Restricting "free TV" downloading...

There is no such thing as a free lunch…

You might well ask the question, if television is free to air, or if you are paying cable or satellite fees, shouldn’t you then be allowed to copy off your set without fear of retribution?

The answer is somewhat fuzzy but I would guess, not really! File sharing on the internet has long been the bane of the music recording industry. After the courts have agreed with the music recording industry and shut down many peer-to-peer sites on the net, it is the turn of television industry to argue “television is free, but not that free”.

Television executives are trying to figure out how to let people know they are breaking the law by downloading television programs to their computers, then making DVD copies. This is considered stealing in the industries eyes.

Because certain programs, i.e., Desperate Housewives and Lost seasons are different from that in America, people in the UK, Europe, Asia and Oceania (Australia), as soon as the last episodes are rolling off their closing credits, people download the new American season episodes off internet file-sharing web sites.

I personally don’t see what the argument is. It is true the $US billion “free” TV industry is supported by advertising. The people that can afford to upgrade their computers, have the gigabyte space required for downloading and can afford the cost of blank DVD’s, no longer have to put up with loud, sometimes crass, crappy advertisements. As technology is refined and redesigned with increased internet speed, this means just about anyone with a little nonce can get high-quality backup files of their favourite programs. Piracy has never been so easy.

All you really need to backup your favourite television programs is a media capture card, a good sound card and the address of a peer-to-peer file sharing website. By the way, you also can now download to your iPod and your mobile phone if you have the right equipment.

At the same time in America, the motion picture industry (MPAA), along with the television industry is flexing their muscles stepping up their efforts in stamping out movie piracy. Seven lawsuits against file-sharing and newsgroup internet sites for allegedly “facilitating illegal swapping of copyrighted files have been lodged with the courts.

A spokesperson for the Director of Worldwide Anti-piracy Operations stated, "Website operators who abuse technology to facilitate infringements of copyrighted works by millions of people are not anonymous. They can and will be stopped."

It would seem all entertainment enterprises are blaming the internet for a large downturn in sales and revenue profit, estimated last fiscal year to be $US5.4 billion.

Of course, when the courts shut down one file-sharing site, another one springs up, sort of like weeds, they are hard to control and get rid of. Kaaza, WinMX, Napster and many others have all been closed but we merrily migrate to others.

I personally never copy anything, movies, music, photos, articles written by someone else. What I do is backup my files. There is no law against protecting your files with a good backup program. Perhaps the entire industry needs to rewrite their restrictions.

We also have those that consider themselves the Batman of society, the civil libertarians, who correctly (first time for everything) argue file-sharing sites have many legitimate uses that should not be overlooked (I am still waiting for a definition on that one!).
As the Melbourne Age newspaper wrote, “Nevertheless, the MPAA said its international campaign had recently notched up some significant victories in Europe with the help of officials in the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. In the last year it said it had shut down 75 Torrent and eDonkey sites around the world.”

Well, whoopee do!

None of my friends, as a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say no one in Australia pirates music anymore, since the Australian music industry has defined various channels for the music loving public of Oz to pay a mere pittance for their little slice of music. (Pardon my sarcasm!)

One must feel sorry for those poor overpaid Hollywood actors (?), those guys and girlies with the wonderful songbird quality voices, the studios, the producers, the directors, the networks, all under threat of going broke.

Poor Babies! Well, I’ve got to tell you here and now, someone has got their hand in their own pocket. What a mob of wankers!