This is in response to a thread on knoppmyth. Thought I'd share my thoughts about the new analog hole bill and the future of DVR's: <br> <br> As the old hardware dies off (VCR's, current DVR's) then it will be illegal to record anything. From what I heard from an interview with the guys at EFF, almost anything that is created is automatically assumed to be under copyright unless they specifically state that it is not.
<br> There will be no more fair use at all. It will be illegal to time shift (skip commercials) which is the main source of their complaint. If this happens I forsee everthything will be pay-per-record/on-demand. You pay your cable company for the right to receive the channel and view its content (shows), you will pay again to be able to record it/re-watch it and it will still have all commercial content. No time shifting other than pause. On top of that the content will auto-expire after a certain # of days unless you pay again. This is where we are headed everyone.
<br> They have already forced people to remove sites that contain song lyrics. Whats next? Blogging/fansites about what happened on a particular show or posting favorite lyrics from a song?<br> Realisticaly its not if but when this crap or a beginning stepping stone type law will pass. There are too many politicians now that only see the almighty $ and don't give a rats ass about you and I.
<br> People are always dissing the EFF, but for you and I that work all day and dont have the time to keep calling and writing congressmen they are our only line of defense. They need to be supported and we need to spend the time to call and write our politicians or were done. I always get a stupid form letter back with a bunch of generic words and phrases, but atleast let them know where one person stands.