DVD theft and copying DVDs onto the Internet by theft and electronic shoplifting

Illegal theft and unauthorized distribution of DVDs blocked by new "Broadcast Flag" technology.

The Editor

The San Francisco Bay Guardian

San Francisco, CA

To the Editor:

In your recent article, "Remote Control: Build your TV! " by Analee Newitz (The Guardian, March 2, 2005), the author puts herself firmly on the side of the scofflaws and hackers. She claims that the federal Copyright Law allows for personal use copies to be made. Of course, this law was written before the widespread use of the Internet and the widespread theft and free distribution of copyrighted music by theftsters and many others. So recently, the mainstream entertainment industry has requested a tightening up of technology to prevent the similar theft and unauthorized mass distribution of videos and movies over the Internet. This has been strengthened by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) rule called,"Broadcast Flag" which in essence mandates that High Definition (HD) DVD players will programmed to not copy certain copyrighted DVDs, thus preventing unauthorized illicit distribution over the Internet.

Since the massive theft and unauthorized distribution of audio digital materials, such as music and songs began in the1990s, the entertainment industry has wised up and has taken some steps to prevent the same massive theft to occur with DVDs. If you act like children, you will have to be treated like children. If you act like shoplifters, you will have to be treated like shoplifters. If you act like thieves, you will have to be treated like thieves. Simple enough to understand?

So the Bay Guardian suggests that electronic digital theft should be glorified and held in high honor. Poo..."

Frankly, I have no great desire to see high definition (HD) television: who needs to see zits, wrinkles, steroid injection scars and other imperfections on baseball players and other entertainers anyway? And I certainly disagree with the Feds mandatory high definition television broadcasts in the near future. It is a very expensive technology with little gain. I would rather see our money invested in universal health insurance and universal health care. But that is only a dream now with the illegitimate bush gang running the show now.

That being said, I do not believe that anyone has the unrestricted right to copy DVDs produced by others and to then distribute them on the Internet in an manner not authorized by the original creators and copyright holders. Remember the KSAN news broadcaster in the 1960s, Scoop Nisker, when he said, "If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own..." If you want music or videos, make you own, no one is stopping you. The technology is relatively inexpensive and is available for home audio and video production. Don't go trying to copy and steal the copyrighted works of others and try to clothe theft in in the rhetoric of "free," "freedom" or other words. So a Bay Guardian story suggests that unauthorized electronic digital copying, theft and redistribution of DVD videos should be glorified and held in high honor, I say "wrong." Just say no to electronic shoplifting.

Yours truly,

James K. Sayre

3 March 2005

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