Oliver Wong wrote:
"Mark Kent" <mark.kent@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:r87mt3-5v3.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
begin oe_protect.scr
Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
QTFairUse6 Updated Hours After iTunes7 Release
,----[ Quote ]
| "Mere hours after iTunes 7's release, QTFairUse6 has received an
update
| which enables it to continue stripping iTunes songs of their
'FairPlay'
| DRM. Some features are experimental but at least it's proof that the
| concept still works."
`----
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/13/1354252&from=rss
It's clear that people loathe DRM, no matter how secretly you shove
it in
their faces.
One of the first slash postings raises an issue I've thought about many
times, which is that if something's been broadcast, you missed it,
wanted to watch it, so take a copy from online or from a friend, how can
you have done anything wrong? Timeshifting is accepted usage, and this
is merely timeshifting. It's an interesting conundrum, isn't it?
Depends on your definition of "wrong". There's legal wrongdoing and
ethical wrongdoing, and the two don't always coincide.
As an example of when timeshifting might be ethically wrong: Your
best friend occasionally does private broadcasts of a show (perhaps
where he rates books he's read). You ask him for a login to his private
server, so that you can view his show as well. He agrees, but on one
condition: He asks that you please, please, PLEASE, do not timeshift his
shows. When asked why, he says it's for religious reasons (he's quite an
eccentric friend). So you agree, and he gives you a password and login,
and you timeshift it anyway. In this specific scenario, I'd say what you
did was ethically wrong. Now replace "Your best friend" with "HBO" or
some other major broadcast network. Even if you *LEGALLY* have the right
to timeshift (under fair use doctrines, or whatever), does that mean you
are ethically right too? If so, what changed between HBO and your
friend? Just that HBO is rich? What if your eccentric friend happened to
be a multibillionaire?
The difference is that you made an agreement with your friend and then
went back on it. HBO cannot legally require you not to timeshift, so
you haven't made the same agreement with them.
I'm still not decided whether downloading HBO (or other networks) shows
is morally right or wrong, but I know that your scenario is comparing
apples and wingnuts. :)
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