Or better yet, why don't the services require a return deposit of the amount they sent to the bank account, else they issue a chargeback and don't allow you to access your login on their site?
Here's my take on TV shows on any downloadable, pay medium. When it comes to television shows that are available on broadcast airwaves (like ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, not like HBO, SpikeTV or those), then you should not be required to pay for the content. You can put up an antenna for free and get the shows, therefore downloading them should in no way be seen as illegal. This hasn't come up in court (that I am aware of), but with my understanding of broadcast law, I see no way you could get into trouble for it. So, with iTunes charging $2 a show, which is all well and good, I will continue to download torrents of my shows for free. It's just another form of time/space shifting of the freely available content. Quality of the download vs. broadcast isn't even a point of contention, especially given HDTV broadcast signals.
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Or better yet, why don't the services require a return deposit of the amount they sent to the bank account, else they issue a chargeback and don't allow you to access your login on their site?
Here's my take on TV shows on any downloadable, pay medium. When it comes to television shows that are available on broadcast airwaves (like ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, not like HBO, SpikeTV or those), then you should not be required to pay for the content. You can put up an antenna for free and get the shows, therefore downloading them should in no way be seen as illegal. This hasn't come up in court (that I am aware of), but with my understanding of broadcast law, I see no way you could get into trouble for it. So, with iTunes charging $2 a show, which is all well and good, I will continue to download torrents of my shows for free. It's just another form of time/space shifting of the freely available content. Quality of the download vs. broadcast isn't even a point of contention, especially given HDTV broadcast signals.