Oops — Safeweb’s got some security holes. Why is this a problem? Well, I’m on their Privacy Safety Board, and they haven’t informed me before the story hit the Web and I’m mightily pissed off.

Great column by Dan Gillmor on the way the entertainment industry is increasingly treating everyone as a thief.

“If the business people who rule the entertainment industry had been as powerful 25 years ago as they are today, you’d be breaking the law if you set your videocassette recorder to tape your favorite Olympic event for later viewing. The VCR, assuming the entertainment industry would have allowed a manufacturer to sell it, would not have a fast-forward button because it would let you skip through the commercials without viewing them.

As for tape recorders, you would not have been able to make a copy of the music you just bought so you could play it in your car.”

Hollywood studios sue makers of digital recorders.
LA Times story.

“The lawsuits, which were brought by the largest TV networks and all seven major Hollywood movie companies, say the ReplayTV recorders violate copyrights by enabling users to send videos to other ReplayTV boxes over the Internet and skip commercials automatically. The suit filed by MGM, Fox, Universal Studios and Orion Pictures goes furthest, arguing that it’s illegal to let consumers record and store shows based on the genre, actors or other words in the program description. This claim threatens not just the ReplayTV devices, some copyright experts say, but all recorders like it. Unlike VCRs, which require users to record shows by time slot or unique number, PVRs record based on a show’s name or program description. Users don’t need to know when “Friends” is on. They just need to know the name or a leading actor. Once a program is found, the device can be set to capture it whenever it’s on the air.”

Interesting workshop today on “New Directions in Internet Policy” at Georgia Tech. My IPEF colleague Rex Hughes is a speaker.