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TiVo to Fair Use: Drop Dead!
Posted by Ernest Miller on Wednesday, April 24 @ 07:54:28 EDT Copyright
Newsforge has a review of the latest version of TiVo, the TiVo Series|2 (Review: TiVo Series|2 Personal Video Recorder). TiVo, for those who have been living under a rock, is the most prominent of the new Personal Media Recorders, which are revolutionizing television. The ultimate impact of these devices cannot be underestimated. In any case, the review is positive, especially the new capability of TiVo to connect to a home network for updates instead of a phone line.

The review also has a short interview with TiVo Inc.'s leading evangelist, Richard "TiVolutionary" Bullwinkle, which is not nearly as positive ...

Unfortunately, Bullwinkle makes it clear that TiVo doesn't support consumer's fair use rights.

Which brings up an interesting point: What is TiVo's view on hacks with the goal of extracting the video from the TiVo?
Richard: Well, it really comes down to use, legally, but because there is no honor system we have to discourage it intensely. When I say discourage, I mean we have to write code that makes it as difficult as we can. We are very aware that there is no hacker-proof system, but we try to make it very difficult.
Apparently, TiVo believes that its most enthusiastic consumers are criminals and thieves. If I am a pirate, why would I use a TiVo? A TV tuner card would be a much more cost effective means of capturing and sharing video. Slashdot readers comment on a recent review (ATi's New All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500 128MB). If people are hacking TiVo to extract video, they aren't doing it to increase piracy, they are doing it for some other reason, such as integration with a home network. TiVo should be thanking these hackers for their creativity and for the solutions they create (which will inform TiVo's home networking efforts). Bullwinkle continues:
Richard: Conceivably TiVo will provide technology that will allow users to share video within their home, but not allow it to be sent outside the home. We believe that the fair-use aspects of video extraction are very compelling, but we must protect the content providers and protect ourselves from lawsuit with respect to the DMCA.
The DMCA has nothing to do with this. There is no element of the DMCA that would mandate TiVo's position. Even Hollywood's reading of the Act wouldn't prohibit TiVo from permitting video extraction. In any case, why is fair use limited to inside the home? In TiVo's view then, recording "South Park" on a videotape and taking it to a friend's house for mutual enjoyment should not be protected. Little Suzy recording a minute or so of a show for a school report wouldn't be permitted to do it.

This must be an important point for TiVo, since it is the last substantive comment that Bullwinkle makes:

Richard: Series|2 TiVos will talk to each other one day, for sure. We will be very careful about protecting the copyrights of others, however. Sharing would only be allowed within a home.
ZDNet runs a review of the the ReplayTV 4000 (ReplayTV 4000: It's not ready for prime time). The reviewers make some justified comments about the difficulties of using ReplayTV, difficulties that are not unusual for first generation consumer technology. First generation in this sense: The interesting thing about ReplayTV 4000 is that it is the first Personal Media Recorder that includes broadband connectivity, including the ability to send recorded TV shows to another ReplayTV. This capability, of course, has gotten SONICblue, the parent company, sued (Press Release: SONICblue Begins Shipping ReplayTV 4000 to Consumers Undeterred by Lawsuit Filed by Major Television Networks, Studios). The problem with the review is that the writers don't get the concept of Fair Use:
Initially we thought it would be great to be able to, say, ask a friend to send last week's "West Wing" if you happened to miss it. But that ignores one basic fact: The whole point of having a DVR in the first place is that you'll never miss "West Wing," or any other show you like, making this feature largely unnecessary. Unless, that is, you're interested in swapping movies and pay-per-view events, which is why SonicBlue is in court right now over its video-sharing functionality.
Apparently, the reviewers have never been told about a show they don't watch. What about the possibility that one friend might mention a new show that the other friend hasn't recorded? Sure, the second friend could start watching the new episodes. They could even wait a few months and catch a rerun of the shows they missed. However, why not send the earlier episodes, friend-to-friend? I've come across shows about some subject of interest to one of my friends (such as a report on a new treatment for a particular disease), and then called them to alert them. If my friend wasn't available, I could record the show for them and send it via Internet. Moreover, if you are interested in swapping movies and pay-per-view events, why not simply use existing VCRs? Just goes to show that the imagination of those in the technology industry can be as limited as the imaginations in Hollywood.
 
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Related Links
· Newsforge
· TiVo
· TiVo Series|2
· Review: TiVo Series|2 Personal Video Recorder
· Richard "TiVolutionary" Bullwinkle
· Slashdot
· ATi's New All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500 128MB
· South Park
· ZDNet
· ReplayTV 4000
· ReplayTV 4000: It's not ready for prime time
· SONICblue
· Press Release: SONICblue Begins Shipping ReplayTV 4000 to Consumers Undeterred by Lawsuit Filed by Major Television Networks, Studios
· More about Copyright
· News by Ernest Miller


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"User's Login" | Login/Create an Account | 15 comments
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Re: TiVo to Fair Use: Drop Dead! (Score: 1)
by lister on Friday, April 26 @ 16:22:36 EDT
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Your article states: "Apparently, TiVo believes that its most enthusiastic consumers are criminals and thieves."


How is that in any way apparent? I did not follow the link to read the interview so perhaps the information is there.

This article pulled a few quotes from that link, but NOTHING in those pull quotes justifies yur assertin.

So I stopped reading this article and gave it one star.

Please try next time.


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Re: TiVo to Fair Use: Drop Dead! (Score: 1)
by J on Tuesday, April 30 @ 11:42:37 EDT
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The DMCA has nothing to do with this. There is no element of the DMCA that would mandate TiVo's position. Even Hollywood's reading of the Act wouldn't prohibit TiVo from permitting video extraction.

Well, that's probably true, but the DMCA is not the only relevant copyright law here. Presumably, TiVO's real concern is that they will get popped for vicarious infrigement a la Napster were they to make video extraction easy. If they make it reasonably difficult, they can hide behind the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions and ensure that any liability for infringement remains with the individual who is perfoming the extraction. While I understand this isn't exactly the way the DMCA's supposed to work, it seems to me to be a reasonable way to read the statute and reasonable litigation-avoidance behavior on the part of the TiVO folk. Moreover, by building in copy restrictions that allow for limited copying within the home, they seem to be attempting to provide for fair-use within the rule of the Betamax case, but going no further. While I am quite confident that fair use extends well beyond that benchmark, it's perfectly reasonable for a for-profit corporation to attempt to limit its exposure in this fashion. I think the headline and the original post were a bit histrionic, and wrongfully attached moral culpability to TiVO for what behavior that would appear to be prompted by a reasonable fear of litigation.


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