necoandjeff wrote:
> Kevin Wayne Williams wrote:
> 
>>necoandjeff wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Paul Blay wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>"necoandjeff" <spam@schrepfer.com> wrote ...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Bittorrent is not a hassle at all and it's completely free. And it
>>>>>is lightning fast, particularly if you are downloading a popular
>>>>>file (like a TV show shortly after it has been aired.) Within 5 to
>>>>>6 hours after a show has aired it can be found on any bittorrent
>>>>>search service. An hour show (generally 350MB) can be downloaded in
>>>>>a little more than half an hour usually.
>>>>
>>>>Aren't you supposed to say "or so I have heard." or something at the
>>>>end there?
>>>
>>>
>>>If I were still in the U.S., I might have.
>>
>>And that would matter because?
>>KWW
> 
> 
> 1. By downloading a television show that was broadcast over the free airways
> in the U.S. and viewing it in my home, it is far from clear that I'm
> violating any copyright laws. It isn't terribly different from the "time
> shifting" that is achieved by Tivo or any VCR that has been in use for the
> last 20-30 years. It's quite different, however, from downloading movies or
> CDs that one would normally have to pay for, which I do not do. I could just
> as easily be arrested for all the videotapes of various television shows
> that I made while living in the U.S. and brought with me to Japan, or if I
> enlisted my parents to videotape shows and mail them to me here in Japan as
> an alternative.

I do not think your analogy is a good one. A copyright holder of a 
television broadcast would have a good case against the Bittorent-ing of 
the work as being an infringement of his exclusive rights to distribute 
and perform to the public. Your recording of broadcast television shows 
or having your parents do so would not be such an infringement.

As an aside, I would also add that television shows broadcast by the 
networks are increasingly becoming works that one pays for as more 
series are being released to DVD season by season.

- Kevin