2006-11-28

MPAA WHAT?

From this article:
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2006/11/home-theater-regulations.html

MPAA Lobbying for Home Theater Regulations
By Scott Small

Los Angeles , CA - The MPAA is lobbying congress to push through a new
bill that would make unauthorized home theaters illegal. The group
feels that all theaters should be sanctioned, whether they be
commercial settings or at home.

MPAA head Dan Glickman says this needs to be regulated before things
start getting too far out of control, "We didn't act early enough with
the online sharing of our copyrighted content. This time we're not
making the same mistake. We have a right to know what's showing in a
theater."

The bill would require that any hardware manufactured in the future
contain technology that tells the MPAA directly of what is being shown
and specific details on the audience. The data would be gathered using
various motion sensors and biometric technology.

The MPAA defines a home theater as any home with a television larger
than 29" with stereo sound and at least two comfortable chairs, couch,
or futon. Anyone with a home theater would need to pay a $50
registration fee with the MPAA or face fines up to $500,000 per movie
shown.
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"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," said Glickman. "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.

The bill also stipulates that any existing home theaters be
retrofitted with the technology or else the owner is responsible for
directly informing the MPAA and receiving approval before each
viewing.

What the heck are they thinking?
1) Aren't they "not acting early enough" on this too? Even I have a
screen larger than 29", and I don't even have a TV! What about
Conference Rooms at work? what about people with the 30" Mac screens?
2) They want every one of our friends to own the DVD so they can come
watch it? I bet they want rental places to go out of business too.
I've seen tons of movies, but we don't own a single DVD.
3) How do they expect to enforce a retrofit of millions of TVs and
homes. Maybe they want to put a camera in evey living room. How bout
planting a bug in every DVD case, so they can track them with GPS.

Someone elect somebody who will stand up to this! Now! Call your
congress critter!

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