[mythtv-users] Zap2it Labs Shutting Down?

Rich Goodwin rich.goodwin at cox.net
Thu Jun 21 22:41:38 UTC 2007


I agree with you and am willing to a) contribute and b) help.  

I suggest considering issuing certificates to those who contribute to
the non-profit service so that only "those who contribute" gain access
to the non-profit group data.  The certs could be used to retrieve the
lineup.  This way excessive downloads can be easily turned off.  Issuing
certificates would be the issue but I believe something could be worked
out  I like using the EFF - if they are willing to broker something
here.

Rich Goodwin


On Thu, 2007-06-21 at 09:21 -0700, Matt Harmon wrote:
> Hi,
>    I've gotten some good advice from the community in
> the past and I'm a happy mythtv user. It rocks!
> 
>    It rocks so much that I would be willing to donate
> money to support it's development -- and furthermore,
> donate money (a la Wikipedia.org) to support the
> continued publication of channel information.
> 
>     There's been a lot of conversation about people
> picking the data up and selling it or offering
> subscriptions to people -- all of which runs up
> against the "well, since the data is so expensive,
> it's valuable enough for people to steal it."
> Donations from the community of users -- voluntary
> financial support -- seems a positive way to take some
> of the antagonism out of the relationship. It also
> reduces the likelihood of "data theft".
> 
>     My proposal is that the project put into place a
> site and foundation to collect donations to purchase a
> non-profit feed that the community can then use to
> sustain not only the availability of programming data
> but also, should the amount collected exceed what is
> needed to maintain the feed, sustain the viability of
> the project.
> 
>     The existence of an independent, open source
> entertainment platform is a means to kill DRM and it's
> monopoly creating capabilities must be supported. I
> don't have the time to contribute code, but I can help
> others and I can send money (perhaps the EFF -
> http://www.eff.org/ -  can send some lawyers?).
> 
>     This is about control over my hardware -- and I,
> at least (though I know there are others like me)
> would be willing to kick $100 or so into the till
> periodically to sustain that control.
> 
>     For me, mythtv isn't about the money, it's about
> control. I would rather have $X per month go to the
> support of an independent platform than send money to
> a bunch of aging, clasping, greedy people who want to
> dictate how many times -- and under what circumstances
> -- I get to watch their (rarely good) content.
> 
>    Donations -- voluntarily collected -- would allow
> the Tribune people to get their money and say to Tivo
> and the rest, "What someone does with their feed is
> their business, after all, don't your networks publish
> this information on the web?" but would allow the
> community to remain independent of the media oligarchy
> which is fighting so desperately to control what we
> watch and how we watch -- DESPITE OUR DESIRES AS THEIR
> CUSTOMERS.
> 
>    Anyway, just my two cents (and possibly $100, if a
> foundation is formed) and since I am unknown, perhaps
> the EFF or the mythtv lead developers (i.e. people we
> all pretty sure we can trust) could set up a
> foundation to support this. I would gladly be the
> first to donate.
> 
> Who will join me?
> 
> Thanks for reading,
> Matt Harmon
> 
> P.S. - There will probably be people who say this will
> never work and will attempt others not to do it. We
> should give it a try...As an open community,
> entertainment industry shills are free to come and
> attempt to influence us (do you think they haven't
> taken notice...Do you think they don't know the power
> of this?) Consider that when people oppose this idea.
> 
> 
> 
>        
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