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Digital multimedia - technology and legality questions - 9/11/2008 1:59:18 PM
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stateofgrace
Posts: 1952
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I thought about starting this thread after reading through the converter box discussion in the Television area of the forms. It's a two part topic - what technology is out there/what works well...and what legal issues are associated with digital multimedia that will impact our application of this technology as consumers?
My ideal multimedia "box" would be something like an AppleTV with an integrated DVR (and a lot of hard drive space). We're not "there" yet as far as ease of use and flexibility - but things are close, when one considers iTunes/AppleTV, Netflix's box for playing downloaded videos, Hulu and other streaming video sites, Tvio and cable service DVRs, OnDemand, Microsoft's Media Center, Slingbox, etc. What do you want to see in a digital media product? What have you seen or tried so far that has impressed you?
And on the legal side...
I know it's not fair use to make a digital copy of a DVD that you rent, or one you borrow from a friend.
But what about DVDs you own? Is it legal fair use to make a digital copy of them? What other DRM/legal issues will complicate the move into consumer based (truly on-demand) digital multimedia?
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RE: Digital multimedia - technology and legality questions - 9/22/2008 11:34:12 AM
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figmentPez
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Sorry I didn't post earlier. It was on my list of things to do when Ike knocked out my power for nearly a week.
Anyway, about your question:
quote:
But what about DVDs you own? Is it legal fair use to make a digital copy of them? What other DRM/legal issues will complicate the move into consumer based (truly on-demand) digital multimedia?
Here's the sad thing about that. There is a law in the US called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that makes it illegal to break any sort of copy protection for virtually any purpose (including backups of software, I think). There is work on getting exceptions made, but I'm not sure of the status of those amendments, and those focus on lost hardware dongles and companies that went out of business, not any consumer rights issues.
Since almost all commercial DVDs contain some sort of copy protection, the DMCA makes copying (by most means) them illegal, even if that copying would be considered fair use for a CD. For instance, I just bought Justice League Unlimited on DVD, and I want to watch those episodes on my portable media player. To be able to get them converted for use there, just like I've done with my CD collection, I'm going to have to break the law. I will, because it's a poorly written law that's letter does not reflect it's spirit. "Fair Use" needs some serious protection in this country.
An example of just how messed up the DMCA is: I own a CD by the band Switchfoot. The album "Nothing is Sound" was originally released by Sony with copyright protection on the CD. This copy protection illegally installed itself without permission on computers when the disc was inserted, if autorun was enabled in Windows (as it is by default). Let me make it clear Sony broke the law in installing computer software without permission and did so in a particularly nasty fashion (what they installed was nothing less than a near-impossible to remove "rootkit"). What they installed could cause serious problems, including making it more vulnerable to hackers, and disabling any use of the CD/DVD drive if the rootkit was removed in the wrong way.
All these horrible side effects, and telling people that holding the Shift key will temporarily disable autorun, allowing the CD to be inserted without installing this malware, is illegal because of the DMCA. Telling people how to stop this CD from performing illegal acts is illegal because it's telling people how to bypass copy protection. Actually, having autorun disabled at all when you insert this CD is illegal, because it bypasses copy protection. I disable autorun on my computer because it's annoying. If I hadn't heard the buzz online about this CD (which I didn't purchase until after the copy protection was supposed to be removed, I got an old copy somehow anyway) I would have broken the law without even realizing it. Simply by putting the CD in my computer and ripping it with my preferred program.
Let me be clear that I'm not just assuming that such simple bypassing of copy protection is illegal. Switchfoot was threatened with legal action by Sony because Switchfoot had information on their forums to help users rip their music to MP3 and other formats. I'm pretty sure that Sony backed down under consumer pressure, but that doesn't change that a band who wanted their own music to be heard by their fans, were breaking the law by telling them to hold down the Shift key.
It is because the DMCA is such a horribly written law that I have no qualms about breaking it. Just as it has been considered "fair use" to copy music into other formats for portability, so it should be considered "fair use" to convert video into other formats for portability. I legally purchased these DVDs and I plan to watch them on whatever device I find convenient, just like I do with my music. I don't share my copies online. I don't give copies to friends. I'm am opposed to piracy, but in favor of consumer rights.
_____________________________
I make this challenge to all Christians:
Read Daniel 7:13-14
And tell me: Who do you say that the Son of Man is?
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RE: Digital multimedia - technology and legality questions - 9/23/2008 9:26:04 AM
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gigigirrl
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Well we are finishing the basement - when we bought it was just framed. One of my parts of the project is planning the multimedia center. I am planning a system that will have dvr capablities - it will ultimately be a computer/media center/dvr/gaming system. And it will be home built. That is the only way we could afford to do it...
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RE: Digital multimedia - technology and legality questions - 9/23/2008 11:52:27 AM
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stateofgrace
Posts: 1952
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figmentPez - those are good points.
Another issue that I am finding is this - there are videos/movies that I would gladly purchase if they were available via US-released DVD or even digital format. And they're not. Right now a lot of anime is in this situation, because there's been a slump in US sales, and several US distributors have either significantly slowed down licensing and releasing titles, or even gone out of business.
Attempt to buy an imported DVD and it may not run on your equipment (unless you have region-free equipment). I'm not even sure that buying an imported DVD is legal, either. And, if one is not careful about where you are purchasing, that imported DVD may be bootleg.
And of course fansubs (fan-subtitled digital files of recent Japanese-aired series, available without cost) are technically illegal as well. They've been tolerated (if not legal) for years but in the last two years, distributors have been really cracking down. It was first just those titles that had been licensed (licensed but not even yet released) in the US. Now there have been attempts to halt shows that are yet to be licensed in the US (and may never be).
The move is towards international distribution, and doing that digitally. It's in the early stages now. Some series will be subtitled by the original producer (a very cheap process that will give them at least sales to hard-core anime fans in the US), and the titles that may have a bigger US audience will get the full dubbed-in-English treatment.
So, it's a problem that will resolve itself in time...for the time being, though, it's a legal quandary, especially with less and less anime getting released in the US.
Angela...
I'm impressed. What are you going to do for DVR capabilities? Are you going to use something out of the box like TVIO (or something provided by cable or satellite provider), or are you going to use Microsoft Media Center, or a Linux-based product, or what?
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America Needs Revival. Will you commit to pray for it?
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RE: Digital multimedia - technology and legality questions - 9/24/2008 11:46:54 AM
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stateofgrace
Posts: 1952
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Interesting article linked from Slashdot today about Google protesting copyright law.
Here's a quote:
'There's this assumption that what is good for Disney is what's good for America, but that's an oversimplification,' said Jonathan Band, an intellectual property lawyer representing libraries and high-tech companies. 'There's also what's good for Yahoo and Google.'
Even before I saw the talkback comments I was snorting! How's the end user represented in all this? Or is it only "what's good" for these big companies?
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America Needs Revival. Will you commit to pray for it?
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RE: Digital multimedia - technology and legality questions - 9/29/2008 3:43:46 PM
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figmentPez
Posts: 2120
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: TX
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quote:
ORIGINAL: stateofgrace
And of course fansubs (fan-subtitled digital files of recent Japanese-aired series, available without cost) are technically illegal as well.
Not just "technically", outright illegal by international law. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works has been law since the late 1800s, and the United States and Japan are both members. I don't remember the exact details but, among other applicable points, the Right of Translation is one of the specifically addressed points, even back to the original 1871 version of the treaty. The general summation of that right is in Article 8 "Authors of literary and artistic works protected by this Convention shall enjoy the exclusive right of making and of authorizing the translation of their works throughout the term of protection of their rights in the original works."
As much as I like the idea of fansubs, there is very good reason why authors need to have legal control over the translation of their works, and the intention of the law is clear.
If you want to talk "tecnicalities" and this law... Technically, the conversion of an LP to a cassete is a translation, of sorts. As is the translation of a CD to an MP3, or even the translation of the digital bits of a DVD into the analog signal of a television. However, there are further details of the Bern Convention that detail how it's primarily concerned with translation of one human language into another, specifically into the dominant language of a foreign nation. This is why laws need to explain their purpose, and why the DMCA is overly vauge (to the benefit of RIAA and other large and powerful groups, who want to be able to manipulate the law to their own gain.)
_____________________________
I make this challenge to all Christians:
Read Daniel 7:13-14
And tell me: Who do you say that the Son of Man is?
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RE: Digital multimedia - technology and legality questions - 9/29/2008 4:15:17 PM
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stateofgrace
Posts: 1952
Joined: 4/12/2005
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I've found three places to view streaming subbed anime online -
joost.com, hulu.com (only has a few series now), and crunchyroll.com
Joost is the only one that I haven't used, because a plugin is required. The only Mac one available is for intel Macs only (which leaves out my Mac desktop), and I am more wary of plugins and the like on my Vista laptop (although I may eventually try it).
While I was surprised to see fansubbed anime on crunchyroll.com, they seem to be legit. There are some distributors that have signed agreements to use them.
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America Needs Revival. Will you commit to pray for it?
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