[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by PvK:

Here's a variation. Suppose the "thief" has a device which picks up radio signals that drift out of the theatre from the projection, and let's him see the movie on a screen in his own home. Does he have the right to view the film this way? I say yes - he should be able to decode any signals passing through his own house.

Legally, maybe not. In the UK, they have receiver detection trucks like you see the Nazis using in war movies about the underground resistance. The UK authorities use this to "catch" people watching TV in their homes without having paid the "TV tax." I think that's pretty outrageous, personally. If your business involves beaming signals into my property, I say I have every right to decode them however I want to, regardless of how much theoretical money you might have made if I would submit to your contracts and subscription rates.

PvK

This is the exact situation with encrypted satellite TV services. The signal is there all the time, passing through your property. Why should you not have the right to decrypt it and watch? There are millions who think they have the right and they go right ahead and download the programs and/or build the boxes that let them access the programming without a twinge of guilt. The service providers are fighting the same sort of running battle as the [RI/MP]AA with constant new legal angles and new technologies trying to stem the leakage of their 'intellectual property'. They're having about the same degree of sucess, too.

For that matter, I've got a cable tv cable running along the wall outside my apartment. I could setup a sensitive antenna and watch cable for 'free' at the price of a somewhat fuzzier image than a direct link. (I've tested with a few TVs just out of curiousity. It does work. Coax isn't that well insulated, apparently... )

Aside from the fact that cable tv is just as sh*tty as broadcast tv ever was, but with more channels, I can't see any downside to it. I gave up watching tv years ago though, so I don't have to worry about whether it's 'ethical' to do so.

[ July 16, 2003, 01:17: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]