28 November 2006

home theatres?

stumbled across this via Slashdot

BBspot - MPAA Lobbying for Home Theater Regulations

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.

"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.

And in related news, earphones are to be mandatory so that "friends don't accidentally overhear music from a CD that they haven't themselves purchased." Thinking of having a party? It damn well better be BYOB, or you've got to pony up for a liquor license.


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3 comments:

  1. It HAS to be a joke, but the BYOB line...

    not so much... if you collect money for something, you are running a tavern...

    if it's something like a college house party, many cities will throw the book at you with thousands of dollars in fines

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  2. gotta be satire--right? but who are they mocking? must ponder this. (maybe I'm just stupid--and everyone else already knows who they're mocking. oh well)

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  3. that's retarded.

    isn't it even legal to copy a CD to tape for a friend? that's the "friend to friend" sharing that napster tried to say it was...but it wasn't really. anyway, as far as i know, the real thing is totally legal.

    but of course, we have to consider all the starving movie producers, directors, and actors in africa next time we're tempted to let a friend watch a dvd.

    (seriously. what about the fricken library??)

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