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fongaboo's picture
The Contentious Consumer


Submitted by fongaboo on Fri, 12/15/2006 - 2:40pm.

This came up a week or two ago.. But it's been in the back of my mind and just got me thinking.

The MPAA wants to put a tariff of sorts on individuals' home theatre systems. MPAA head Dan Glickman offered a nice summation and a chuckle when he said, "Just because you buy a DVD to watch at home doesn't give you the right to invite friends over to watch it too. That's a violation of copyright and denies us the revenue that would be generated from DVD sales to your friends. Ideally we expect each viewer to have their own copy of the DVD, but we realize that isn't always feasible. The registration fee is a fair compromise."

It got me wondering about some further specifics about the registration fee.. Such as:

  • I am blind in one eye. Do I only have to pay 50% of the standard fee?
  • Do pets count? Or should they also buy individual copies of a DVD?
  • If every time I hold a getogether where we view a motion picture, I take a picture of all of my guests each holding an individual copy of the DVD we are viewing, can I be exempted?
  • Since he is implying that my guests are using a recording device (ie. their eyeballs and ears) and my home theatre is, in effect, therefore a file-sharing system.. since my guests' brains could be considered a data storage device, would they further have to pay royalties anytime they accessed the memory of the movie?
  • Can we still watch it on weeeeeed???
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    Hello

    Submitted by scottycrawford on Sun, 06/29/2008 - 6:26pm.

    Thanks for sharing!

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    koyaan's picture

    I am your eye in the sky...

    Submitted by koyaan on Thu, 01/11/2007 - 2:24pm.

    Don't worry Fong, all of your questions to the hilarious Mr. Glickman will be useless once we all have mandated RFID's installed under our skin. It will be broadcasting your ID# to the digital eye in your living room that is connected to a database which has all of your personal information, including your FBI and CIA files.

    They'll probably also be able to tell if you're watching it on weeeeed, and if so you will be promptly arrested and sentenced to execution. Someone will probably capture your execution on their cell phone, like they did with Saddam's. But there's no need to worry...

    ...In the future, the makers of your video/audio capture device will automatically DRM all of your homemade content. You will then have to purchase a license from the manufacturer of your cell phone in order to view it and use it.

    Oh wait, did I say "in the future"? If you're using Sony's MiniDisc recorder to capture your event, you're already screwed.

    Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.

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    Mechangel's picture

    Oh the possib...

    Submitted by Mechangel on Mon, 01/08/2007 - 7:50pm.

    Im gonna go to a theater, and videotape Spiderman 3, then project it onto the side of the Egg.

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    So this means that because I

    Submitted by debsey on Sun, 12/24/2006 - 12:08pm.

    So this means that because I have a 27 inch tv and a comfy couch, loveseat and chair and no surround sound that I can purchase a dvd and have a "screening" party where no one else owns the dvd but because I do not have over a 29 inch tv and no surround sound this is ok with Mr. Jiminy Glickman? Do I understand correctly? how about people who have cable and they have people over to watch say "the sopranos" but the people coming over don't have HBO is the cable company going to jump on the bandwagon and put an eye on the digital box that can see how many people are over watching and find out if indeed they have HBO or if they are stealing it while watching at someone elses house? Where does it end? If this passes i'm moving to CANADA!

    ooooooh Canada.

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    gravybt's picture

    So this means that because I

    Submitted by gravybt on Sun, 12/24/2006 - 1:55pm.

    So this means that because I have a 27 inch tv and a comfy couch, loveseat and chair and no surround sound that I can purchase a dvd and have a "screening" party where no one else owns the dvd but because I do not have over a 29 inch tv and no surround sound this is ok with Mr. Jiminy Glickman?

    only if it's PORNO@!#$!$!!!!

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    insomniac's picture

    "It got me wondering about"

    Submitted by insomniac on Sat, 12/16/2006 - 5:39am.

    So, does this mean I can't be a voyeur & watch my neighbors with binoculars? I mean, afterall, they might be watching a movie & that would technically be "stealing". And we all know that "stealing" is wrong.

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