Why you should boycott Blu-ray

Why you should boycott Blu-ray and HD-DVD
http://bluraysucks.com/

The above page was written in 2006 and a couple of the points are obsolete (HD-DVD is no longer with us and the prices for players/drives have come down considerably), but the majority of the points are absolutely correct. The bottom line, though, is that the concept of fair use no longer exists. If you have paid good money for a legal copy of a movie or music, the MPAA and RIAA want you to continue to pay each and every time you view or listen to it. DVD was just the start (and was easily circumvented), but Blu-Ray is a giant step toward that goal and a huge loss for every honest citizen.

Have you noticed all the warnings to keep Blu-Ray players updated with the latest firmware in order to be certain of playing the latest discs? Makes, sense, they're always adding new features, fixing bugs, etc., right? Wrong! The only reason you're having to update is to add new DRM (Digital Rights Management) decryption keys. No new features, no bug fixes, just more inconvenience for the hapless user who only wants to be able to play the discs he or she has bought. Some players aren't even capable of updating their firmware, which means at some point they will become useless, not because of any real issues, just because the MPAA doesn't want you to be able to play the content you have legally bought.

I have to add that the mandated discontinuance of analog broadcast TV was part and parcel with this process (it's now nearly impossible to record your favorite TV shows over the air unless you want to shell out some big bucks for new hardware, and even then it's a monstrous pain to view it anywhere other than on the single device that recorded it). The reasons presented to the public are outright lies: emergency services neither need nor will use the frequencies, especially since they are still occupied by digital TV. The only reasons that the switch to digital TV was mandated were to force consumers to buy thousands of dollars of new equipment (the "converter boxes" are easily capable of, but banned by law from, outputting full HD resolution on appropriate ports) and to further the agenda of eliminating all possibilities of fair use.

On a separate but related issue, most people are totally unaware of the fact that the technology has existed since the 1980s to not only skip, but actually prevent recording of, commercials. In other words, it is elementary to produce a recording device that can provide you with commercial-free recordings of any TV show, but such features have been outlawed. I know of at least one VCR and one accessory box that were capable of that, but they were quickly squelched and the manufacturers driven out of business or worse. I do own a VCR that has a quick-skip function that will fast-forward exactly one minute at a time on playback, but that is obviously not nearly as user-friendly and you still see the commercials whiz by. They were only able to include that feature because it doesn't refer specifically to skipping commercials and doesn't delete them entirely.

Bottom Line:
People who want to steal and pirate can always do so no matter what steps are taken to ensure that they don't. Any technology that can be invented can just as surely be circumvented. Any attempt to prevent theft or piracy on the front end only inconveniences and frustrates the honest users, which in turn makes theft more profitable for the pirates...

The Real Dope: But then, the MPAA and RIAA are fully aware of that, and it's not the pirates they are going after, it's you. You dirty rotten scumbag, you!