20 second unskippable government warning before watching a bought DVD/Blu-Ray

[Leoreth]

Yes. Whatever good arguments exist against intellectual property is completely irrelevant here.

What's worse is that law-abiding legitimate customers are punished.

 

[Quintillus]

Unskippable warnings are pretty annoying. I agree that this, relatively, adds value to the pirated product versus the "official" one. It's like the FBI both wants to tell you not to pirate films, and give you an incentive to do so.

I don't know if the DVDs I have have any unskippable warnings or not. If they did, they haven't since I moved them onto my hard drive and didn't copy those "features".

DVDs dont include the ability to make a digital copy like music.

Sure they do, you just have to know what software to use. For example, AnyDVD, although others exist, too. They just can't lawfully advertise in places like the U.S. and Germany, so they aren't that well-known there. But that doesn't mean they don't work.

Admittedly, it's not as easy as popping in a CD, going to the "Rip" tab in Windows Media Player, and making mp3s right away. But, once you've bought the proper software, it's not necessarily much more difficult.

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

The FBI RIAA is like an entity that creates food all around you then tells you not to eat it.

Can't stand 'em.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Unskippable warnings are pretty annoying. I agree that this, relatively, adds value to the pirated product versus the "official" one. It's like the FBI both wants to tell you not to pirate films, and give you an incentive to do so.

The people that run the departments that do this stuff are lawyers placed there by bigger companies, not people who actually are qualified for the position, so what do you expect?

I remember seeing a video not too long ago with an interview with the head of the US department of copyrights (or whatever the title is called) and the women had no clue how to use the computer or internet (she was still using Windows 2000 and this interview was like only 2-3 years ago) and had no clue how the internet, downloading and torrenting worked and herself claimed she didn't have a computer at home and barely used her work computer. And she is the same person drafting all those bylaws and regulations we are forced to follow.

 

[Zelig]

Admittedly, it's not as easy as popping in a CD, going to the "Rip" tab in Windows Media Player, and making mp3s right away. But, once you've bought the proper software, it's not necessarily much more difficult.

On the plus side, Windows Media Player in Windows 8 and onwards doesn't play DVDs either.

 

[El_Machinae]

Doesn't play DVDs?

 

[kramerfan86]

The people that run the departments that do this stuff are lawyers placed there by bigger companies, not people who actually are qualified for the position, so what do you expect?

I remember seeing a video not too long ago with an interview with the head of the US department of copyrights (or whatever the title is called) and the women had no clue how to use the computer or internet (she was still using Windows 2000 and this interview was like only 2-3 years ago) and had no clue how the internet, downloading and torrenting worked and herself claimed she didn't have a computer at home and barely used her work computer. And she is the same person drafting all those bylaws and regulations we are forced to follow.

Copyrights in the US are near irreparably corrupt at this point. Big companies have enough money to buy significant influence in the process when it should be a neutral process.

 

[Zelig]

Doesn't play DVDs?

That is correct.

This cuts out billions of dollars of royalties that IP holders of DVD technology will no longer be receiving from MS.

Source/FAQ: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/...ck-and-windows-media-center-in-windows-8.aspx

As a note, Win7 Home Premium and up are the only versions of Windows with native DVD playback.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Copyrights in the US are near irreparably corrupt at this point. Big companies have enough money to buy significant influence in the process when it should be a neutral process.

It's ironic, because copyright laws were originally meant for the promotion of intellectual property in society.

IIRC before the big companies influenced copyright laws, copyrights only lasted for 14 years.

 

[Andvare]

I think this awesome talk by Cory Doctorow belongs here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYqkU1y0AYc

The problem, as I see it, is that the industry is still living in the 80s. These tools have shown themselves to be counterproductive several decades ago.
It's like the music industry that cries foul over piracy, and shows that record sales have dropped dramatically, all the while, either deliberately hiding, or failing to recognize that the problem lies primarily on how information travels.
Yes, record sales have dropped drastically, but the whole music industry have pretty much just followed the general economy (i.e. dropped a bit the last couple of years). The biggest reason for the drop in sales is iTunes. Companies like Spotify and Apples are raking in the dough, while the regular music industry is bleeding (sales on merchandise, concerts and concert videos are also up).
And now the publishing industry wants in on the "fun". Here in Denmark they are complaining about E-libraries, and wants the government to somehow install something that hinders people in borrowing e-books by limit the amount of people that can borrow them at once, and limit the amount of time, while ignoring that people will happily pay for easy-access, cheap, e-books (they should be cheap, the biggest costs, by far, the bookstores and the printing, has been taken out). Pure, unadulterated stupidity.
ACTA, SOPA, PIPA and all the other, bordering on totalitarian state surveillance, laws/agreements, are a bane to freedom and progress.

 

[Andvare]

Oh, and a great showcase on how little the lawgivers actually understand about the 'net is shown here by Jon Stewart:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-18-2012/ko-computer

 

[kramerfan86]

Yes the music industry whining about sales always amuses me. Blame it totally on piracy and ignore the fact the mp3 sites removed the need to buy albums. Whereas back in the day you had to buy the artists' entire album, you just buy 2 songs now.

 

[Aroddo]

Yes the music industry whining about sales always amuses me. Blame it totally on piracy and ignore the fact the mp3 sites removed the need to buy albums. Whereas back in the day you had to buy the artists' entire album, you just buy 2 songs now.

and what crappy albums they often were.
i could probably count the number of albums where i liked more than half of it with one hand.

@Andvare
great links btw.

 

[Leoreth]

The FBI RIAA is like an entity that creates food all around you then tells you not to eat it.

Can't stand 'em.

That reminds me of the biblical story of Jesus, where he's at a party and can make enough CDs out of just one for all guests. Or something like that

 

[MjM]

The OP's picture is why I rarely buy DVDs.

 

[Aroddo]

Nothing beats a superhero with a fatal costume taste disorder.

 

[G-Max]

There's a solution to this problem. It involves a mini-itx computer hooked up to a 1920x1080 computer monitor. Enhancements to this solution may involve a specialized remote control and receiver designed specifically to work with VLC Media Player.

 

[Andvare]

and what crappy albums they often were.
i could probably count the number of albums where i liked more than half of it with one hand.

@Andvare
great links btw.

If you liked those, then you'd probably like this TED with Mr. Lessig:

http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html

It's still relevant to the topic, but only marginally so, i.e. it only touches on copyright, and why top-down control of media is bad.

Edit: Especially because Jesus the Musical is always relevant!

 

[Akka]

This is the wrong answer.

It's never wrong to correct the idiotic (and completely purposeful) "copyright violation = theft".
It's fighting the brainwashing.

 

[Leoreth]

It's never wrong to correct the idiotic (and completely purposeful) "copyright violation = theft".
It's fighting the brainwashing.

And it gives their side the perfect opening.