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Is sharing TV shows by bittorrent considered legal?
I can understand the whole DVD thing being taboo, but TV seems a bit different - like it's a public broadcast and therefore public domain. Yes? No?

# posted by Jason in Oregon 3:08 PM

I'm no lawyer, but just because it's on TV does not make it 'public domain' and that there is no copyright. Just look at the end of every current tv show and you'll see a copyright. I think FOR NOW though the MPAA(Motion Picture Association of America) is only concerned with movies. But that's not to say it is legal to copy a tv show and share it.

# posted by Anonymous 3:16 PM

I believe that the other problem with the TV broadcasts found on sites like Lokitorrent is that they had been edited to take the commercials out and many of them were just DVD rips from the DVD seasons released to stores. I don't think that television shows are considered public domain anyway, although I don't see a reason why you shouldn't be able to copy a TV program provided you leave all the commercials in.

# posted by David 3:37 PM

David, that brings us back to intellectual property. There is an assumption of "fair use" that allows you to make a copy of a TV program ("Hey, what if I'm not home?!) for your own use. You do not have a license to distribute it to others --in or under any condition.

# posted by Bill 7:20 PM

Bill, fair use is fine. However, you must also consider that I am paying to watch that episode of a show by subscribing to my local cable provider. My cable provider pays a licensing fee to the networks who in turn license content from the creator. If I miss an episode and tape it on my VCR, or miss it and download it, what is the difference? You can't go on about intellectual property rights of the producer when I have paid for the right to watch that show. I have the right to turn off/mute my TV during commercials so I should also have the right to watch the program with the commercials stripped out. The license I paid for covers the show I am watching, not the commercials. The networks can't cry that they aren't being compensated. I paid my cable bill this month. Maybe they should look at the Korean television broadcasting system, where 95% of all broadcast shows are available for download after air date. You can't stop technologies from emerging because they might change the way your business works. Companies need to change the way they do business to adapt to emerging technologies. It's a sad day when a companies try to stop their customers from enjoying their products and expect the customer to roll over and take it. The power already shifted in the music industry. Movies and TV are just the next industry to grow.

# posted by Anonymous 9:22 PM

Do you seriously think that you pay enough to cover the costs of the shows you watch? Well, you don't. The commercials are put in there so you can afford your cable bill better. It's the same thing with magazines and newspapers. They'd lose money if they didn't have advertisements. In fact, they'd probably lose more and more money as the number of buyers/subscribers went up. $0.50 a day is much less than the content of a newspaper is worth. It's the same thing with televisions. How do you think that they make broadcast completely *free*? You're not paying for that out of your own pocket.

# posted by David 10:12 AM

Yeeeeeeeeah... Lokitorrent was the "last" of the large torrent sites...sure thing. If it makes you feel better to believe that, be my guest...

IMO I can't see much difference between downloading the latest episode of Enterprise and Tivoing it. Well, with Tivo you'd have to fast forward through the commercials (assuming they allow you to do so) and there's not a lot you can do with the show unless you've got a DVD-R in your Tivo...

But let's say you have a MythTV box. You cap the show, cut out the commercials and output the show to a divx movie. How is that ANY different from downloading the show in the first place? Apart from all the work you have to go to to get there?

TV isn't public domain, but it's sent out freely over the airwaves. How I receive and watch it is my own concern.

# posted by Anonymous 12:08 PM

The difference between downloading and TiVoing is that you've paid for the service which allows you to watch the shows and thusly TiVo them. it's as you say-- TV isn't public domain. in order to access it, you have to pay. this is the difference.

# posted by Anonymous 2:55 PM

I'm aware that there are other torrent sites out there, but Lokitorrent was far bigger than any of the remaining ones that I know of. There are always going to be websites for Bittorrent as long as there's interest and I'm sure that some website will come to take Lokitorrent's place, but it was definitely the largest remaining collection (at least available to the public...I haven't looked into the pay ones-some of which are just scams) of trackers on the internet.

# posted by David 3:59 PM

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