[mythtv-users] Boxee/Hulu?

[jedi]

On Sun, Mar 01, 2009 at 04:28:49AM -0500, Eric Sharkey wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 1:26 AM, Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> > On 02/28/2009 01:19 AM, David Brodbeck wrote:
> >>
> >> It's not really analogous to the Hulu issue, though, because that content
> >> is offered for free anyway.
> >
> > Free of charge does not mean free of license...  Didn't GNU teach us
> > anything?
> 
> The GNU general public license is a perfect example.

...not really.

It doesn't seek to acquire new means to micromanage how end users
exploit a work. It only sets out the terms under which derivative
works can be made. This is one of the basic rights reserved to 
authors of creative works.

Infact, the GPL is non-discriminatory. So it is quite UNLIKE the 
sort of situation you are trying to support/excuse with Hulu. This
might explain why a number of MythTV users may find Hulu's actions
intuitively wrong in a manner they may not be able to explain.

We might despise the Microsoft, or the RIAA or CBS but they don't
get discriminated against by the FSF or the GPL as a matter of
principle. 

> 
> It's one of the few licenses that spell out explicitly that you are
> not bound by it:
> 
>     5.  You are not required to accept this License, since
>     you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants you
>     permission to modify or distribute the Program or its derivative
>     works. These actions are prohibited by law if you do not accept
>     this License.
> 
> In other words, you are always free to ignore any license on any copyrighted
> material and treat the work as if it said "all rights reserved" in which case
> normal copyright law applies.
> 
> What we're saying in this discussion is that we think the terms requested
> by Hulu are onerous and as such we're going to treat their works using
> an "all rights reserved" license (i.e. no license).  Fair use still applies and
> as long as no redistribution or public performance or any other
> prohibited activity takes place, it's all perfectly legal.
> 
> Eric
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