Forced to watch lies
Discussion
Last night I watched a DVD – Bourne Ultimatum – that was a Christmas present from one of my kids. Excellent film. The action doesn’t stop. It’s not one that will change your life, but just make if more exciting for a couple of hours, probably the better option at my age.
The only irritating thing was being forced to watch the (ironically titled?) FACT (federation against copyright theft) advert at the beginning. I couldn’t skip it nor fast-forward through it. So a couple of minutes of my life was wasted whilst it churned out its lies. Worse than that, most other DVDs I’ve bought have the same boring rubbish on it.
What makes it worse is that, despite what it says, copying DVDs is not theft. That’s a FACT. Nor has it ever been theft. It’s an offence, but one far, far different from theft.
When you buy a DVD you do not get full title to it. You can’t show it to a group of friends at work during a break, you can’t lend/give it to a friend without the original wrapping and lots of other little restrictions. Failure to follow these restrictions on your ownership is an offence.
You are allowed, by the way, to make a copy of the DVD for your own purposes but, of course, the technical restrictions placed on the DVD itself and DVD recorders stops you exercising this right. You will notice that they do not say, in the interminable advert, that they are also, in their mind, committing theft by ‘stealing’ your rights.
So, just to make things clear: speed does not kill, tiredness does not kill and making an illegal copy of a DVD is not theft. And, I’d like to reiterate, making a copy of a DVD is not, of itself, and offence of any kind.
Mind you, don’t let this distract from the film – it’s a cracker. Not one you will want to watch again and again probably, but still well worth the few quid my lad paid for it. It’s even better when you get it free. But that damned FACT rubbish . . .
The only irritating thing was being forced to watch the (ironically titled?) FACT (federation against copyright theft) advert at the beginning. I couldn’t skip it nor fast-forward through it. So a couple of minutes of my life was wasted whilst it churned out its lies. Worse than that, most other DVDs I’ve bought have the same boring rubbish on it.
What makes it worse is that, despite what it says, copying DVDs is not theft. That’s a FACT. Nor has it ever been theft. It’s an offence, but one far, far different from theft.
When you buy a DVD you do not get full title to it. You can’t show it to a group of friends at work during a break, you can’t lend/give it to a friend without the original wrapping and lots of other little restrictions. Failure to follow these restrictions on your ownership is an offence.
You are allowed, by the way, to make a copy of the DVD for your own purposes but, of course, the technical restrictions placed on the DVD itself and DVD recorders stops you exercising this right. You will notice that they do not say, in the interminable advert, that they are also, in their mind, committing theft by ‘stealing’ your rights.
So, just to make things clear: speed does not kill, tiredness does not kill and making an illegal copy of a DVD is not theft. And, I’d like to reiterate, making a copy of a DVD is not, of itself, and offence of any kind.
Mind you, don’t let this distract from the film – it’s a cracker. Not one you will want to watch again and again probably, but still well worth the few quid my lad paid for it. It’s even better when you get it free. But that damned FACT rubbish . . .
Derek Smith said:
Last night I watched a DVD – Bourne Ultimatum – that was a Christmas present from one of my kids. Excellent film. The action doesn’t stop. It’s not one that will change your life, but just make if more exciting for a couple of hours, probably the better option at my age.
The only irritating thing was being forced to watch the (ironically titled?) FACT (federation against copyright theft) advert at the beginning. I couldn’t skip it nor fast-forward through it. So a couple of minutes of my life was wasted whilst it churned out its lies. Worse than that, most other DVDs I’ve bought have the same boring rubbish on it.
What makes it worse is that, despite what it says, copying DVDs is not theft. That’s a FACT. Nor has it ever been theft. It’s an offence, but one far, far different from theft.
When you buy a DVD you do not get full title to it. You can’t show it to a group of friends at work during a break, you can’t lend/give it to a friend without the original wrapping and lots of other little restrictions. Failure to follow these restrictions on your ownership is an offence.
You are allowed, by the way, to make a copy of the DVD for your own purposes but, of course, the technical restrictions placed on the DVD itself and DVD recorders stops you exercising this right. You will notice that they do not say, in the interminable advert, that they are also, in their mind, committing theft by ‘stealing’ your rights.
So, just to make things clear: speed does not kill, tiredness does not kill and making an illegal copy of a DVD is not theft. And, I’d like to reiterate, making a copy of a DVD is not, of itself, and offence of any kind.
Mind you, don’t let this distract from the film – it’s a cracker. Not one you will want to watch again and again probably, but still well worth the few quid my lad paid for it. It’s even better when you get it free. But that damned FACT rubbish . . .
When they did show one at the cinema before a film where it was likely that there was going to be a very large geek contingent to the audience, it took a lot of effort not to loudly go "AARRRR!" pirate stylee at the end of it The only irritating thing was being forced to watch the (ironically titled?) FACT (federation against copyright theft) advert at the beginning. I couldn’t skip it nor fast-forward through it. So a couple of minutes of my life was wasted whilst it churned out its lies. Worse than that, most other DVDs I’ve bought have the same boring rubbish on it.
What makes it worse is that, despite what it says, copying DVDs is not theft. That’s a FACT. Nor has it ever been theft. It’s an offence, but one far, far different from theft.
When you buy a DVD you do not get full title to it. You can’t show it to a group of friends at work during a break, you can’t lend/give it to a friend without the original wrapping and lots of other little restrictions. Failure to follow these restrictions on your ownership is an offence.
You are allowed, by the way, to make a copy of the DVD for your own purposes but, of course, the technical restrictions placed on the DVD itself and DVD recorders stops you exercising this right. You will notice that they do not say, in the interminable advert, that they are also, in their mind, committing theft by ‘stealing’ your rights.
So, just to make things clear: speed does not kill, tiredness does not kill and making an illegal copy of a DVD is not theft. And, I’d like to reiterate, making a copy of a DVD is not, of itself, and offence of any kind.
Mind you, don’t let this distract from the film – it’s a cracker. Not one you will want to watch again and again probably, but still well worth the few quid my lad paid for it. It’s even better when you get it free. But that damned FACT rubbish . . .
Basically the powers that be, particularly in the US, are scared that they will lose some power so are doing the "home taping will destroy the industry" routine to get some laws passed so you can't have a copy of something that will last and you have to keep rebuying it because the original DVD wore out or the DRM licence on your computer got corrupted and your entire collection became unplayable or something. If you copy it then the master gets kept in a safe place and lasts longer.
This argument is furthered by the people who just want to download it. Many of them are fine to pay for what they download although there are a lot of freeloaders. The freeloaders won't buy it even if they couldn't download it but that doesn't stop them being used as stats for how much revenue is being lost.
I suspect there is also an element of control too - In DVD/movie land there has always been an element to stop people trafficing the disks from different places using different standards such as PAL/NTSC in VHS tapes to deliberate region coding in DVDs to stop people exporting them to other countries where it might cost more or have content that is censored in that country. This kind of thing really does annoy the end users as it stops them being able to easily obtain, say a foreign film that is not released in their country due to low demand but is in a different region code. It also annoys people who see that they can get the same thing for half the price in another country because the cost is being kept deliberatly higher to make more money rather cost than being driven by the market. Another factor are people who are annoyed when a film is released months in the US before their country - in the case of the UK often still being the case if it is a UK productions. The breaking of the DVD encryption system suddenly let the pirate groups of the internet release all the aforementioned restrictions and these annoyed end users suddenly found themselves offered a workaround to the above situations that only involved a copywright infraction. A good number of those people later bought the DVD when it was available so no money was lost apart from on films where people might have bought it on a whim but downloaded it first and discovered it was crap instead. This is why I own the LOTR trilogy and the Star Wars trilogy (I still DLed the Han shoots first version, thanks George) and do not own a copy of Zoolander. I learned my lesson from paying money for Supernova and Star Wars episode one.
At the end of the day the pirates are mostly harmless in real terms as what they are doing now is the same as people going to the guy down the road who dubbed tapes for them, but they are winding up people who see a threat to both wallet and control who have power and money and are acting accordingly because they know who history will be written by. This will always be.
There is a whole new ad campaign in cinemas to regurgitate this dross. The more I get this force fed to me, the more I want to copy the thing so I can make the decision about what to watch.
The only FACT is that music and film companies are floundering as their gravy train is coming to a grinding halt. If they don’t want people to copy it then they will need to present their material in a context that forces consumers to pay for it eg. cinemas with decent legroom, screens, sound systems and no chavs on mobiles. The music industry are starting to get the idea with so many more bands touring as they recognise their revenue from CD is drying up.
Kids are growing up with sharing music and films between their friends. The FACT is that all media in electronic form can be copied, the entertainment industry should wise up to that and change their business accordingly rather than treating the consumer like criminals in this way.
Give it 20 years and people will be shocked that people could have been prosecuted for making a copy of a music file for a friend.
The only FACT is that music and film companies are floundering as their gravy train is coming to a grinding halt. If they don’t want people to copy it then they will need to present their material in a context that forces consumers to pay for it eg. cinemas with decent legroom, screens, sound systems and no chavs on mobiles. The music industry are starting to get the idea with so many more bands touring as they recognise their revenue from CD is drying up.
Kids are growing up with sharing music and films between their friends. The FACT is that all media in electronic form can be copied, the entertainment industry should wise up to that and change their business accordingly rather than treating the consumer like criminals in this way.
Give it 20 years and people will be shocked that people could have been prosecuted for making a copy of a music file for a friend.
The worst one was that cinema one that said the sale of illegal DVDs funds serious, organised crime. Never have I heard such unfounded drivel. I can hardly see Osama Bin Laden or Tony Montana turning up at your local carboot and selling some hooky dvds, last time I checked it was a lot easier to make money selling drugs than knocked off copies of Shrek.
stuthemong said:
If you buy hawked DVD's off markets, the film just starts when you put it in. Majik.
PMSL!Its not often I read a post and actually laugh out loud as such. Nice one
FishFace said:
Is that the stupid aggressive one where they are buying their DVDs from a seedy back-street 'under-ground' stall? I hate that.
I know the one you mean. It has the atmosphere of the anti-Heroin ads of the late 80s I recall (the it'll crack you up ads), someone jacking up in the corner would not look amiss in this FACT advert!If that helps put it into perspective then IMO they have gone a bit too 'dark' with it, as it were.
Edited by texasjohn on Friday 28th December 15:46
[quote=texasjohn
"Up" or "off"? - StreakyFishFace said:
Is that the stupid aggressive one where they are buying their DVDs from a seedy back-street 'under-ground' stall? I hate that.
I know the one you mean. It has the atmosphere of the anti-Heroin ads of the late 80s I recall (the it'll crack you up ads), someone jacking up in the corner would not look amiss in this FACT advert!You think this is bad, I remember renting Toy Story and having to put up with no less than 5 minutes of adverts for other Disney shite.
Incredibly annoying. This is why I just download films now. I even downloaded I Am Legend because over here it was released just when everyone else was on holiday, which pretty much guarantees I can't watch it in peace because cinemas don't see fit to employ ushers any longer.
I would happily pay a quid or two per film for a legal download service. No question.
Incredibly annoying. This is why I just download films now. I even downloaded I Am Legend because over here it was released just when everyone else was on holiday, which pretty much guarantees I can't watch it in peace because cinemas don't see fit to employ ushers any longer.
I would happily pay a quid or two per film for a legal download service. No question.
Parrot of Doom said:
You think this is bad, I remember renting Toy Story and having to put up with no less than 5 minutes of adverts for other Disney shite.
Incredibly annoying. This is why I just download films now. I even downloaded I Am Legend because over here it was released just when everyone else was on holiday, which pretty much guarantees I can't watch it in peace because cinemas don't see fit to employ ushers any longer.
I would happily pay a quid or two per film for a legal download service. No question.
But they don't force you to watch the ads on the US version. Bloody annoying.Incredibly annoying. This is why I just download films now. I even downloaded I Am Legend because over here it was released just when everyone else was on holiday, which pretty much guarantees I can't watch it in peace because cinemas don't see fit to employ ushers any longer.
I would happily pay a quid or two per film for a legal download service. No question.
E36GUY said:
Assuming it is this you are ranting at.....immediately the irritating clip about "video piracy is stealing" starts, quickly press menu two or three times and it should skip.
HTH
I do a lot of home video editing - rugby matches mainly but if you want your weeding video edited . . . - and have bought a DVD recorder that suits my needs. However, unlike my old one, every time I try to ff or skip the FACT insult to my intelligence I get the sign up:HTH
Action prohibited by disc
The fact that my options were limited was not included on the DVD box nor brought to my attention at the time of purchase (or at least when my lad bought it) means I can claim my money back.
What makes it unfair is that I don't buy pirate DVDs (unless Depp's on it). I have around 300 commercial DVDs all of which are genuine. When I changed from cassettes I recorded a load onto DVD but have, over time, replaced them all with the geniune article. I think that, if someone is providing something then you should pay for it. However, the thought going through my mind, apart from how dare they force me to play adverts, is that if it's on Sky I can record just those bits I want. The quality is not so good, but then nor is my eyesight.
Anyway, I feel better for the rant.
By the way, the bit about organised crime: my lads nicked a bloke selling bootleg CDs and clothing outside the Brighton Centre during a gig by a famous group. It was an entirely one-man operation. We searched his place and found copying hardware that allowed him to copy 36 at once (single speed at that time). He was paying his way through university. There was no prosecution as the group's PA said she did not have enough time to support us with a statement. Or couldn't be bothered. I forget which phrase she used.
My lads reckoned that the clothing the chap was selling was of of higher quality, the 'badge' was superior and he was charging half the price. And making a considerable profit.
Because of the refusal to prosecute, the police not only had to return the recording suite, but our IT dept had to set it up as well.
It's a funny old world.
Derek Smith said:
I do a lot of home video editing - rugby matches mainly but if you want your weeding video edited . .
My gosh, people actually film that?? I live a sheltered life....I bought a DVD player which had a chip which skipped those Ads, but it doesn't seem to skip the latest stuff anymore.. Guess it needs a newer chip.
BUT whilst the FACT advertsa are irritating, it's nothing compared to the adverts for more films etc.. on a DVD you've paid a tenner for in the first place, and you can't skip those either !!
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