MPAA suggests teachers videotape TVs instead of ripping DVDs. Seriously.

So the Copyright Office is currently in the middle reviewing proposed exceptions to the DMCA, and one of the proposals on the table would allow teachers and students to rip DVDs and edit them for use in the classroom. Open and shut, right? Not if you're the MPAA and gearing up to litigate the legality of ripping -- it's trying to convince the rulemaking committee that videotaping a flatscreen is an acceptable alternative. Seriously. It's hard to say if we've ever seen an organization make a more tone-deaf, flailing argument than this.

Take a good look, kids. This is what an industry looks like right before it dies. Video after the break.

[Via BoingBoing]

[Jon @ May 7th 2009 2:48PM]

HAHAHA .

[mac404 @ May 7th 2009 2:52PM]

Why stop there? Force them to videotape the playback of the video that was already videotaped. That'll learn those teachers.

[AVG @ May 7th 2009 3:09PM]

It should also be noted that they are allowing audio to be used in the classroom so long as it is recorded from another source using a Talkboy.

[Aguiluz @ May 7th 2009 3:16PM]

Aguiluz suggests the MPAA to go suck one. Seriously.

[Ryan LN @ May 7th 2009 3:25PM]

I see nothing funny about this. While the argument is ridiculous and laughable, shouldn't we be more scared by the fact that there are people sitting there listening to this shit that AREN'T LAUGHING??? That's the problem: the people who are making these regs have no fucking clue as to what is going on and what happens in the real world. We're screwed.

[Luke @ May 7th 2009 3:40PM]

I am really confused by this picture, is that girls boob hanging out???

[naz @ May 7th 2009 3:53PM]

Hilary did this in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air

lol

good times

[hexydes @ May 7th 2009 3:53PM]

@Ryan: Yes, it sucks that the MPAA, for whatever reason (since it isn't stopping anything obviously) is completely draconianizing IP law in our country. However, the joke will be on them in the end, because one day, IP law will be so muddled, so confused, and so utterly impossible to properly adhere to, that people will just begin to completely ignore it, and eventually it will just collapse.

Also funny, I don't think the MPAA will be around long enough to see it happen.

[iono @ May 7th 2009 4:23PM]

So... after I videotape the projected DVD, what if I use an analog converter and burn the VCR output to DVD-R?
AND THEN RIP THE DVD-R?! O NOES!!!

[haX0r @ May 7th 2009 4:41PM]

This is fantastic news, since it sets the precedent for cam torrents of current movies to be completely legal! (Just as long as you record them 18 seconds at a time.) Woohoo!

[Paul @ May 7th 2009 4:50PM]

@Luke: I saw that at first glance too. Glad someone said it. But it's clearly not upon further investigation.

[TVGenius @ May 7th 2009 4:53PM]

They've finally lost their minds.

Oh well. They might as well broaden this a little more. I need some clips from the Star Trek movie so our college student's weekly show can do a review. I'll just take my camera with me to the theater this weekend.

[Benson @ May 8th 2009 7:40AM]

Hexydes: It's already happening.

[Timerider @ May 8th 2009 10:08AM]

"Take a good look, kids. This is what an industry looks like right before it dies."

Ha ha!

[aaronz8 @ May 9th 2009 1:15AM]

"That'll learn those teachers."
Do you mean "that'll teach those teachers"? lol

[Opigir @ May 20th 2009 5:02AM]

Great, teaching them how asian countries have been copying movies for the last 20 years!

[siluah @ May 7th 2009 2:48PM]

what the hell...morons.

[Mark @ May 7th 2009 5:15PM]

WTF, did MPAA just legalized bootlegging for teacher for boot lagging?

[Jeremy K. @ May 7th 2009 2:49PM]

What a joke! hahahahhaa

[Pretol @ May 7th 2009 10:06PM]

Did anyone else notice - that chick's boob is just hanging out? She's just totally ok with one boob airing out... MPAA is pretty clever... For some reason I want to videotape a tv set now....

Next lesson:
We'll teach you how to copy frame-by-frame a movie clip with the help of a pause and advance buttons, and, of course, our trusty set of pencils.

[XenMaster4 @ May 8th 2009 5:27AM]

I thought that too at first (about the boob) but if you check the video she's wearing an orange shirt with a black undershirt.

[kal326 @ May 7th 2009 2:50PM]

So does this mean I can video tape a movie at a theater for "classroom purposes"?

Its easy to see what they are doing here, they want to produce a lower quality copy of the original by forcing the school to do a non-digital display to camera recording. Come on MPAA let them just rip the DVD, its for the CHILDREN!!!

[LAGal @ May 7th 2009 10:08PM]

i suspect that one of the counter arguments will be that of fair use for educational purposes which has been in copyright law for a while. so long as the teacher wasn't showing the whole movie it was not an issue with VHS. the only reason this is more complex is that it requires a kind of hacking to get past the copy protections. of course the studios haven't stepped up to offer up some kind of library system where teachers can rent clip libraries to show in class. so you can show the various movie versions of Hamlet's 'to be' speech during the shakespeare class, or compare the differences between the OK Corral scene in Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. if such a system existed, teachers wouldn't be ripping DVDs to show parts in class

[wickedpheonix @ May 7th 2009 10:25PM]

Yeah I'm inclined to think the same. The problem is, I don't believe that was an actual recording off a camcorder.

If it was, then why can't we get any decent cam rips on torrents? I think they just videotaped someone setting it up and then ripped the source material themselves to use for an example. What's the point otherwise? And even if their DRM was rock-solid, if this was a reasonable alternative in terms of quality then a good deal of pirates would've done it already for early Blu-Ray flicks or whatnot before ripping tools were introduced.

I SMELL BULLSHIT!

[thisisit @ May 7th 2009 2:50PM]

lol. seriously???
so now i know how they teach kids to camrip those cinema movies.

[Waveblade @ May 7th 2009 2:50PM]

what?

[John @ May 7th 2009 5:35PM]

Someone made a video of people filming a video. Simple, right?

[How_P @ May 7th 2009 6:02PM]

Not quite John - we just watched a video of some people watching a video of filming people filming a video clip of a film...

Jeez just let them rip it already!

[David Hildreth @ May 7th 2009 2:50PM]

Fuck the MPAA.

[insky @ May 7th 2009 2:50PM]

So does that mean I should videotape movies in the theater instead of downloading them from the internet?

[Beastage @ May 7th 2009 4:34PM]

Touche... touche....

[someguy7234 @ May 7th 2009 4:37PM]

What it means is that there is a market for devices that have a screen and a camera in a box, calibrated so that the camera picks up every pixel of the screen and no background.

No but seriously... I thought this was so hilarious that I skyped my friend and held my webcam up to the screen so my friend could watch it.

[Celedhring @ May 7th 2009 6:39PM]

@someguy

This has existed for long time, it's called Telecine Box. That's the way movies used to be transferred to video before digital negative scanning became the norm.

[hexydes @ May 7th 2009 2:51PM]

I really can't figure out the end game here. The MPAA/RIAA can't stop piracy, no matter what DRM they use. They *HAVE* to know this, right? It's not like they can even really prosecute anyone other than those ripping and selling copied content...which is illegal anyway.

What is the point here, other than COMPLETELY destroying any concept of meaningful intellectual property laws in our country?

[ben @ May 7th 2009 2:53PM]

So it is totally okay if I bring a camera to videotape the movie in the theater right?

[b @ May 7th 2009 2:56PM]

No - they are talking about using their materials for "Fair Use", which Teachers are already allowed to do. But since you are not allowed to break the DVD DRM, they suggest this as a workaround, as long as you are using it under the "Fair Use" guidelines.

Is it still crazy? Yes.

[miko34 @ May 7th 2009 3:02PM]

ben, I guess you needed to add a winky smiley face in order for some people to get your joke and that it was a rhetorical question.

[verebs1 @ May 7th 2009 5:20PM]

as long as they are 18 sec clips LMAO

[granny down east @ May 7th 2009 9:50PM]

Fair Use = FU
Sounds good to me.

[whiskey @ May 8th 2009 11:05AM]

If you are a teacher and you show it to your students (while making a point) you might be able to do it... I never thought thought that teachers were allowed into the Telecam scene... LOL

[alosen @ May 7th 2009 2:52PM]

Are they seriously using Windows 2000 there?

[cb88 @ May 7th 2009 3:02PM]

XP classic theme? or did i miss something? oh and that is VLC as well I think

[nizzy1115 @ May 7th 2009 3:05PM]

Actually they are running Windows ME. Thats why the MPAA is always pissed off at everyone because they have to use ME all day.

[sully810 @ May 7th 2009 3:11PM]

Yep...XP Classic it is indeed. Note the sidebar in the file browser window.

[danman486 @ May 7th 2009 5:38PM]

I'm using the zoom on my camcorder to get a better picture of the windows flag...

[Scump @ May 7th 2009 2:53PM]

Right now I can hear the collective readership of this article,

"Errrr...".

[Jay Voorhees @ May 7th 2009 2:52PM]

I rip to back up my movie collection investment. What's wrong with that?

[FNG @ May 7th 2009 3:26PM]

I rip to backup Netflix's movie collection. Same thing right? ∂

[Mmmm... Dohnuts. @ May 7th 2009 5:19PM]

and I rip to backup my stolen DVD collection... Fair is fair, right?

[warpa4 @ May 7th 2009 5:35PM]

maybe they should make it illegal to rent?