A story on http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-clean13dec13,0,6042993.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dbusiness
notes: >> Eight major film companies are expected to file copyright infringement claims as early as today against CleanFlicks of Colorado and other firms that alter movies to remove scenes and language they deem offensive << Interestingly, media-players with the ability to skip content are being drawn into the battle: >>Others sell software that lets consumers edit a DVD copy to their own specifications. .<< for instance >>Robert Huntsman, an Idaho copyright lawyer who joined CleanFlicks in filing the original complaint after inventing a technology that hides film content without actually altering it.<< Note that the user's *ability* to control *playback* has not been allowed by Hollywood's DVD goons ---you can't skip the offensive FBI warnings. And Hollywood would like to make skipping commercials on your PVR illegal or imposible too. Note that the DVD goons maintain *their* ability to control playback, e.g., region coding. Note that if the DVD goons actually persecute Johansson etc. then technology will *not* be a solution to the social problem of DVD goon control, since Men With Guns will use force. Which is a whole lot different than simply being unable to buy a licensed player with the features you want. The most delicious part of the fracas is that the Mormons can brandish "Hollywood violence" in a PR campaign against Hollywood control. Won't anyone think of the chiiildren? The ghost of Tipper Whore^H^HGore has come back to bite Valenti in the arse.. ------ The moral solution is quite simple. You can't edit someone else's content for sale, that's copyright. But you can't stop folks from selling devices that read media and provide arbitrary features, including programmable bleeping/skipping of content.
