The problem for the TV Networks' arguments is that music and TV are totally different mediums. With music I can go down the music store and buy a CD of my favourite group. With, TV the only time I can watch my favourite show is when it is broadcast. Of course, many popular TV shows are now on video, but this is usually well after the show is first aired.
Music is something people generally listen to over and over again. A favourite song might be played 100 times by a person. On the other hand, a single episode of favourite TV show will generally only be watched once or twice. Even die hard Star Wars fans have probably only seen the movie a couple of hundred times!
TV has always been free. The networks have an explicit agreement with producers to show advertising. They have no such agreement with TV consumers to actually watch them. If the Networks say this sort of technology will cost them money, well their business model is wrong.
A great site in Oz is the allhomes.com.au website. At the moment it only covers the Canberra region, but it is brilliant.
The site lists every house for sale in Canberra, usually with pictures, plans and detailed population stats (eg, number of people in postcode, number of schools, shops etc, distance to schools, shops etc). The best thing about it, is that you can get the sale price for every house in Canberra over the past 10 years. That way you can tell if the agent is trying to rip you off. In addition, you can view the sale prices of every house on a street to see how the property you are interested in compares.
This site has been so popular that all the real estate agents in Canberra have been forced to list on it. Great for the consumer!
Incidentally, having all the sales histories hasn't reduced prices growth. If anything, it is faster than ever. People now have some actual hard data to base purchase prices on so they know whether they will get their money back over time.
I still think the problem is Outlook. I have first hand experience of a recent evaluation that a large multi-national company did for their next generation email system. Their number one requirment was that Outlook should be the client. They wouldn't event look at anything else!
Once that "requirement" was factored in, can you guess which email platform was chosen? Despite other products being available that provided identical backend functionality, it was the bells and whistles that decided it.
Up until now, the issue about copyright was largely limited to students downloading music and computer geeks wanting to play their DVDs on their PCs. Although it has made the headlines, Mr General Public has probably not been too interested.
However, if Mr Public can't tape the SuperBowl or the re-showing of the last episode of MASH, I reckon there'll be a riot. There is no way that these 'copyright protection' techniques will ever make there way into wide spread use.
I cannot imagine many other countries in the world agreeing to these terms. They only protect the interest of the major American companies. That'll ensure that there are easy work-arounds like there are with DVD players now.
On a slightly different tack, have the studios and networks forgotten about the idea of word of mouth? Thats what makes or breaks a TV show. Shows like the X-Files,which was a pretty off beat show when it started (and arguably still is), would never have flourised without the VCR. Its one of the few shows I ever bother taping and so do my friends. Imagine if you missed an episode, but couldn't tape it because of the new restrictions. I probably would have not bothered watching anymore.
Perhaps the TV and movie directors of the future will have to take this into account in the future. Don't make the plot too complex, otherwise people won't be able to follow it if they miss an episode. That would be sad!
I now declare that I have copyright on my life. No person, company or other entity may take any part of my life and use it for any purpose without my express permission.
"My life" includes, but is not limited to:
My physical appearance.
My personality.
Events that have occurred in my life or will occur in the future.
Any person who I have contact with during the my lifetime.
Anyone found breaking this contract will be prosecuted under the full extents of the law.
I'm sure this is how people feel who have had movies/TV shows made about them without their permisison. There have been a rash of these lately (my mind has gone blank as to the names of these, which I suppose invalidates my whole comment!), where the person involved has sued to get a percentage of revenue. In all cases they didn't get a penny, because their lives are classed as being in the public domain. However, whenever someone tries to imitate a movie/TV show the lawyers come from everywhere, unless the copy is a parody, which, in some cases, is deemed acceptable.
Just another example of where companies have more rights than individuals!
It is interesting that it is mainly the "power-house" economies of UK, France and Germany that are against patents, whilst the smaller and emerging economies are for them.
This seems the opposite to the US where there seems to be a push for protecting IP, even at the expense of consumer benefits and rights.
Maybe its because the smaller economies are worried about losing innovations they make to larger ones. A fair response I suppose. If this is true, it still doesn't explain why the US is acting like a small economy...
Unless voting is made compulsory you cannot claim that you have a democracy. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but I believe its true. Unless everyone is forced to express an opinion then the elected Goverment cannot claim to have a mandate from all the people. They can only claim that the people that bothered to vote gave them a mandate. All too often the people not voting are those most in need of help or assistance from the Government.
With the majority of voters being middle class to rich, they are obviously going to vote for the party that makes them better off, usually at the expense of the marginalised classes in society. A compulsory vote would force the major parties to direct attention at these other voters.
I'm *not* advocating that everyone must choose a party. They should be forced to go to the polling booth. If they elect to put a blank ballot in the box - so be it. Thats a vote to say "No party is good enough". Hopefully, if this "informal" vote is high enough politicians will have to pay attention. Cynics would say it doesn't matter to the politicians. But if they have any credibility it would.
One downside though, in Australia (which has compulsory Federal and State voting) the "informal" vote has been increasing and the politicians keep saying they will make the ballot paper easier to use. I think they are missing the point...
For those that don't know, a couple of months after anouncing a Linux port for OpenMail, HP announced they were moving to Exchange internally. Kinda kills Openmail's credibility doesn't it? BTW, I reckon Openmail is great. We stopped the ILOVEYOU virus in its tracks within minutes of finding out about it. Not so with Exchange I bet...
Slashdot Mirror
It can go off road and has power packs.
Of course, they could just buy a Bushmaster.
Music is something people generally listen to over and over again. A favourite song might be played 100 times by a person. On the other hand, a single episode of favourite TV show will generally only be watched once or twice. Even die hard Star Wars fans have probably only seen the movie a couple of hundred times!
TV has always been free. The networks have an explicit agreement with producers to show advertising. They have no such agreement with TV consumers to actually watch them. If the Networks say this sort of technology will cost them money, well their business model is wrong.
The site lists every house for sale in Canberra, usually with pictures, plans and detailed population stats (eg, number of people in postcode, number of schools, shops etc, distance to schools, shops etc). The best thing about it, is that you can get the sale price for every house in Canberra over the past 10 years. That way you can tell if the agent is trying to rip you off. In addition, you can view the sale prices of every house on a street to see how the property you are interested in compares.
This site has been so popular that all the real estate agents in Canberra have been forced to list on it. Great for the consumer!
Incidentally, having all the sales histories hasn't reduced prices growth. If anything, it is faster than ever. People now have some actual hard data to base purchase prices on so they know whether they will get their money back over time.
I still think the problem is Outlook. I have first hand experience of a recent evaluation that a large multi-national company did for their next generation email system. Their number one requirment was that Outlook should be the client. They wouldn't event look at anything else!
Once that "requirement" was factored in, can you guess which email platform was chosen? Despite other products being available that provided identical backend functionality, it was the bells and whistles that decided it.
pidge
However, if Mr Public can't tape the SuperBowl or the re-showing of the last episode of MASH, I reckon there'll be a riot. There is no way that these 'copyright protection' techniques will ever make there way into wide spread use.
I cannot imagine many other countries in the world agreeing to these terms. They only protect the interest of the major American companies. That'll ensure that there are easy work-arounds like there are with DVD players now.
On a slightly different tack, have the studios and networks forgotten about the idea of word of mouth? Thats what makes or breaks a TV show. Shows like the X-Files,which was a pretty off beat show when it started (and arguably still is), would never have flourised without the VCR. Its one of the few shows I ever bother taping and so do my friends. Imagine if you missed an episode, but couldn't tape it because of the new restrictions. I probably would have not bothered watching anymore.
Perhaps the TV and movie directors of the future will have to take this into account in the future. Don't make the plot too complex, otherwise people won't be able to follow it if they miss an episode. That would be sad!
"My life" includes, but is not limited to:
My physical appearance.
My personality.
Events that have occurred in my life or will occur in the future.
Any person who I have contact with during the my lifetime.
Anyone found breaking this contract will be prosecuted under the full extents of the law.
I'm sure this is how people feel who have had movies/TV shows made about them without their permisison. There have been a rash of these lately (my mind has gone blank as to the names of these, which I suppose invalidates my whole comment!), where the person involved has sued to get a percentage of revenue. In all cases they didn't get a penny, because their lives are classed as being in the public domain. However, whenever someone tries to imitate a movie/TV show the lawyers come from everywhere, unless the copy is a parody, which, in some cases, is deemed acceptable.
Just another example of where companies have more rights than individuals!
This seems the opposite to the US where there seems to be a push for protecting IP, even at the expense of consumer benefits and rights.
Maybe its because the smaller economies are worried about losing innovations they make to larger ones. A fair response I suppose. If this is true, it still doesn't explain why the US is acting like a small economy...
Unless voting is made compulsory you cannot claim that you have a democracy. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but I believe its true. Unless everyone is forced to express an opinion then the elected Goverment cannot claim to have a mandate from all the people. They can only claim that the people that bothered to vote gave them a mandate. All too often the people not voting are those most in need of help or assistance from the Government.
With the majority of voters being middle class to rich, they are obviously going to vote for the party that makes them better off, usually at the expense of the marginalised classes in society. A compulsory vote would force the major parties to direct attention at these other voters.
I'm *not* advocating that everyone must choose a party. They should be forced to go to the polling booth. If they elect to put a blank ballot in the box - so be it. Thats a vote to say "No party is good enough". Hopefully, if this "informal" vote is high enough politicians will have to pay attention. Cynics would say it doesn't matter to the politicians. But if they have any credibility it would.
One downside though, in Australia (which has compulsory Federal and State voting) the "informal" vote has been increasing and the politicians keep saying they will make the ballot paper easier to use. I think they are missing the point...
For those that don't know, a couple of months after anouncing a Linux port for OpenMail, HP announced they were moving to Exchange internally. Kinda kills Openmail's credibility doesn't it? BTW, I reckon Openmail is great. We stopped the ILOVEYOU virus in its tracks within minutes of finding out about it. Not so with Exchange I bet...