Court Ruling Shuts Down Australian Cloud TV Recorders

joshgnosis writes "In the wake of an Australian Federal Court ruling last month that free-to-air TV recording app Optus TV Now was infringing on the copyright of some of the country's biggest sports broadcasts, two other services — Beem and MyTVR have also been forced to suspend their services. Beem lashed out at the ruling, telling customers that their rights had been 'diminished' by the judgment and rights owners were 'scared' of cloud-based TV recording services in the same way they once were of VCRs."

Comments

There goes innovation...

[thrill12]

...but I guess this fit's right in the studio's (TV ones...) idea of keeping control of whatever they produce.
There is no real reason cloud recording isn't a perfectly valid, legal way to record stuff where even the owners could benefit. But no, judges intervene based on old laws and politics take a while to catch up and realize it is not 1980 anymore.
Wake up people, the new world is coming, and floating out of the window before you know it.

Re:There goes innovation...

[BSAtHome]

It is called fear and consumption. The way to control; be it media or politics (what is the difference?).

You are only allowed to consume. Consume what we tell you, how we tell you, when we tell you. Or else! The world will come to s standstill and judgement day will be upon us. Do as I tell you when I tell you how I tell you.

this is a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

I have no problem with individuals recording stuff. But the moment business profits from creating infringing copies, fuck 'em.

The "cloud" is not innovation. It is regression and loss of control, all the way to IBM '60s mainframes. Although not intended, government measures which make the cloud less attractive and encourage us to decentralise and retain control of information are doing us a favour.

Re:this is a good thing

[tqk]

The "cloud" is not innovation. It is regression and loss of control, all the way to IBM '60s mainframes. Although not intended, government measures which make the cloud less attractive and encourage us to decentralise and retain control of information are doing us a favour.

I'm no fan of cloud computing, for the same reasons you state, but you're stretching it with this. If you were consistent, you'd say nobody should be able to hire anyone to do anything for you. Make your own music, reno your own kitchen, do your own plumbing, ...

That's just foolish. Infringing copies? It's over the air broadcast. How dare anyone stick their nose into how I deal with an over the air broadcast?!? If I can make a copy of it on a VCR, why can't I save it to a remote hard drive that I rent from someone?

This is just control freaks run amok, and our legal systems are getting mangled in the process by special interest politics.

Stupid

[cpu6502]

Asking a website (example: hulu) to record a show for you is no different than asking your VCR or DVR to record a show for you. In fact it's probably better (for ABC, NBC, etc) because you can't fast-forward through the commercials.

Ah fearing VCRs

[holophrastic]

It would seem that argument is long dead. Looks like they were right to fear VCRs. It may have taken quite a while, but a this point, the VCR certainly did lead to DVR, PVR, and ad skipping in general.

Re:Ah fearing VCRs

[cpu6502]

Yeah but they also led to a huge home-based industry for current and old movies. Just to pick a random studio: MGM made a bundle off sales of VHS tapes of its long-forgotten, rarely-seen 1930s,40s,50s titles. If Hollywood had succeeeded in outlawing VCRs, they'd all be a lot poorer.

Re:Ah fearing VCRs

[idontgno]

If Hollywood had succeeeded in outlawing VCRs, they'd all be a lot poorer.

Nonsense. You don't have the proper perspective.

Outlaw VCRs. Mandate VCPs (Videocassette Players). Sell pre-recorded videos. Never let anyone record anything over-the-air or tape-to-tape.* Profit!

*Yes, this means that the only kind of video recording authorized in the hands of the little people would be home video cameras, and those would be prohibited from any technical capability to record anything except what comes through the lens. And then you have to come up with some way to close the analog loophole of recording a TV screen.