[mythtv-users] Zap2it Labs Shutting Down?

[ryan patterson]

On 6/20/07, Mike LaPlante <mike at dividia.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> stuart wrote:
> > Chris Petersen wrote:
> >
> >> Srikant Sharma wrote:
> >>
> >>> Is it possible for us (mythtv-users) to convince them to share the
> >>> data with a very limited number of users?  We users can later
> >>> distribute.propagate the data using some peer-to-peer protocol. This
> >>> will alleviate the load on their servers and we can still manage to
> >>> get the listings.
> >>>
> >> Their main concern is that there are people making money off of
> services
> >> that they are giving away for free.  Though I don't speak for TMS, I
> can
> >> guarantee you that they'd never release listings data to the community
> >> for distribution (it was suggested once when DD was first established).
> >>  Their whole point is that they don't mind individual users getting the
> >> data (hence offering it for free on zap2it.com), but if someone is
> >> selling a product that uses the TMS listings, they need to pay for the
> >> right to do so.
> >>
> >> To reiterate, bandwidth is likely not a major concern, but people
> >> violating the terms of the user agreement are.  Without a way to
> prevent
> >> it, they're shutting down the entire service.
> >>
> >> -Chris
> >>
> >
> > What a mess.  Needs some creative thinking...  However, everything I
> > think of requires some work at the server end...  Something TMS probably
> > doesn't want to do (or should not have to do) when they are giving away
> > a service for private individual use...
> >
> > Anyways...
> >
> > How's about setting up a subscription service that requires each user to
> > have a unique key to decode personally encoded data.  You start out with
> > the current mythtv community.  Then, water mark the data for half the
> > uses. If the water mark shows up in commercial use, flag those users and
> > repeat the process on half the remaining users.  Repeat the process
> > until you identify the commercial user(s) and stop sending them data
> > they can decode with their key.  Eventually you will weed out initial
> > commercial users.  At such a point, start a new policy which restricts
> > creation of new accounts.  That is, something like a cooling off period
> > of say 1 week.  That way, if you get flagged you can't turn around and
> > create a new account right away.  This would also make private users
> > more protective of their keys.
> >
> > Nothing is totally safe, and the above approach will take continuous
> > effort.  And, dare I say it, sounds very Big Brother'ish.  Anyone have a
> > better one?
> >
> > ---
> >
> > By the way - at least in the states - doesn't PBS transmit all local
> > listings (i.e. commercial and public stations)?
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > mythtv-users mailing list
> > mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> >
> I think the main point is Zap2it is fed up and doesn't have the
> resources to implement such things. They don't want to have to track
> down the violators, it costs money to put a system like that in place.
>
> Just let the Myth devs try and work something out with them. I'm sure
> Myth will find a way to survive.
>
> Mike


I think people are too caught up in the unauthorized use of the zap2it
data.  Reading between the lines of the zap2it posting, I think the main
reason behind this is TMS is going to change the backend database structure
and they don't want to have to pay somebody to rewrite the datadirect client
that accesses the database.  The unauthorized use by commercial entities (
i.e. a college student sells a few premade mythtv systems for extra money)
can not be significant.  But it makes for a nice scapegoat.

-- 
_____________
Ryan Patterson
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