Fast Forwarding to be Banned

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

hahaha

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19801

DVD fast forwarding to be banned

Land of the Free

By Nick Farrell: Monday 22 November 2004, 07:09
Tyan Tomcat i7221 Server board
THE US CONGRESS is considering making fast forwarding through video advertisements a crime.

Lawmakers in the land of the free have decided that it is costing their chums in the movie industry far too much money and want video fast-forwarders placed in the same league as pirates.

According to NBC news the new law allows families to use new DVD technology self censor explicit scenes of sex and violence but forbids them to edit out advertisements.

Consumer advocacy group, Public Knowledge is fighting the bill saying that it is ever American's right not to watch advertisements if they don't want. It claims that the movie industry is leaning on its tame senators to prevent the loss of revenue.

However the Motion Picture Association has been fighting hard to prevent people using the latest DVD technology to allow users to skip the advertisements.

It added that it supports other parts of the act, "particularly those provisions that will help combat the theft of motion pictures". If you can see how the two things are connected we would love to know how.

[Pete C]

Wow, that was news to me. I found this:

Fast Forward to jail


p2pnet.net News:- "Do you like fast-forwarding through commercials on a television program you’ve recorded? How much do you like it? Enough to go to jail if you’re caught doing it? If a new copyright and intellectual property omnibus bill sitting on Congress’s desk passes, that may be the choice you'll face."

The above is the intro to Eric Hellweg's article in the MIT Technology Review, and it goes on:

"How can this be possible? Because language that makes fast-forwarding through commercials illegal - no doubt inserted at the behest of lobbyists for the advertising industry - was inserted into a bill that would allow people to fast forward past objectionable sections of a recorded movie (and I bet you already thought that was OK). And that’s but one, albeit scary, scenario that may come to pass if the Intellectual Property Protection Act is enacted into law. Deliberations on this legislation will be one of the tasks for the lame-duck Congress that commenced this week."

But it's not just advertisers. It's Hollywood. And it'll try to ram this One-Stop 'anti-pirate' act through congress.

What's it all about? Public Knowledge has eight components, and among them are:

H.R. 4077 Piracy Deterrence in Education
Establishes "offering for distribution" as basis for criminal copyright violation and "making available" for civil violation, regardless of whether there is any distribution or copying, let alone infringement. While traditional infringement employs a higher, "willful" infringement standard, this new cause of action lowers the standard of infringement to "knowing with reckless disregard." Passed the House Sept. 28, 2004 on voice vote.


S. 2237 The Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation (PIRATE) Act
... would authorize the Justice Dept. to file civil actions against copyright infringers. We believe that is an inappropriate use of federal funds to enforce private rights of action. Passed Senate June 25, 2004 under unanimous consent. Passed the Senate June 25, 2004.


S. 1932 The Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2004 (ART Act)
... would make the unauthorized use of a video camera in a movie theater to transmit or make a copy of a copyrighted work into an imprisonable offense. Fair use protections guaranteed under copyright law would not apply. Text was folded into H.R. 4077. Passed the Senate June 25, 2004.


H.R. 4586 The Family Movie Act
The provisions were included in H.R. 4077 as passed by the House. The original House version of this bill provided an affirmative right for those who used technology to skip objectionable material, such as profanity, violence, or other adult material, in the audio / video works that they legally purchased. This is a right that most believe manufacturers of technology and consumers already have - regardless of H.R. 4077. The entertainment community has hijacked this provision and turned it against consumers and the tech community. Now, the affirmative right to watch and skip parts of the content that a consumer has legally obtained only exists if certain conditions are met: no commercial or promotional ads may be skipped. Additionally, technology manufacturers must provide a notice at the beginning each showing stating that 'the motion picture is altered from the performance intended by the director or copyright holder of the motion picture.' This sets the functionality of the everyday VCR and TiVo on its head.

http://p2pnet.net/story/3068

[walto]

Why stop there? How about also having the mute button cause electric shocks?

[Underhound]

No flipping past those magazine ads either.

[graypencil]

pretty soon, possession of a Tivo will get you the death penalty!

Bushland uber alles!!

[Noj]

How does stupidity like this actually get discussed by our legislators? I'll fast forward whatever I damn well feel like skipping.

[Gary Sisco]

I stopped going to movie theaters (after having cut way back because of the mad ticket prices) when they began running advertisements. I was like, what. Now I have to pay to watch advertisments. Not.

[mke]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

I stopped going to movie theaters (after having cut way back because of the mad ticket prices) when they began running advertisements. I was like, what. Now I have to pay to watch advertisments. Not.

I've always seen ads at the movies and never thought much of it (although you're probably right. I also think there shouldn't be ads on state-owned TV channels, which is the case for the BBC, but not for the French and Belgian equivalents). What I object to is having to pay 0.30 euro to go to the toilet, after having paid 6-7 euros per ticket to get in, then X euros more on food and drink...

[Uli]

Originally Posted by mke

I've always seen ads at the movies

Me too and I am older than the both of you. Must have been a European thingy.

The tiolet fee is new for me though.

[mke]

Originally Posted by Uli

The tiolet fee is new for me though.

It might be a Belgian thing, I don't remember it happening in Geneva (where they still have intermissions!).

[tippy]

Thing is, I'll never get those 20 minutes back. They should have to pay me. To be fair, I would like to get World Weekly News' take on this though.

[Gary Sisco]

I never saw advertisements at a movie theater until the 90s. (Discounting advertisements for future movies, of course, in the form of trailers.) I remember being extremely annoyed the first time.

They make movies I want to see so rarely today that it doesn't matter anyway. I can wait for the video. Those I *can* fast forward, if I want to. We haven't caved on buying a DVD player yet, but I will never own one if I can't fast forward through the bullshit.

I love The Sopranos, for instance, but I absolutely cannot stand the theme song, whatever it is, so I always fast forward through the entire intro until Tony gets out the car in his driveway. If I'd had to listen to that song, I'd have never made it through the first video from season one.

And if I had my life to live over, knowing what I know today, I'd have been a gangster.

[graypencil]

Originally Posted by mke

What I object to is having to pay 0.30 euro to go to the toilet, after having paid 6-7 euros per ticket to get in, then X euros more on food and drink...

Uhhh ..this may a bit gross, but ..

it *IS* dark in the cinema, is it not ??

one could just whip it out and save 0.30 euros ..

[Gary Sisco]

!

[GoodSpeak]

Fast Forwarding to be Banned

Whew!

For a minute there I thought there was "fast forward" to ban people from this BBS.



Just dangling modifiers here...carry on.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by GoodSpeak

Just dangling modifiers here...

And you do it very well, I might add.

[GoodSpeak]

Right.

After spliting the infinitives, Pete was not convincing.

[john williams]

Originally Posted by walto

Why stop there? How about also having the mute button cause electric shocks?

...or a stiff jail term for those who channel surf to avoid ads, with a direct link from your TV to a new billion dollar high tech crime centre to stamp out these menaces to society. How dare people think they have free choice in their viewing habits.



Luckily DVDs don't have ads on them as yet; at least here in region 4 land.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by GoodSpeak

After spliting the infinitives, Pete was not convincing.

I only splite my infinitives when I'm feeling spliteful.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by JBW

...or a stiff jail term for those who channel surf to avoid ads, with a direct link from your TV to a new billion dollar high tech crime centre to stamp out these menaces to society.

Hey, don't joke, I did a two-year stretch at Sing Sing for removing the tag from a mattress.

[jaka]

Originally Posted by JBW

Luckily DVDs don't have ads on them as yet; at least here in region 4 land.

Wait a little.
I came across several DVDs that have several dvd/movie trailers starting automatically when putting the disc in the player (not as an extra or something).
Some allow you to bypass and go directly to main menu, some won't.
I hate that.
Sure it remains movie-related but is annoying nevertheless.
Hope it doesn't become a standard.

[Gary Sisco]

What ever happened to owning things when you buy them? Next thing you know they'll fingerprint you before you can start your car, and fix it up so you can't sell the fucking thing again.

Can't copy this. Can't fast forward that. Self-destructing DVDs.

I'm telling you, they'll meter your oxygen intake one of these days and charge you for that.

[Gordon B]

Originally Posted by graypencil

pretty soon, possession of a Tivo will get you the death penalty!

Bushland uber alles!!

The President has nothing to do with it.

[Gary Sisco]

Weirdly, consumption under capitalism is becoming a form of rent, not buying in the sense of owning the thing bought. (Eg, self-destructing DVDs.)

[sonic1]

What? By the title I thought this was a thread about Scott Dolan...

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Unrelatedly I bought a VHS player a week ago (DVD renting in Hackney isn't pretty - we have to commute to get anywhere decent). Glad I did now.

[mke]

Originally Posted by graypencil

Uhhh ..this may a bit gross, but ..

it *IS* dark in the cinema, is it not ??

one could just whip it out and save 0.30 euros ..

Well, I thought it was a good idea that would save me money and allow me not to miss any of the movie.

It turned out to be not such a good idea and I'm now writing to you from jail.

Thanks, GP!

[Gary Sisco]

Yeah, turns out people can smell in the dark.

[jesus marion joseph]

Back when I used to go to see movies at the theaters, I was at one of the Indiana Jones movies with some friends, all of whom were half in the bag. About halfway through the movie I had to pee, and I thought it would be brilliant if I used my empty popcirn container instead of going to the bathroom and missing several minutes of the flick. So, I waited until a very loud action scene and let 'er rip. Unfortunately, the action scene ended before I was done, and there was a very loud and obvious "falling water against cardboard" sound coming from my vicinity. Very embarassing, although my frielnds were entertained.

[mke]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Yeah, turns out people can smell in the dark.

And I probably should have waited for a night-time scene.