Blu-Ray and Linux

[Nadav Har'El]

On Thu, Jun 27, 2013, Omer Zak wrote about "Re: Blu-Ray and Linux":
> > > So the only reason to buy a Blu-Ray drive would be to view Blu-Ray
> > > movies and TV series (such as Dr. Who).
> > 
> > Or look those up in bittorrent ;-)
> 
> Are there any legal means, available to <oxymoron_alert>frayer
> Israelis</oxymoron_alert>, who wish to buy such content and download it
> via Internet, without bothering with physical media?

Here is a legal theory, which you may accept or reject (I'm not aware
it was every sanctioned by any lawyer, so you'll be safer to reject it
:-) ).

"Time shifting" is legal fair use, as determined in the famous Betamax court
case (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_shifting).
So if you pay for cable TV, you're free to record anything, and watch it
any time later on any device.

Nobody says you need to record only a few specific programs. You may
choose to record every single program on TV for your personal use.
So if you have had a cable TV subscription for the last, say, 20 years,
you would have been well within your rights to have recorded every single
program that ever aired in those 20 years. And you are well within your
rights to watch all of them again today.

Now, one might argue that the fact you did not have enough Betamax tapes
to record all these programs doesn't diminish from your right to have
done so. So if Dr. Who was aired 10 years ago on BBC provided by your
cable, then you had the right to record it, and have the right to watch it
again now.

Now, Bittorrent lets you pretend you *did* record everything that ever
aired. Pretend you invented the Internet 20 years ago, with the sole
purpose of recording for you - on other people's hard disks - every
program that ever aired. Just because you ran out of Betamax tapes.

So now you have the right to rewatch these shows - because you've been
paying for Cable TV for all these years.

So to summarize this legal theory: If you pay for cable TV (even if
you never watch it) you are within your rights to watch videos from
Bittorrent - except perhaps very new movies that never aired on cable
TV.

It's not just a legal theory (with emphasis on "theory") - it's
also a moral one, as you *are* paying the artists for their creations,
because you are paying for cable TV's content.

-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |    Wednesday, Jul 3 2013, 25 Tammuz 5773
nyh at math.technion.ac.il             |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |I saw a book titled "Die Microsoft
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |Windows". Turns out it was in German...