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/news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050921/ap_on_hi_te/tivo_copy_restrictions
TiVo Users Fear Recording Restrictions By GREG SANDOVAL, AP Technology
Writer
Wed Sep 21, 4:06 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO - Many fans of digital video recorders made by TiVo Inc. are
beginning to fear that Hollywood studios will one day reach into their set-
top boxes to restrict the way they record and store movies and programs.
Among the functions included in TiVo's latest software upgrade is the
ability to allow broadcasters to erase material recorded by TiVo's 3.6
million users after a certain date. That ability was demonstrated recently
when some TiVo customers complained on TiVo community sites that episodes
of "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" they recorded were "red-flagged"
for deletion by the copyright holder.
Some users also were upset that they were prevented from transferring these
red-flagged shows to a PC via the TiVoToGo service.
Elliot Sloan, a TiVo spokesman, called the red-flag incident a "glitch" and
said it affected only a handful of customers. "It's a non-story," Sloan
said.
Nonetheless, skeptics among TiVo users questioned why TiVo would own such a
technology unless the company planned to one day use it.
TiVo and other digital video recorders let users skip commercials and jump
around a recording quickly. Since TiVo introduced its DVR in the late
1990s, customers have enjoyed the ability to record anything they want, and
store it indefinitely.
But last year, TiVo quietly disclosed that it would employ copyright-
protection software from Macrovision Corp. for pay-per-view and video-on-
demand programs. According to a post on TiVo's Web site, the software
allows broadcasters to restrict how long a DVR can save certain recordings
or in some cases prevent someone from recording altogether.
"Program providers decide what programs will have Macrovision copy
protection," said the TiVo post.
Matt Haughey, creator of PVRblog.com, the Web site where the complaints
first appeared, said some fans are overreacting about the red-flag
incident. However, he said he is worried that TiVo has handed Hollywood a
means to restrict recordings.
"TiVo would be of limited utility in the future if the studios were allowed
to do this with regular broadcast content," Haughey said. "This is like
cell-phone jammers. What if you couldn't talk on your cell phone? If
customers can't do something with their TiVo that they could in the past,
they will stop using it."
TiVo is among many platforms that could be transformed by the entertainment
industry's demands for tighter copyright controls.
Broadcasters have also tried to force electronics manufacturers to insert a
technology known as the broadcast flag into new televisions to prevent
programs from being copied or disseminated on the Internet.
The Federal Communications Commission at one point required such piracy
preventions, but those rules were blocked in May by a three-judge panel for
the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Congress
may get the last word.
http
/news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050921/ap_on_hi_te/tivo_copy_restrictionsTiVo Users Fear Recording Restrictions By GREG SANDOVAL, AP Technology
Writer
Wed Sep 21, 4:06 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO - Many fans of digital video recorders made by TiVo Inc. are
beginning to fear that Hollywood studios will one day reach into their set-
top boxes to restrict the way they record and store movies and programs.
Among the functions included in TiVo's latest software upgrade is the
ability to allow broadcasters to erase material recorded by TiVo's 3.6
million users after a certain date. That ability was demonstrated recently
when some TiVo customers complained on TiVo community sites that episodes
of "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" they recorded were "red-flagged"
for deletion by the copyright holder.
Some users also were upset that they were prevented from transferring these
red-flagged shows to a PC via the TiVoToGo service.
Elliot Sloan, a TiVo spokesman, called the red-flag incident a "glitch" and
said it affected only a handful of customers. "It's a non-story," Sloan
said.
Nonetheless, skeptics among TiVo users questioned why TiVo would own such a
technology unless the company planned to one day use it.
TiVo and other digital video recorders let users skip commercials and jump
around a recording quickly. Since TiVo introduced its DVR in the late
1990s, customers have enjoyed the ability to record anything they want, and
store it indefinitely.
But last year, TiVo quietly disclosed that it would employ copyright-
protection software from Macrovision Corp. for pay-per-view and video-on-
demand programs. According to a post on TiVo's Web site, the software
allows broadcasters to restrict how long a DVR can save certain recordings
or in some cases prevent someone from recording altogether.
"Program providers decide what programs will have Macrovision copy
protection," said the TiVo post.
Matt Haughey, creator of PVRblog.com, the Web site where the complaints
first appeared, said some fans are overreacting about the red-flag
incident. However, he said he is worried that TiVo has handed Hollywood a
means to restrict recordings.
"TiVo would be of limited utility in the future if the studios were allowed
to do this with regular broadcast content," Haughey said. "This is like
cell-phone jammers. What if you couldn't talk on your cell phone? If
customers can't do something with their TiVo that they could in the past,
they will stop using it."
TiVo is among many platforms that could be transformed by the entertainment
industry's demands for tighter copyright controls.
Broadcasters have also tried to force electronics manufacturers to insert a
technology known as the broadcast flag into new televisions to prevent
programs from being copied or disseminated on the Internet.
The Federal Communications Commission at one point required such piracy
preventions, but those rules were blocked in May by a three-judge panel for
the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Congress
may get the last word.
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