http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/ Engadget Comments for Surprise! TV networks sue Cablevision for Network DVR http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/
So, even if Cablevision setup a server farm where every subscriber had separated 80GB shares (which really seems unlikely - how much redundant space will American Idol alone waste?), they'd still be on unsteady legal footing. By taking the storage medium out of the personal domain of the subscriber, that may very well violate "private use" and thus not be considered part of fair use. My guess is that they'll lose this one.

Jeff]]>May 25th 2006 8:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/May 25th 2006 8:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/May 25th 2006 8:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/
In fact, you could say a network DVR would massively *reduce* the amount of storage needed altogether for this reason. It's just that the provider would have to house all the drives instead of the customers.]]>May 25th 2006 9:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/May 25th 2006 9:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/May 25th 2006 9:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/
However, I still think they'll lose. The very fact that the storage is offsite from the user's home may make it not private in some technical interpretation of previous rulings. Overall, the idea isn't a bad one as hardware costs are cheaper to centralize storage as opposed to having individual boxes with HDDs in every subscriber's home (you probably also get the benefit of automatic content protection from hardware failure that you wouldn't have on a home unit - RAID arrays, etc). But, it probably won't be upheld as legal.

Jeff]]>May 25th 2006 9:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/May 25th 2006 10:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/
I think the issue is that we're in the middle of a transition. Previously, the major thing preventing mass copyright infringement was that it was physically difficult to do: end users couldn't very easily make hundreds of copies of a book and share them with friends, family and strangers across the globe. Even audio recordings on vinyl, tapes and even CDs were difficult to share. The advent of the Internet and the fundamental shift in social communication methods that have made sharing information thousands of times easier than ever before no longer provide a check on sharing copyrighted material. Eventually, we're going to come to a place where all media are locked or protected somehow--I think that's unavoidable. What we need to do is start looking at ways to ensure that end users can use their media in convenient but fair ways (i.e. on multiple devices owned by the same person, similar to how Apple has implemented FairPlay), but we also need to figure out how to navigate through new distribution channels (i.e. how to deal with electronic delivery, viral marketing and content-spreading channels like YouTube) while being fair to all parties involved.

I think all of this will eventually settle out. Still, we need to all work to ensure that no single entity gets control of how copyright law is determined. Any ideas?]]>May 25th 2006 10:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/May 26th 2006 12:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/May 26th 2006 10:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/surprise-tv-networks-sue-cablevision-for-network-dvr/Jun 7th 2006 1:43PM