Fast Forwarding thru commercials? Go Directly to Jail!

[Bob Hubbard]

[font=arial,helvetica]From SlashDot.org
Senate May Rush Copyright Legislation[/font]
Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday November 16, @12:08PM
from the lick-a-stamp dept.
iman1003 writes "According to an article on Wired, the Senate may soon pass a bill labeled HR2391, a bill which lumps many other copyright bills. If passed the bill would "would criminally punish a person who 'infringes a copyright by ... offering for distribution to the public by electronic means, with reckless disregard of the risk of further infringement.'" In addition the bill would "permit people to use technology to skip objectionable content -- like a gory or sexually explicit scene -- in films, a right that consumers already have. However, under the proposed law, skipping any commercials or promotional announcements would be prohibited." The bill would also punish people "who bring a video camera into a movie theater to make a copy of the film for distribution" with up to three years imprisonment and fines. If any of this worries you please contact your Senators and Representatives and voice your concern."

 

[Adept]

[font=arial,helvetica][/font]However, under the proposed law, skipping any commercials or promotional announcements would be prohibited." The bill would also punish people "who bring a video camera into a movie theater to make a copy of the film for distribution" with up to three years imprisonment and fines.

Dear god. I'd like to say 'only in America', but chances are we'll see someone tout something equally as stupid down here beore too long.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

At least 1 studeo exec is on record saying that skipping the commercials is a violation of the consumers inplied contract with the networks.

 

[OUMoose]

In a similar vein:

Coming soon to the standalone TiVo OS: when you hit fast forward to skip past commercials, small banner ads will show up on your screen. You'll be able to click them to get more info, see an informercial, or send your home address details to get more info about a product mailed to you.

PVRBlog

So, I buy a TiVo so I can skip the commericals, but yet it will have commericials when I press Fast Forward? Ummm... duh? Could someone explain how this is good?

 

[bignick]

read about the TiVo thing this morning...

They just creep me out, how much information about you they keep track of

 

[Rich Parsons]

I wonder what the real issue is? When there is really wierd stuff like this, it is usually to address something else.

As to commercials and not fast forwarding, if I cannot then there is no reason to by a VCR or other recording device, such as the new DVD player and recorder that records hours of programs.

I just wish they would pass a law to get all of them to transmit on teh same volume so no matter what channel, commercial or show is on, it is the same volume. Not everyone has those new TV's with the absolute volume control and or remotes to control volume.

:asian:

 

[punisher73]

I could be wrong, but I don't think it is aimed at fast forwarding commercials when you record a TV program or rent a video at the store.

There was a case awhile back when Titanic first came out about a local video store that was editing the movie to remove the nudity and the scene with the bodies floating in the water after the ship sunk. The got in trouble for editing the movie which the company says was their product and they didn't want it altered.


But, if it's not aimed at something like this than it is really bizarre. Especially, since they sell (at least used to) VCR's that skip commercials while you record a show.

 

[Phoenix44]

Re skipping commercials: Since I personally don't have a contract with the advertisers, I'll skip what I want to thanks. I find it hard to believe that this is the intent anyway, because, imagine: Will I go to jail for throwing out the blow-in cards in magazines, or ignoring the classifieds in my newspapers?

Re copyright infringement: My partner is a musician, and he's done a fair amount of writing, some of which is copyrighted. I think an artist deserves to be paid for "intellectual property." It takes time, effort, money, and talent. (Interestingly, he doesn't feel very strongly about it himself) Copyright infringement is already illegal.

My daughter thinks that if the industry charged less for music and movies in the first place, and produced better albums and movies, people wouldn't feel the need to copy it! Go figure.