Comments on: Impatient TV viewers turn to BitTorrent

Online forums reveal keen interest in file-sharing software among Australians aching for latest episodes of "Desperate Housewives."

what else is "new"?

cnet, you are a bit late with this "News" - like a couple of years. don't you follow the p2p news sites which have been all over this in recent months, and years?

[Rusdude]

Same story on UK...

Seriously, if I recall correctly, there was an almost exactly worded story about UK (where people also get new shows later).

[Sir Geek]

Illegal ?

The problem is that they define this as "illegal" but it is mearly a high tech method to share tapes made from off the air, which ( currently ) are a legal thing to do ( unless they overturn the Betamax decision, as they are trying to do ).

why is it "illegal" to record broadcasts?

I don't get it. I can tape a broadcast program, or I can TIVO it, but if I download it is "illegal"? How? Why is downloading any different from taping?

The technicalities that disguish the two

The key technicality here is when and where the copying is taking place.

The Betamax decision protects "time-shifting" and making copies for personal use. Sharing tapes isn't a problem in this case as long as the your copy was made under fair use, because when you're sharing it, you're not making another copy. Thus, if you want to watch the tape again, you must get it back from who you lend it to.

Downloading, is by defintion, making a copy. It's only legal to make copies of stuff you already own, or have legally copied, for your own personal use, and if you're downloading, you're making a illegal copy, and the person who made it available is violating the law by using their copy for a non-personal use.

In the case of TV broadcasts, it probably shouldn't matter, since you have legal ways of recording them anyway, but by the law, it is a different matter.

[Sorcerer8605]

Yeah, I don't get it either.

Many of these downloaded programs come from broadcast channels, which are FREE to anyone with a TV and antenna. You don't have to pay a dime (no subscription necessary). You can record them with a VCR, a DVD Recorder, a Tivo, or a TV tuner on your computer. But the moment you download an episode, it is illegal? What's wrong with this picture?

How hypocritical!

[Filip Remplakowski]

What do they expect

People wouldn't do this if everything was released at the same
time all over the world and the whole "region" thing was
discarded. As for software piracy just lower the prices to
reasonable amounts which are the same all over the world.

[201293546946733175101343322673]

Just Like Anime Fansubs...

...and other television programs shared over the net, as long as people figure out how to transmit TV signals into their PCs, this is going to happen no matter what, unless stations decide to encrypt their TV shows :)