Re: movie files...

[guenther <guenther rudersport de>]

On Mon, 2007-07-09 at 11:31 -0700, Cliff Wells wrote:
> On Fri, 2007-07-06 at 22:47 +0200, guenther wrote:

> > I am trying hard to imagine a file with that name and size to be the
> > "original". Really, I am trying hard...
> 
> The OP clearly gives a bad example to support what might be a useful
> feature, nevertheless I feel compelled to argue this point.
> 
> I think the idea that a video is illegal if it isn't the "original" is
> FUD spread by the RIAA.  *Content* is licensed, not media.  That is, if
> I purchase "Toy Story", I can do whatever I like with it provided that I
> do not transfer the licensed content to another individual.  

Actually, I did not claim the opposite. :)  I just took a guess based on
the example given by the OP. Of course, I may be wrong about my
assumptions -- if so, I apologize.

Just a short note about content, media, and the cosumers' rights: This
is a complicated topic, and not the same for all countries. For example,
even while you purchase permission to use a content, other laws may
prevent legal copies, by making "circumvention of a copy-protection"
illegal. However bad and insecure that copy-protection might be in
practice.

[...]
> The RIAA would love everyone to believe that there is never a legal
> reason to copy a movie or other media (or that they are such rare and
> uncommon uses as to be inconsequential), but this is an outright lie.

Agreed...


> > Honestly, I do hope official GNOME will never support anything like
> > this.
> 
> Honestly I hope GNOME will never police its users on behalf of the RIAA
> or any other entity.  Frankly it's one of the major (arguably only)
> reasons to choose OSS over Apple. 

Please note, that I did *not* advocate "policing the user".

Adding the relevant information should be done while actually creating
the digital copy already. Just as any music ripper supports. Either by
using convenient, publicly accessible databases automatically, or by
manually giving this information. This usually is written down on the
back or a booklet...

Again, I especially jumped on the example given. Which clearly was a
copy that just magically existed, and matched some certain, well known
criteria. In the environment given, a ripper application was not
mentioned. Also, the need to automatically exclude certain keywords has
been mentioned. If I am creating a copy and do not want it to read
"screener" in the file name, I wouldn't type that string in the first
place.


IMHO adding such information is the duty of the ripper software. Not a
file manager.

I am not against displaying, using, adding or producing meta info. Also,
I am not against movie equivalents of freedb.org or musicbrainz.org. And
of course, if any such service exists, it would be great to make Totem
and any other related GNOME software (including DVD rippers) use it.


Other than that -- Iain summed it up pretty good by his last
sentence. ;)

  guenther


-- 
char *t="\10pse\0r\0dtu\0  ghno\x4e\xc8\x79\xf4\xab\x51\x8a\x10\xf4\xf4\xc4";
main(){ char h,m=h=*t++,*x=t+2*h,c,i,l=*x,s=0; for (i=0;i<l;i++){ i%8? c<<=1:
(c=*++x); c&128 && (s+=h); if (!(h>>=1)||!t[s+h]){ putchar(t[s]);h=m;s=0; }}}