Here is what my brother says. I wouldn't necessarily take him to be an
authority, though...
Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 16:12:14 -0500
From: Jim Hutchins <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Code Free DVD
Scott,
Simple.
Many countries in Europe and Asia have few if any intellectual property
(copyright) laws. It is perfectly legal (or close enough) for people in
those countries to buy a DVD, CD, or video tape, or other copyrighted work,
duplicate it, and sell as many copies as they can. Many of those people now
do so and sell to customers via the Internet or through intermediaries.
While that is illegal, it is very difficult to stop. It is unlikely for a
US prosecutor to be able to obtain an extradition warrant for a citizen of
another country on a charge relating to a minor property crime. Not only is
there the question of the legality of the request, there is the question of
the extreme cost.
By selling only discs that cannot be played on the vast majority of players
sold in the US, in countries without adequate protection for intellectual
property holders, many of the pirates in those countries have lost the
ability to acquire source material from which to make their copies. Thus
[some] piracy has been prevented.
Your challenge has been met. I win.
Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Jim Hutchins" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2000 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: Code Free DVD
> I defy you to show me how region encoding prevents piracy. All it can do,
> according to what I know and all those I have spoken to, is keep someone
> from using a foreign DVD they bought from a web-based company on thier
> home DVD player. It was instituted by film studios in this country so
> that people in place like Australia, Europe, and Asia would have to wait
> until the title was released there, rather than buying an import. I
> assumed that studios wouldn't care about DVDs that high end going to
> serious cinephiles, as opposed to an Australia Joe Public.
>
>
> On Wed, 10 May 2000, Jim Hutchins wrote:
>
> > Scott,
> >
> > I think it's insane. It may also be illegal. Regional coding is put
there
> > to prevent pirating. From the specs, it appears to be roughly
equivalent to
> > a $250 Sony except for the multi-region ability and the multi-format
output.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: "James William Hutchins" <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2000 11:46 PM
> > Subject: Code Free DVD
> >
> >
> > >
> > > It's expensive as hell, and I can't get it right now, but what do you
> > > think of this (it's the cheapest one):
> > >
> > > http://www.codefreedvd.com/dvd_panasonic_a160.htm
> > >
> > >
> >
===========================================================================
> > ====
> > > Scott Andrew Hutchins
> > > http://php.iupui.edu/~sahutchi
> > > Cracks in the Fourth Wall Filmworks/Oz, Monsters, Kamillions, and
More!
> > > (with special musical guest Leila Josefowicz)
> > >
> > > "Who's John Adams?" --Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., at Monticello,
> > > after failing to recognize busts of other founding fathers.
> > >
> >
>
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