[HumbeOpinion]

This will be a good thread to share the weird stories of Hollywierd!!

Some people like to watch the previews, others don’t.

Since the advent of the VCR, and with the arrival of DVD players, those who want to get to the movie have been free to skip past the coming attractions.

The entertainment industry, however, is exerting pressure in Congress with the hope of making it impossible to skip past previews and advertisements at the opening of DVDs.

Legislative language that would have done just that — make it illegal for DVDs to allow fast-forwarding — was struck at the last minute from a copyright bill that passed the Senate late Nov. 20.

The legislation, however, is headed for an uncertain fate in the House, which could reconvene Dec. 6 and 7 to consider, among other things, stalled intelligence reform legislation.

If the House passes the legislation as is, the matter could be rendered moot. But if it fails, Congress may be forced to revisit the issue of copyright reform next year in the 109th Congress, allowing the issue to re-emerge.

The entertainment industry asserts that revenue from the advertisements and publicity from the previews is central to its business plans, while opponents note that millions of VCR owners have been fast-forwarding past ads and coming attractions for nearly two decades.

The issue grew out of the proposed Family Movie Act, introduced this year by U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. The bill would have exploited technology developed by ClearPlay, Inc., allowing families to skip past explicit sex and violence on DVDs.

The film industry, however, balked, arguing that the use of such technology would compromise filmmakers’ intended product.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee began final consideration of legislation backed by the Motion Picture Association of America and other industry interests to clamp down on piracy of DVDs.

The legislation included a number of clauses opposed by a growing number of technological freedom groups in Washington.

Along with the clause that would have forbidden skipping ads and previews was language that would have lowered the bar for enforcement of copyright infringement law, removing the requirement of willful intent for prosecution.

Another clause would have allowed the Justice Department to take civil, in addition to criminal action, against individuals or companies that violate copyright law.

Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, a Washington-based group that fights restrictions on information sharing, said the civil action clause would have made the Justice Department "the movie industry’s private law firm."

The MPAA did not respond to a request for comment.

http://www.nhregister.com/site/news....d=517515&rfi=6

[alex_holker]

I would hope that if this occurred, people would boycott any DVDs that stop people skipping the ads. After all, they aren't going to make the DVDs cheaper to make up for the annoyance and added advertising revenue, are they?

Alex