TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Is 'Transitional Fair Use' The Wave Of The Future?

Re: Is 'Transitional Fair Use' The Wave Of The Future?

John Bartley (johnbartley@email.com)
Tue, 14 Dec 2004 12:02:37 -0500

> In article <telecom23.595.5@telecom-digest.org>, Monty Solomon
> <monty@roscom.com> wrote:

>> A middle-level executive at Time Warner has approached several cable
>> companies and broached the idea of restricting the ability of
>> customers who use those company's Digital Video Recorders to record
>> several popular Time Warner TV programs.

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004, in comp.dcom.telecom Barry Margolin
<barmar@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

> Sounds like another good reason to support standalone DVRs, like
> ReplayTV and TiVo, rather than cableco-supplied DVR services.

Sadly, this is not an adequate solution. Unless you record a program
off t o tape, disc or PC media, programs can be deleted through the
capabilities of existing, standalone equipment.

TiVo and ReplayTV have already demonstrated their ability to change
the programming on DVRs without the consent of the user, as has DISH
Network. Unless the user hacks the hardware and its current code to
prevent it, the DVR manufacturer can slipstream the ability to do
exactly what Time Warner wants into a user's DVR.

My Dishplayer just had another new feature pushed to it over the
weekend, without my consent. I've seen other 'upgrades' pushed to
other DVRs, DISH and otherwise, without user consent.

I regret that Mr. Margolin's solution is not adequate to protect
television programming.

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