Percy writes:
quote:
But how is that any different than going to the library, finding a recipe in a cookbook, making a copy of that recipe using one of the copiers in the library provided for the express purpose of making copies of pages from library materials, then enjoying that recipe for the rest of your life.
Because it goes to the question of "fair use." Copying a small part of something for personal use is one thing. Copying
everything is another. From the US Copyright office:
107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
Note item 3. You can't glom the whole thing. I think we can all agree that when a reviewer reviews a book, there is no problem with providing quotes from that book. They serve to justify that claims made in the review about the text.
However, it would be an obvious violation of copyright to include the entire manuscript at the end. No, you cannot claim that you were trying to give complete context. Copying the whole thing is very different from copying only the relevant sections needed.
quote:
If I check a CD out of the library, rip it onto my computer, then listen to it every so often for the rest of my life, this is okay? It doesn't *feel* okay to me.
The only way to be sure is to talk to a lawyer, but I don't think it is.
quote:
As I was thinking about this I recalled that commercial radio pays for the music they play, and I pay by listening to the commercials, but as far as TV goes I've already been a scofflaw for several years because I have TiVo and almost never watch commercials.
My understanding is that this isn't illegal because the TiVo requires you to actually go through the commercials, even though they are at a high speed. This makes TiVo nothing more than a solid-state VCR and it has already been established that private users are allowed to record television shows and are not required to watch the commercials. After all, even without a recording device, there is nothing preventing you from physically getting up and leaving during the commercials.
Compare this to the previous version of ReplayTV where it actually skipped the commercials and did so automatically. You may notice that there is often a gap between where the show ends and the commercials begin. The software inside the ReplayTV could detect these gaps and jump forward to the next one. At most, you might see half a second of the first commercial and half a second of the last one.
Of course, Sonic Blue was sued instantly. Unlike TiVo where even if you were fast-forwarding through the commercials, you at least were forced to have some of the images in them presented to you, ReplayTV cut them out completely...and all without you lifting a finger. Other than the little hiccups, you'd never know there was a commercial in the program.
ReplayTV settled and in the latest version, that feature has been removed. Now, you have to manually press a button on the remote to skip the commercial. Plus, they don't call it "Commercial Skip" anymore but rather "Show|Nav." Instead, it's a feature to help you get through to a specific segment in the show. If you're a regular Leno viewer, then you know that the band is usually in the last segment. If you want to skip to the band, rather than having to press Fast Forward and waiting until you get there, all you have to do is press the navigation buttons and you'll skip ahead to the next segment. Never mind that the segment markers seem to happen at the commercial breaks. You're not skipping the commercials...no! You're skipping through the whole show to get to the segement where the band is!
quote:
And I hear that some radio manufacturers are considering putting TiVo style functionality into their automobile decks
I have been so spoiled by DVR that I want the Instant Replay feature
everywhere...in radios; at the movies...you know you're a DVR junkie when you automatically press the remote to back up during a conversation with a live person.
quote:
This will be a great boon for me, as I usually only realize they've given weather forecast just after they've said, "And that's the weather for today, back to you."
What I'm waiting for is the centralization of all this so that consumers don't need a DVR except for stuff they really want to keep. That is, cable systems have the ability to do VOD these days...why not keep all the programs of the entire channel listing from the past two weeks? Missed the latest episode of
Frontline? Forgot to program the recorder? Just go to your cable system's page and play it from there.
It'll probably never happen due to the storage and bandwidth issues since it would mean that a huge number of customers would not be watching anything live. But, I can dream, can't I?
Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!
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