The Rants of Issachar
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Pirates of the Canadians
Well I finally found a day relaxing enough to write a blog entry. (And it would be on a subject as boring as copyright wouldn't it...) I keep wanting to write something about what's going on at church these days, but I find it very difficult to write on spiritual subjects in a way that doesn't sound fake even when I'm being genuine.
So for now, I'm just going to write on the fact that video piracy is back in the news. An old bill has been re-introduced in the US Senate that would satellite, digital & internet radio providers to implement measures to prevent recording the signal and the Globe and Mail has a section headline piece in the Weekend Review. (Pirates of the Canadians).
It's always a bit frustrating to read a newspaper article on a subject you actually know about, but I find this one particularly irksome. Frankly, this is a very poor example of journalism, although it's a very good example of selling a third party's lobbying message as your "news". To be fair though, the statement that 50% of cams in the world originate in Canada is interesting.
On the whole though the article is a lobbying piece. What's lacking from the article is any examination of the problem outside of the industry's complaints. Thereis no examination of the unreasonable actions of the industry towards legitimate consumers, and it's difficult to have any sympathy for the movie, television or music industries considering the crap they make me put up with when I try to buy their products.
Copyright issues aside, my time isn't worthless, and I prefer to just pay for the content and not have to deal with the hassle of piracy. Unfortunately, it sometimes seems like piracy is actually easier than buying things legitimately.
1) DVD Region coding. My sister brought Season 2 of ER with her when she came home from Scotland this Christmas. Our DVD player wouldn't play it. Neither would my Windows Media Box. This was a legitimate disc and we couldn't play it.
Of course that's not to say that we didn't play it. (See FairUse Wizard). So the "piracy" tools give me the ability to play legitimate DVD's and the industry preferred equipment does not. Brilliant.
2) DRM-Flags. Recording television is entirely reasonable. I will not organize my life around the TV guide, and the VCR has been around for most of my life. So I record most of my TV and watch it later. Unfortunately, the TV industry would prefer I couldn't record anything. So when I tried to record Smallville, my Media Centre refused to record it and gave me this message.
It's happened before, but I have yet to receive any response from Shaw asking for more information about it. I'm not holding my breath... The issue I have with DRM flags is that they're not enforcing copyright law. They're enforcing what the industry wishes the law was. I really wish I had a MythTV box instead.
Update: 7:48 PM. It happened again. Shaw doesn't want me recording Smallville.
3) Not being able to fast-forward through parts of a DVD. I popped in a DVD this Christmas and not only did the DVD instructions disable all ability to fast-forward or skip the FBI warning, but it did so for the advertising previews as well. It's a minor thing, but I'm find it incredibly annoying. (Not to mention stupid).
So as far as the movie industry's desire that Parliament make recording a cam be made a felony, if it ever comes up I'm going to be asking my MP vote against that idea.
The Canadian Pirate Flag was acquired at GlobeandMail.com. If you are the legal copyright holder of the image and do not wish it to be displayed here, please post your contact information in the comments.
Labels: Copyright, DVD, Globe and Mail, Media, Piracy, Pirate
6 Comments:
Posted by: 
Hi I found your site and find it funny how you blame Shaw for your recording issues on Media Centre when the issue is clearly with the program itself if it had been Shaw why would you insist on wishing you had a Myth TV box? the message in your screennshot is clear the Broadcaster (the TV Network CBS/WGN etc.) and/or the originator of the source which is the Studio.
also why complain about DVD region Coding it was designed and implement for many reason most of all keeping purchasing simple and fair (poorer nations can buy the DVD for less but are rescricted from selling them over seas for profit) for the know how person there are many ways around region encoding of DVD's and its a mute point since its been implemented for the last 10 years.
skipping FBI warning is easy some DVD players allow it always
I have an Upcoverting LG DVD player and I skip FBI and previews all the time. but also think of why they are there (advertisers pay for you to see their product and the FBI warning well think about it for a moment...
you may think copying dvd and the such are legal when in fact they are not at least in the majority of countries around the world. Region coding, no FF or skipping of ads are all methods of keeping dishonest people honest.
it sucks for those who do not wish to infringe or moral rights and have to suffer being forced to follow the rules when we already planned to.
now the cam in the theatre debate
if you fully read the article then you know why its come to this Canada is the worst offender of copywrite infringement.
you also would have read that movie studio are thinking of "punishing canada" by not releasing movies up here for 3-6 weeks after the american release.
this would really suck.
Felony may be a bit harsh for something so trivial but it is more likely to prevent some one from doing it if jail were the punishment
think about it from a business point....you see profits going down down down you investigate and find people are watching the movie for free off the net or worse they took a camera into the theatre and recorded it and are selling DVD's
how would you like it if you poured 6 months or 2-3 years into a product then find out one guy who spent $10 on a ticket is making thousands if not more on your hard work? I know i would not like that one bit.
-Michael P
allofit at gmail d0t com
Hi I found your site and find it funny how you blame Shaw for your recording issues on Media Centre when the issue is clearly with the program itself if it had been Shaw why would you insist on wishing you had a Myth TV box? the message in your screennshot is clear the Broadcaster (the TV Network CBS/WGN etc.) and/or the originator of the source which is the Studio.also why complain about DVD region Coding it was designed and implement for many reason most of all keeping purchasing simple and fair (poorer nations can buy the DVD for less but are rescricted from selling them over seas for profit) for the know how person there are many ways around region encoding of DVD's and its a mute point since its been implemented for the last 10 years.
skipping FBI warning is easy some DVD players allow it always
I have an Upcoverting LG DVD player and I skip FBI and previews all the time. but also think of why they are there (advertisers pay for you to see their product and the FBI warning well think about it for a moment...
you may think copying dvd and the such are legal when in fact they are not at least in the majority of countries around the world. Region coding, no FF or skipping of ads are all methods of keeping dishonest people honest.
it sucks for those who do not wish to infringe or moral rights and have to suffer being forced to follow the rules when we already planned to.
now the cam in the theatre debate
if you fully read the article then you know why its come to this Canada is the worst offender of copywrite infringement.
you also would have read that movie studio are thinking of "punishing canada" by not releasing movies up here for 3-6 weeks after the american release.
this would really suck.
Felony may be a bit harsh for something so trivial but it is more likely to prevent some one from doing it if jail were the punishment
think about it from a business point....you see profits going down down down you investigate and find people are watching the movie for free off the net or worse they took a camera into the theatre and recorded it and are selling DVD's
how would you like it if you poured 6 months or 2-3 years into a product then find out one guy who spent $10 on a ticket is making thousands if not more on your hard work? I know i would not like that one bit.
-Michael P
allofit at gmail d0t com
Posted by: 
Major JohnPunish Canada? Heck, China would have to be NUKED if there is a worry about intellectual property rights...
I never understood the "regional" thing myself - if my version of Windows can check for "legitimacy" of a product...?
As for the producers enforcing what they think the law should be - they will learn that the consumer will always stay ahead of this, or they will simply cease to "consume" if a product is too difficult, unwieldy or none too useful.
Major JohnPunish Canada? Heck, China would have to be NUKED if there is a worry about intellectual property rights...I never understood the "regional" thing myself - if my version of Windows can check for "legitimacy" of a product...?
As for the producers enforcing what they think the law should be - they will learn that the consumer will always stay ahead of this, or they will simply cease to "consume" if a product is too difficult, unwieldy or none too useful.
Posted by: I'm laughing at the flag...very clever! :)
Hope you're doing well,
~ Kat.
ps(I'm making a trial move to wordpress.com to see if it's an improvement on the New Blogger)
I'm laughing at the flag...very clever! :)Hope you're doing well,
~ Kat.
ps(I'm making a trial move to wordpress.com to see if it's an improvement on the New Blogger)
Posted by: Big Brother is watching.
Big Brother is watching.
Posted by: issacharOkay, I'm pretty sure no one is reading this old post now, but I'm going to reply to the earlier comments anyway. (This blog is for me anyway, and I'm not foolish enough to think that the world thinks my posts are that important).
I appreciated Michael P's comment back in January, but I just never got around to responding.
I was going to write a detailed argument against region coding and do not record flags, but instead I'm going to stick with the part of this comment that I think is most wrong.
Region coding, no FF or skipping of ads are all methods of keeping dishonest people honest.
Ouch! What can I say? There just isn't anything dishonest about skipping an ad or watching a DVD I bought outside of the area I bought it. Someone can create an ad, but have no obligation to watch it. Neither does my location have any bearing my right to watch a movie I purchased!
But looking at it from a business perspective as Michael suggests, I still come up with the conclusion that the movie industry is shooting itself in the foot. By creating exhasperating restrictions on their content, they're encouraging the development of tools to bypass ALL of their content restrictions.
Oh, and I will say something about the region coding. Region coding exists to allow for differential pricing, but NOT just to provide discounts in poorer markets. If that's all it is, why do rich countries like Canada, UK, & Japan have different codes? Region coding exists to extract the most possible money from consumers in each market. They can try that if they like, but I don't have to live with it.
issacharOkay, I'm pretty sure no one is reading this old post now, but I'm going to reply to the earlier comments anyway. (This blog is for me anyway, and I'm not foolish enough to think that the world thinks my posts are that important).I appreciated Michael P's comment back in January, but I just never got around to responding.
I was going to write a detailed argument against region coding and do not record flags, but instead I'm going to stick with the part of this comment that I think is most wrong.
Region coding, no FF or skipping of ads are all methods of keeping dishonest people honest.
Ouch! What can I say? There just isn't anything dishonest about skipping an ad or watching a DVD I bought outside of the area I bought it. Someone can create an ad, but have no obligation to watch it. Neither does my location have any bearing my right to watch a movie I purchased!
But looking at it from a business perspective as Michael suggests, I still come up with the conclusion that the movie industry is shooting itself in the foot. By creating exhasperating restrictions on their content, they're encouraging the development of tools to bypass ALL of their content restrictions.
Oh, and I will say something about the region coding. Region coding exists to allow for differential pricing, but NOT just to provide discounts in poorer markets. If that's all it is, why do rich countries like Canada, UK, & Japan have different codes? Region coding exists to extract the most possible money from consumers in each market. They can try that if they like, but I don't have to live with it.
