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IBM Files DVD Spam Patent Application

Posted by Zonk on from the truly-value-added-content dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Mark Wilson of Gizmodo.com reports that IBM is applying for a patent for DVDs that contain or download 'on demand' commercials that cannot be skipped. Consumers would be able to purchase these DVDs at a lower price than regular DVDs and pay extra to enjoy their purchase ad-free without having to buy a second DVD. Perhaps this is part of the massive shift in advertising that IBM predicts."

6 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Spam? by somersault · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yep, not so much spam as mafia tactics. If you dont pay up, we send round the boys. The advertising boys.

    --
    which is totally what she said
  2. Wow that's great by mrjb · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow, I can't wait to get a defective-by-design DVD player that supports this.

    --
    Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
  3. Opportunity for profit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    1 - find out what address these ads are served from.
    2 - set up a server of your own, serving 0.5 seconds of not-advertising insterad of all the crappy ads the manufacturer intended.
    3 - Use hosts file or simlar cleverness to redirect DVDs to the fake server.
    4 - ????
    5 - PROFIT!!!

  4. DVD players with guns by Emperor+Tiberius · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder how long it will be before home entertainment products come with weaponry to coerce you into viewing advertisements...

  5. Recursive Advertising by Attila+the+Bun · · Score: 2, Funny

    Shortly after the system goes online, it will start downloading adverts for more advert-infested DVDs. Disks will start multiplying exponentially, the world will plunge behind an event horizon, and the universe will be sucked into a supermassive black-hole of infinite advertising.

    Much the same kind of thing happened when they started printing adverts for breakfast cereal on packets of breakfast cereal.

  6. Re:Where do I sign up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I don't think he was talking about those movie theaters...