Collect several Kudos™ for watching Peep Show. Mitchell and Webb are at their peak when they’re doing that show.

Yes, the future is full of possibilities…I am not legally required take into account the possibility that content providers will begin to obey NZ law.

FOTA: means “Free, Over The Air”…it refers to any content broadcast by a network.

Piracy isn’t legal in China, it has laws on the books that it doesn’t enforce. That is a completely different situation than in NZ: comparing the two is a false equivalence. The NZ law prevents market manipulation. If content providers want to screw the NZ public, then the NZ Government isn’t going to help them do it.

As far as the WGA is concerned, I support their cause 100%: the should share in any revenues that content producers generate. The fact that I am using the internet as a virutal TV antenna to capture FOTA content is irrelevant.

This discussion reminds me of the Harlan Ellison case from years ago. An AOL user site had posted an ENTIRE Harlan Ellison novel. There were months of back and forth cease and desist requests until they finally had a law suit. Harlan won because it was a pretty black and white case. The rule here in the US is simple, you are not allowed to make exact duplicates of content. You can LOAN your original copy to other people and you can make backup copies for your own use but you can’t make an exact duplicate for distribution. That’s why you can’t walk into a Kinko’s and ask them to make a copy of an entire book. Our government looks at it the same whether its downloaded from E-mule, Torrent, Kaazaa, Bearshare, etc. etc. etc.

To answer your rebuttal:

1. Good thought but what’s to say the same show won’t be on the air in 12 months in NZ? Then you WILL have cost an advertiser those 2 eyes. (And besides, its not for you to decide which markets see various shows…maybe they are planning a big New Zealand marketing blitz or something down the road.) The “its not hurting anyone” argument doesn’t hold water.

2. I’m not familiar with the term FOTA, so I Googled it and found out that FOTA is some wireless protocol. If I found the right definition of the FOTA acronym, (firmware over the air) YOU still didn’t pay for it. Someone else that has a PDA or cellphone had legal access to the show b/c it might have been included in their monthly service package. Not a blanket authorization for anyone and everyone to view free of charge.

On the other hand, I do realize that you are just trying to watch a show that isn’t available to you through any normal distribution (pay-per-view, cable tv, dvd’s, etc.) If it was available for purchase, I assume you would do the honest thing and purchase it.

3. I am aware that there are lots of countries where it’s “legal” to download or make unlimited copies of content. If you go to China, you can buy truckloads of rip-off dvds for next to nothing. Just because your government is ok with it, doesn’t mean its not infringing on some actor or writer’s rights to royalties.

Do you think its fair that the people who created Reaper are not compensated when you and your work friends watch the show because New Zealand has some loophole making it legal? Or put another way, what if it was the lovely Felicia that was working on Reaper and got screwed out of those residuals?

And please keep in mind, my comment was certainly nothing personal Carl, I didn’t mean for it to look like I was calling you out. I think I’ve just got my guard up higher than normal with everything that’s going on with the WGA strike.

#1 reaper isn’t available here in NZ, so I’m not depriving any NZ broadcaster of a pair of eyes that they can sell to an advertiser

#2 the torrents I d/l are all from FOTA broadcasts: they’re TV shows that aren’t available here in NZ…I never d/l DVD rips of any content.

#3 NZ copyright law is different than US law. NZ law specifically prohibits market manipulation, like the kind practiced by US content producers with their DVD region scheme. So, all DVD players commercially sold in in NZ are multi-region players. So, the upshot is that if it is available FOTA in the US, the by NZ law, I’m legally entitled to d/l it here.