3RA1N1AC
04-22-2005, 06:08 PM
for a company called ClearPlay, at least.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/20/BUG3BCBHEI19.DTL
yeah. strange but true, they've passed something called The Family Entertainment And Copyright Act Of 2005 which increases the maximum criminal penalties for videotaping movies in cinemas & sharing pre-release copies of music/movies, but also grants a private Utah-based company called ClearPlay the right to turn a profit by selling subscriptions to their service which censors dvds on-the-fly and essentially creates a temporary pirate version of copyrighted material.
this is substantially different from the television V-chip and traditional dvd-player censoring options, as those block out entire movies & shows rather than editing them. it's different from seeing edited versions on tv, as these versions are either provided by the copyright owners or created with permission of the copyright owners. it's even different from buying a dvd and making a censored backup for your own enjoyment, because you wouldn't be doing that for financial profit. but that's really what Congress is allowing ClearPlay to do: sell edits of material which they do not hold copyrights or licenses on, without the advice or permission of the copyright owners, and without paying any royalties for the sale of these edits.
they're putting the screws to internet filesharing once again (okay, actually that part is business-as-usual... stiffer jail sentences, so what else is new?), yet at the very same time they're punch a gaping hole through copyright law in order to accomadate some morality/decency nuts from Utah. ironic and sad, but not entirely surprising either?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/20/BUG3BCBHEI19.DTL
yeah. strange but true, they've passed something called The Family Entertainment And Copyright Act Of 2005 which increases the maximum criminal penalties for videotaping movies in cinemas & sharing pre-release copies of music/movies, but also grants a private Utah-based company called ClearPlay the right to turn a profit by selling subscriptions to their service which censors dvds on-the-fly and essentially creates a temporary pirate version of copyrighted material.
this is substantially different from the television V-chip and traditional dvd-player censoring options, as those block out entire movies & shows rather than editing them. it's different from seeing edited versions on tv, as these versions are either provided by the copyright owners or created with permission of the copyright owners. it's even different from buying a dvd and making a censored backup for your own enjoyment, because you wouldn't be doing that for financial profit. but that's really what Congress is allowing ClearPlay to do: sell edits of material which they do not hold copyrights or licenses on, without the advice or permission of the copyright owners, and without paying any royalties for the sale of these edits.
they're putting the screws to internet filesharing once again (okay, actually that part is business-as-usual... stiffer jail sentences, so what else is new?), yet at the very same time they're punch a gaping hole through copyright law in order to accomadate some morality/decency nuts from Utah. ironic and sad, but not entirely surprising either?