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MLB Fans Who Bought DRM Videos Get Hosed
Billosaur writes "Major League Baseball has just strengthened the case against DRM. If you downloaded videos of baseball games from MLB.com before 2006, apparently they no longer work and you are out of luck. MLB.com, sometime during 2006, changed their DRM system. Result: game videos purchased before that time will now no longer work, as the previous DRM system is no longer supported. When the video is played, apparently the MLB.com servers are contacted and a license obtained to verify the authenticity of the video; this is done by a web link. That link no longer exists, and so now the videos will no longer play, even though the MLB FAQ says that a license is only obtained once and will not need to be re-obtained. The blogger who is reporting this contacted MLB technical support, only to be told there are no refunds due to this problem."
The blogger who is reporting this contacted MLB technical support, only to be told there are no refunds due to this problem
I smell a class action coming along..
"....there are no refunds due to this problem.""
It's your problem, not ours.
Excuse me while I enjoy my NHL feed on YouTube :)
I Like Pie...
I don't think DRM is going to go away until a lot more people get burned by it in this way. Most people don't understand or care, once something like this rears up and bites them in the ass, the outrage machine will start. Thank you, MLB, for being the obnoxious, monopoly-driven organization we've all come to love to hate.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
This is one more reason not to pay money to watch grown men sweat a lot and scratch themselves. A few more of things like this and I am going to just give it up completely.
In a highly litigious culture, about a sport which borders on an obsession, about access perceived as a right...?
I predict the big winners in this one will be the lawyers....
How can you classify speculation as a fact?
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to talk about this without the express written consent of Major League Baseball.
duh, this is slashdot. wild speculation of those that clothe themselves in tinfoil is taken as the gospel truth, no questions asked.
turn up the jukebox and tell me a lie
Yeah BUT...
If it was 20 CHILDREN then my god something must be done! WHAT about the children?!?!
Depends whether anyone saved a copy of the EULA they signed when they downloaded the videos.
If it favours MLB they'll find a copy. But if it doesn't, it would be quite easy for them to say "We've lost all copies of that EULA but our policy back then was to put in a 1-year time limit" and given the small numbers involved, probably no-one will be able to prove otherwise. I think I'll get in the habit of saving a copy before clicking on "I Agree" from now on.
Is Betteridge's Law of Headlines Correct?
I don't want any product hardware, software, or DRM media that must phone home for permission to work. Too much a risk that the company will go out of business, or decide maintaining the service is no longer profitable.
If this story is true, I think a class action lawsuit is in order...
Think Deeply.
It's MLB.
The videos already wouldn't play if it was Cold. Or Raining. Or Night. Or Outside.
MLB should release unlocking software for the old DRM scheme, even if all the software does is apply the new scheme instead. DRM doesn't have to mean that the files you purchase suddenly become useless, if the company actually takes responsibility for it and fixes it. It's ethically their responsibility to rectify any damage their actions do to other people's property. But there's probably some clause saying that the people don't actually own the video, and are thus under no obligation to ensure the playability of the file. What's worse is that people aren't technically allowed to do it themselves, thanks to the DMCA. I think, however, that MLB is going to learn the meaning of the old saying: "those who aren't permitted to do, sue".
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
Fixed the headline for you.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Same thing that happened to people who bought into Microsoft's "Plays for Sure" system and then bought a Zune?
Ooops... I found it hilarious that the first company to break compatibility with a system called "Plays for Sure" was the company that created the system... (Note that I said break it, companies which never implemented it in the first place don't count.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Apparently, according to this study, not as much as if it were just ONE child:
In another study, Paul Slovic, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon, found that people were more sympathetic to a single starving child than they were to two children facing the same plight.
"We cannot wrap our minds around two people as well as around one," said Mr. Slovic.
He said "fact", can't you read? This is the internet, when someone says "fact" it has to be.
For reference, see "obviously".
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Unfortunately, most people don't realise what DRM is or why it's bad...
They believe the marketing hype, designed to make people think it's a good thing. The people need to be educated about the dangers of DRM, and stories like this are good examples. People won't believe you without hard evidence, they're more likely to believe mass market propaganda.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
and the idiot who tagged it as such needs to read some history. This is BAD DRM, and sucks, and the people responsible are idiots and should be sued. but to equate not being able to watch sports videos with fascism is just immature bullshit that makes you look foolish. Don't cry wolf.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
The change was made sometime during 2006, and its now October 2007, and people are only noticing this!?
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
DRM - Digital Rights Management.
It's about THEIR rights, not yours.
This happened before. And it will happen as long as people buy cripplified content. ANY content that requires you to contact its maker before it plays has the chance to follow this road. No contact, no content.
This will happen again, I'm sure. Whenever some media company goes out of biz, whenever some media company decides that they can make more money by disabling everything they already sold, this will strike again. And more people will get pissed.
Unfortunately at the company that did it, not DRM itself. But given time, people will learn. People are used to "buying" content. They're used to buying a DVD and being able to play it 'til the earth stops turning. Changing this model will not go without resistance. It will take a while for the masses to notice that seemingly minor difference, but they will.
Unfortunately that takes time. Whether it takes too long we'll see. It will sooner or later fall back on them, though. People will stop buying content, fearing that it will some day stop to "work".
So what I started to do was to do some spinning myself. Whenever some friend of mine tries to buy something DRMified, I remind him of the time when whatever DRM crippled content backfired on him. Yes, it's another company, but it also got DRM, it just MIGHT do the same, ya know... Yes, it's a lie. Still, for some odd reason my conscience gives me an A-OK for it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
To make you pay over and over again for the same content? Do you really think that when you lose your MP3 player with the songs locked to the hardware, that you WON'T have to buy those songs all over again? Do you really think that when you buy a new PC, you'll be able to use the licensed software that ran on the old PC? Face it, if it's got DRM, you didn't buy it -- you're just renting it!
Don't give copyright protection to publications that use copy protection. DRM -> PD. Let publishers (and their markets) decide which mutually-exclusive way to go.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Call 866-800-1275 just to be a pain in the ass. I don't even watch baseball, but I called it to protest their treatment of customers. The guy was nice to me, and admitted they have a big problem, they will try to fix.
Well, since iTunes doesn't verify you have rights to the songs with Apple's servers every time you play them, unlike these MLB clips, nothing would happen.
If your hard drive got corrupted and you had to reinstall everything, you aren't allowed to redownload the lost files. Just like if your house burns down the record companies don't have to replace your crispy CDs.
Didn't one of the fair use exemptions passed down by the Registrar of Copyrights involve DRM that was no longer supported?
Or am I totally misremembering?
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Expecting the population in general to understand the tech behind DRM is really not a fair expectation. How many non-technical people (or even technical but non-computer related) do you know that actually properly understand the concepts of domain, subdomain, top-level domain, web server, smtp/pop/imap servers and how they relate to each other? How many people do you know actually know that a "web server" isn't an alien machine but just a plain old computer, possibly assembled from more expensive parts and in a different type of case?
Now, how much do you think the average MLB video buyer knows about DRM and how it works? How much should he have to know? How much did MLB publicize the fact that you need them to give you a permission on a view-by-view basis?
Usually, to use a DVD without encountering DRM issues, you just need to know the region code on your player, and check the tag on the DVD against that code. The DVD's region encoding is usually quite visible near the credits on the backside of the box. Assuming you know about region codes, this is quite simple and hassle free (though you're still in for a shock if you're not aware of this, go into a different region and buy a DVD only to not be able to read it at home). When I see that the videos on MLB.com have copy protection, why can't I assume that it'll be approximately as hassle free as a DVD?
They said no refunds would be given
and Comcast said no lawsuits. Guess what the courts said about that.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
I'll order MLB Extra Innings instead,
So you take a company being noticed for screwing their customers, and you are looking for ways to give them more money. And people wonder why corporations think they can do anything they want without repercussions.
Learn to love Alaska
Claiming that an EULA is not a legal document sounds somewhat hypocritical.
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
After the judge sides with the plaintiff, he'll take a printout of the sentence "any rebroadcast, reproduction, or other use of the pictures and accounts of this game without the express written consent of Major League Baseball is prohibited" and shove it up Bud Selig's ass.
It will happen when the plaintiff is shown the credit card bill where the defendant explicitly sold the right for reproduction (Playback at a later time) to the plaintiff. The right was revoked without due cause or compensation. The judge can rightly view this as theft of privilages purchased by the plaintiff.
Make no mistake, it will happen and not just in your dreams.
The truth shall set you free!
But your comparison is a little off. Is someone sold me a book with a fishy modem and a giant electronic lock strapped to it.
Quack, quack.
Yes, there's a plugin for Firefox.
There's also Moonlight, the Open Source Silverlight implementation working with M$ support.
No, I don't like Microsoft either, but after working a little with Flash, and seeing their license fees for doing anything interesting with it, I heartily welcome the competition. (Something like 98% of Web users have Flash installed... According to Adobe).
I'm a dreamer, the world is my playpen. But hey, I'm a serious person, I can't dream all the time.
If that's so, I'm one of those 20. Granted, it was only two games (total cost: just under $8 USD), but it shows the system is fucked beyond reproach.
This is the beauty of the system and the Internet. As people find out what doesn't work, they quit buying it. From your comment "it shows the system is fucked beyond reproach." shows me you are not going to be a repeat consumer. Between online rent-a-song for the Plays for Sure music to retractable email, to Vista Activation, the fact is DRM is killing sales of content as more get the fact the system is broken.
DRM, Activaction, and cost are the main reasons I left Vista upgrades out of my future plans. I have moved to Open Source. As such, DRM is now an incompatible format. I can't use DRM, so I don't buy it. Amazon got it. Apple is just now waking up to the fact.
DRM protects content. DRM kills sales. Some loss due to piracy is an issue. DRM is the answer. Some loss of sales is due to DRM. When that is a bigger problem than piracy, DRM starts to go away. It happened on floppys and came back on CDs. Items with high incidence of copyright violations is the only items with DRM on CDs. Most software CD's except Games and high cost MS products and some high priced music and movies (High Def formats) are free of DRM. Most all my purchased software CDs are DRM free.
The truth shall set you free!
MythTV, man.. MythTV... I have a triple tuner DVB-S setup and have recorded the NHL games of interest to me this season. I archive everything to DVD when its done recording. ... Maybe something you should look into!
...and as an employee can honestly tell you that this latest DRM snafu is just that, a snafu. When the old DDS system has been taken offline, many people within the company predicted that this would happen, but this project has slipped due to technical difficulties. I for one feel really badly about how we're basically screwing the fans out of their money. As much as this is sad, however, I'd like to ask everyone to bear with us and let us work out a solution to this issue. We're not doing this on purpose, and a solution will be found.
I hope at least some of you would believe me, even though I have to post anonymously. I'm really just another geek working for a big corporation, trying to make ends meet.
Use FairUse4WM to remove the DRM. Problem solved.