't do my halloween webcam next year unless I have "permission" from the RIAA?
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
Here's a link to the EFF's Broadcast Flag work.
Here's a PDF link to [then] Circuit Judge Edwards' decision in ALA v. FCC.
blarg.
Everything will eventually go digital, and once no one is manufacturing analog equipment (VCRs) anymore, there won't be any more VCR's (or anything that does the same thing). Say goodbye to your capture card, too, or be prepared to PAY everytime you want to record something on your ATI All-In-Wonder.
From my standpoint, they couldn't possibly poison the well any further. The day I give them any cash so they can use it to buy my representatives is the day Satan's snowplow crews start making money.
I honestly wonder what historians will think of this time period, say, one hundred years from now. Think of how we view the Western European Dark Ages, where education slowed to a halt, an organization managed to secure society and manipulate it at will, while those in the East jumped leaps and bounds ahead of them. Gosh, sounds vaguely familiar....
Ahh yes, the good 'ol "How History Repeats Itself" thing. Yup, I agree. We should learn from our mistakes yet we are told time and time again how this is so much better!
I went to see Good Night and Good Luck which was supposed to reiterate the importance of learning from history. I mentioned that I went to see it to my father. His response to me was: "Son, I lived through that fucking horseshit. I hated that reporter. Why would I want to relive all that shit again?"
Obviously my response fell upon deaf ears. *That* is why history continues to repeat itself. People are just UNWILLING to accept that they are wrong.
Note the title of the grandparent's post.
A Modest Proposal For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public: a satirical phamphlet written by Johnathan Swift in which the author (a persona, not Swift) advocates solving poverty by eating babies of poor people.
I'll leave it to you to figure out the grandparent's analogy (although I'm not sure it's quite what the grandparent really intended).
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
i have mod points, but i couldn't find the option for "Depressing".
i speak for myself and those who like what i say.
I heard a great analogy today. Software is like a vehicle. Software should be able to be modified just like buying a Harley and modifying it like West Coast Choppers does. As long as all the parties get paid, the Harley dealer, the suppliers of the mods, etc., then no one can stop it as long as it's not illegal.
Same with movies. If I owned a film copy of a movie, there is nothing that could stop me from splicing it together to make funny edits, have someone talking to themselves, flipping the picture backwards, etc.
Yet the *IAA want to prevent you from doing just exactly that. They want to force you to watch the commercials during broadcasts, and not do anything whatsoever with their material that they don't approve.
Freedom of expression - art made of books for instance - gives Americans the rights to do just exactly these things. In fact, we have the right to go taket the Harley, modify it, and sell it at a profit if we wish. CDs and DVDs come with printing on them that they may not be re-sold for any reason now. Not only can we not utilize a CD in art, we can't edit it to a new form and re-sell it with the same profit rules that we apply to any other physical property. How exactly is this fair?
Contact your local congressmen and senators. This is insidious and gives new meaning to underhanded tactics.