We all know that the MPAA hates fair use and have gone to great lengths to block consumers access to media that they legally own through industry tainted legislation.

The MPAA, RIAA and the member organisations are confident through time and attrition that the will be able to remove forever Fair Use Rights of media from those that legally own it.

Studios have strong armed and cried like babies to congressional representatives year after year. While at the same time dumping millions into campaign funds and PACS to help manipulate and buy legislative action, with the goal of removing all Fair Use rights that people of this country have.

Personally I am pretty sick of it, and because the MPAA and RIAA have yet to have free speech abolished. I can continue to point out what I consider to be ongoing strong arming and outright deception being portrayed in the halls of congressional 

The MPAA and their financial supporters portray themselves as victims of technology. Yet they see record profits and continue to pay artist pennies on the dollar for their creative work.

We all know their days are numbered and I hope that artist stand up against this evil machine and take publishing and distribution to the people in a way that all of us can support.

TechDirt today has a reprint of a letter sent to the head of a large studio that outlays some of the deception that is being put forth to those in Congress and also points out what the MPAA has done to stifle technological innovation.

In my opinion I am sure that the MPAA thinks that the majority of consumers of their content are Liars, Thieves, Cheats and do nothing but steal and share their content.

I applaud leaders like Gary Shapiro the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association for using his position to call to task the heads and make the public aware of their true agendas. TechDirt.com

It seems that the very thing that may get an ex HP CEO thrown in Prison is the very thing that the MPAA wanted to be assured would not be banned in legislation in California. I find it very disturbing that the MPAA would need to use the highly controversial practice of pretending to be someone else in order to obtain personal information.

Wired broke this story and if the following two paragraphs don’t make you site up and say what’s going on nothing will in response to the bill they objected to.

“The bill won approval in three committees and sailed through the state Senate with a 30-0 vote. Then, according to Lenny Goldberg, a lobbyist for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the measure encountered unexpected, last-minute resistance from the Motion Picture Association of America.

“The MPAA has a tremendous amount of clout and they told legislators, ‘We need to pose as someone other than who we are to stop illegal downloading,’” Goldberg said.”

In my personal opinion their needs to be a federal investigation into exactly how the MPAA is posing as someone other than who they are. If the above statement is above board then like the HP CEO that may be headed to prison maybe some MPAA executives need to be indicted as well. [Wired]

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A TiVo Series Three Receiver was on my shopping list for this Christmas season. I have been watching the reviews of the unit and the new C|Net review of the Series III that I saw today makes me wonder if I should take the unit off my wish list.

We all have learned to hate DRM, and we all hate devices that are overzealous in enforcing DRM. It seems TiVo has got DRM fever and is running scared from the studio’s. Additionally I am not real happy with devices that make you revert to old school techniques to archive programming. Check out these two depressing quotes from the review.

“the only way to archive your TiVo Series3 recordings is the old-fashioned way: dump them to a video recorder in real time.”

“Once again, though, overzealous copy protection has taken something simple and turned it into a Sisyphean ordeal. All we wanted to do was watch TV, and connect our gear with a minimum of cables and wires. Thanks to DRM, that simple task becomes more difficult all the time.”

Once you read the linked review and determin where they had specific hardware connectivity issues you may be inclined as I am to not to move forward with a purchase of this unit. I have said it once and I will say it again because it is worth repeating. The manufactures and their willingness to roll over on consumers will be the ultimate demise of fair use. They will wait till our legacy systems wear out and then kill functionality with new products.

It is obvious that DRM is halting innovation and the ability to re-utilize media that is legally yours to record and enjoy. [Cnet.com]

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The EFF has posted some great questions that you can ask if you ever get in debate with a representative from either the MPAA or RIAA. [eff.org]

Is it not time that Apple, Microsoft, MPAA and the RIAA acknowledge that BitTorrent is good when applied legally, and incorporate BitTorrent into applications such as iTunes, Windows Media Player etc. The only way we are gonna keep the train moving forward with a rocket engine driving the new media growth in videocast, and podcasting is to give some relief to those in the trenches creating this content by incorporating BitTorrent into there applications to reduce cost as the audience grows.

The inking of several deals to distribute movies legally has taken place. Thus the industry needs to pony up to the bar and get aboard the content delivery train and make sure that as new media replaces old that you are wisely positioned to have helped continue to broker that content delivery.

It makes me irritated though that the folks who have created Juice and other applications did not step up and go the extra distance to make BitTorrent transfers in those applications seamless so that the user did not have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. [CNET]

In a cross-talk interview done by the BBC resulted in a some good dialog from the knight in shining honor at the EFF and the evil empire leader at the MPAA [BBC]

As you all know the MPAA sued Torrentspy.com some time ago but it is being alleged that the MPAA paid a hacker $15,000 to steal information from the company which supposedly included e-mail and company trade secrets. If these allegations prove to be true this could turn out to be a pretty big deal of corporate espionage of the worst kind. Collecting information then using that information to sue the company. I am not a lawyer but it looks like to me that if this proves to be true that the MPAA will have some explaining to do and may be in some pretty hot wire.

A attorney for torrentspy.com said: “We have very significant proof of wrongdoing and the MPAA’s involvement,” Rothken said. “We think it’s ironic for the MPAA to claim that they are protecting the rights of the movie studios and then go out and pirate other people’s property.”

From Cnet: “One MPAA executive is quoted in Torrentspy’s lawsuit as saying: “We don’t care how you get it,” referring to the alleged assignment to dig up information on Torrentspy. ”

Either way this is gonna get very ugly in the process. [CNET]

TorrentSpy a torrent search engine who is in takedown war with the MPAA is not laying down, they are fighting back and I think they have a pretty good chance of getting the case dismissed. TorrentSpy is nothing more than a Torrent Search engine. They don’t create torrents they only track them. If you read the motion you will understand that they have some legal precedence on this one and are likening themselves to Google.

The recent Supreme Court decision handed down on Grokster may end up being their deciding factor depending on how the judge interperts the higher court ruling. The MPAA has been getting sites taken down with their broad interpertation of that same ruling. We shall see where this leads but it is a good battle. [Neowin]

Cablevision Systems is set to unveil a test that will allow consumers to time shift TV programming with their regular set top boxes. Instead of having a DVR in the home, you will now be able to use the Cable Companies infrastructure as your DVR. According to the linked article all of the functions you normally have now with your DVR can be duplicated at the head end. This is a interesting development and could be the basis of the ultimate paradigm in that we could go to content on demand for everything we watch.

“The technology for what Cablevision calls its “remote storage digital video recorder” (RS-DVR) “is here today, and in Cablevision’s case, we can use it to put DVR functionality in more than 2 million digital cable homes instantaneously, without ever rolling a truck or swapping out a set-top box,” COO Tom Rutledge says in a statement.”

If they don’t get sued by the networks this could potentially be a win for those of us concerned about Fair Use. [USA Today]

These Senators that are on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in large part do not get it.They had a lot of wool pulled over the eyes today. I am sure the Motion Picture Industry is happy that their lobbyist and campaign contribution dollars are getting a lot of bang for the buck.

I am so sick and tired of having to deal with legislation that is focused on restricting what you can do with media that you pay for. Fair Use to the movie industry is making you pay for the same media multiple times. The American public is on the verge of having multiple pieces of legislation moved on that will forever change the way you are able to view, record and save media. FOREVER!

Act now! [ArsTechnica]

I normally do not talk politics in this blog, but I have to call my Senator to the table. I have received a number of e-mails tonight from Hawaii residents all saying that they saw the Senator on C-Span supporting this horrendous legislation.

He is obviously out of touch with what is happening in the Technology Sector it is obvious that his age is affecting his better judgment, definitely time for him to go to pasture and let someone younger and more up to speed on these types of issues. The Senator has obviously spent to much time in Washington and is no longer in touch with the general population. If you are a Hawaii Resident, you need to call the Senator and tell him you are opposed to the Broadcast Flag legislation.

Please call the Senators Office and tell them you oppose the Broadcast Flag Legislation 202-224-3934 his Fax number is 202-224-6747

In the second most hypocritical thing I have seen in recent weeks the MPAA has admitted to copyright violation by copying movies. This is the same organization that wants you thrown in jail for creating a backup copy of media that you have purchased. Absolute HYPOCRITES I think they should sue themselves and then have to publicly tell how much money they are going to give back to the director.

Congress better realize that even the MPAA cannot operate fairly with all of the crazy rules in place. As I said in my Podcast last night you better pay attention to what these fools are trying to get your congressional representatives to push through as a new law that will remove all of your fair use rights. [Arstechnica]

Don’t believe that their are all kinds of sinister acts happening now. Well you need to wake the heck up and listen to some of the stuff I have been talking about. If the following two articles don’t make you sit up and get very angry then I will ask you to comment on why not. Read and pay close attention to what is being attempted. [ArsTechnica] [EFF]

This will be a topic for tonights podcast where I am going to have a few things to say!

Many of you may have already heard that the movie the “Bubble” was released on DVD the same day it was made available to Movie Theaters and and some of the theaters are refusing to run the movie and are crying like children who have spilled their milk.

Guess what get used to it! I applaud Magic Pictures for doing it, here is why. I am a dad, I have 4 kids and they love to go to the movies. Have you loaded the kids up with the Wife drove to the movies and then instead of pulling a $20.00 bill out of your pocket to pay for the entrance fee you have to break your credit card out and pay $42.00 to $50.00 for the experience of being entertained in a theater.

Guess what lets take that $50.00 ticket minus $19.95 for the DVD price that leaves me with $30.00 multiple that by 17 which is the number of movies we went to last year $510.00 which if you multiply by three years you end up with enough money to pay for a pretty decent flat screen TV. I already have a surround sound system and I have popcorn in the cabinet that cost .99 cents and all the beer, softdrinks and nice sofa to cozy up to the wife too.

For me I would be a idiot to go to the theater with the kids. Sure it’s fun to take the wife off to “R” movie of a huge blockbuster that is best seen on a big screen but for the kids and their movies they like. The $19.95 DVD or Netflix makes the money in my wallet go a lot farther.

There only chance to survive is to give me a DVD when I pay for my $50.00 worth of tickets so I can at least get a little more bang for my buck when I go to the movies. [Mark Cuban]

Do I sense a war brewing. Their are going to be a lot of pissed of people if they cannot download the last episode of lost or a syndicated television show. Think about this for a second, when I was living overseas the television selections was horrendous, you had this pathetic star network and a bunch of third rate crap stations. TV was horrible. My time overseas also broke me of my habit of watching to much TV because the majority of it was terrible. But for those that are living as expats the ability to get cool shows via BitTorrent is awesome. Now I understand the studios have a issue with this and I understand that they don’t want people sharing movies. So here is a idea.

The studios need to realize their audience is global and unless all of the people on the globe can go to new movies or pay for them online when they are released the horns come out and people go and download the shows and movies so they can see it instead of having to wait 6 months to year before something is released in their home country. News travels the globe in microseconds not weeks and people are dialed in to what is happening on a global scale. If the MPAA and the studios would figure this out instead of using their old techniques old media distribution which encourages people to download the content on the net. [The Register]

I hate to say it but here we go again. Hollywood has fielded some new legislation that makes the broadcast flag initiative look insignificant. From BoingBoing I read the following and my jaw hit the floor

“Under a new proposed Analog Hole bill, it will be illegal to make anything capable of digitizing video unless it either has all its outputs approved by the Hollywood studios, or is closed-source, proprietary and tamper-resistant. The idea is to make it impossible to create an MPEG from a video signal unless Hollywood approves it. ”

The details of what the want are beyond shocking they are Anti American, Anti Business, Anti Technology and all about control. The MPAA wants to control you, what you watch, what you record and what you backup in such a controlled way that the American public will likely have to spend billions of dollars to access and copy materials they have already paid for.

I agree with the BoingBoing article that any legislature that moves on this is an idiot. Only a lawyer firms who are getting paid millions by the MPAA could have thought up this monster. [BoingBoing]

There is a catch to that question. What if you paid that $17.00 and then several days later received the DVD of the movie you just watched. Personally I don’t think the model will work and here is why. Usually the only DVD’s I buy is if I have already watched a movie and thought it so good that I wanted to add it to my movie collection. I do not go out and buy a DVD off the shelf without having seen the movie already.

But I may be persuaded to buy the DVD if the price was much lower, having a family living in Hawaii, and dealing with $3.55 a gallon gasoline we have to smart in our expenditures. So when I buy a DVD I usually end up digging around in the Walmart clearance crate for DVD’s that have been marked down to $5.00 lets be realistic if people stopped buying DVD’s at these ridiculous prices we could force the industry to lower the price and guess what more of us would buy DVD’s. [www.videobusiness.com]

Missed recording some shows on your DVR don’t worry head over to Rent my DVR. People are asking some of the obvious copyright questions but apparently the site has been up for a while and people are able to put request in. [www.rentmydvr.com] [Commentary on the Website]

The EFF has a update on the Broadcast Flag battle, and for those of you that reacted from the posting on this website, Thank You. [EFF]

I support the EFF with a yearly donation, and encourage those of that understand the importance of fair use to do the same.

You know I am a very vocal proponent of Fair Use, but because organizations like the MPAA and RIAA have their lawyers hiding in alleyways waiting to slap and injunction on every citizen of this country that does not use the media we buy from stores exactly how they tell us to. I am at the point were I just will not support those industries that stifle fair use.

But it is nice to hear that even the corporate executives are banging their heads against the wall when it comes to trying to stay in compliance with that ugly four letter abbreviation known as the DMCA.

How many times have you broken the law according to the DMCA today. [Darknet]