[mythtv-users] MythTV vs. Windows Media Center

[Gabe Rubin]

On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 1:11 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 9:32 AM, Ben Kamen <bkamen at benjammin.net> wrote:
>> On 2/10/2011 1:43 PM, Eric Sharkey wrote:
>>>
>>> This surprises me.  TiVo's support for what it calls "Multiroom
>>> Viewing" and "TiVo To Go" are not compatible with copy-once content.
>>>
>>>  http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=451107
>>
>> For the stuff that is "Copy Never" -- I remember reading a bunch about Fair
>> Use concerning the RIAA Lawsuits and in the process a bunch about how it
>> related to Video and the "Broadcast Flag" (thus thus whole road for the
>> pcHDTV cards and so forth) pushing the building of one's own Copy-Proof
>> DVR..
>>
>> The "copy never" seems to fly in the well defined Fair Use that says a
>> viewer is legally allowed to record a baseball game
>> strictly for viewing in his home for non-commercial purposes. Am I not
>> remembering this right or have the laws been
>> change further against fair use?
>
> IANA American L but doesn't the DMCA trump fair use, ie you can nly
> make a "fair use" copy if you don't break the encryption?

There are carve-outs to the DMCA that are supposedly designed to allow
certain fair-use type scenarios (e.g., under certain circumstances,
circumventing a technical measure is allowed for interoperability).
The Library of Congress, Copyright Office accepts petitions for new
exceptions and every three years comes out with new rules adding to
the exceptions (I think this year they allowed circumvention of DRM on
cell phones to allow you to unlock a phone and use it with a different
carrier).  Absent those exceptions, it is a violation of the DMCA to
circumvent a technical measure even if the end result is a fair-use.
So, for example, using deCSS to play or copy a DVD is likely a
violation of the DMCA, even if you are doing for educational purposes.
 You may not be liable for the underlying copyright violation if you
can establish a fair-use defense; however, you would be liable for the
DMCA violation.

Again, this is not to be taken as legal advice.