Microsoft Seeks Pay-to-TiVo Patent

from the the-meter-is-running dept

theodp writes “Users’ fears of TiVo restrictions will only be heightened after reading Microsoft’s just-published patent application for Control-based content pricing, which describes a scenario in which viewers are charged higher fees if they skip commercials or replay sports highlights.”


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Comments on “Microsoft Seeks Pay-to-TiVo Patent”

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14 Comments
eskayp says:

Goal: DRM everything

MS, RIAA, MPAA, et al, won’t be satisfied until they get their pound of flesh from every living, breathing person.
Oh, you took 47 breaths during that commercial?
Let’s see, at 58 cents per breath, the DRM you owe for using our ‘Intellectual Property’ amounts to $27.58,
which has already been deducted from your bank account, plus of course appropriate taxes, handling, and administrative fees.
Thank you for buying MicroSoft, Live for the moment.

keeponcoding says:

Shift to the right?

I am a Republican, but I have always appreciated the more liberal views of MS (I apologize in advance if I have offended anyone, and, yes–I know that the majority of you will disagree with me, but this is not the basis for my argument, simply only an observation); however, this possible move is troublesome. In the essence of full disclosure I must make mention that MS has given me anything that I have ever wanted for FREE, so I am biased whether I want to be or not, so it is with much displeasure and consternation that I say that this shift in their thinking is deplorable and unacceptable.

Many over the last few months–particularly the last two weeks–have compared MS and Google, noting that Google may be the new MS. If this continues to play out and turns out to be true, then this is a good example of the differences between MS and Google–Google is free for the consumer but not for the business.

Mike, good catch…you have piqued my interest.

-keeponcoding

Jim says:

Paying fee

In other new you will pay a higher fee you you go pee or grab a snack while the commercials is on.

Get real! Pay more for skipping commercials or replay sports highlight. Do I get paid if I replay the commercials?

What next I must buy the brand of ass wipe on the commercials or risk paying a higher fee.

This type of attidute just makes people find a way around it and violate the system/laws/copywrites/etc.

I will go back to the VHS or build my own system.

Solarcanine says:

Re: Re: Paying fee

…VCRs won’t record the new digital broadcasts…
I have to disagree on a fundamental level – from a merely technical standpoint, if a form of media (video or audio) can be reproduced by an authorized player, it can be duplicated through the same method, and there is ultimately no way to prevent it. May not be elegant, may not be a “perfect bit copy”, but it *will* be duplicated. And regardless of any DRM-heavy formats the entertainment industry and their bed-buddies in the tech sector come up with, there will not only be a way to get around it, but it will be refined quickly to being a technology that anyone can use.
It might not be *legal*, but it will exist and be used.

googly_eyes says:

The price of being entertained

And is it any wonder that “back in the day” our parents used to make up games, play outside(or go hiking, biking, fishing…), draw, paint, etc. and guess what – no DRM, no licensing fees, no ELUA’s, no price gouging, no new hardware needed….

My point is this – we are paying an ever increasing amount in dollars, and giving away an alarming amount of privacy – for what? To be entertained.

The simple solution (unpopular as it may be) is to turn off the TV, and stop buying DVD’s and music.

If millions of people did that, the entertainment industry would be left scratching their heads (and probably blame piracy for their losses).

Humanity wouldn’t know what to do with itself…

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