When I have to work late, I have a friend tape my favorite show for me so I can watch it when I get home. Is this illegal?

When I watch the show, I skip over the commercials if my friend happened to record them in the first place. Is this illegal?

A co-worker of mine also missed the TV show, so I gave her a copy of the recording. Is this illegal?

Millions of dollars are being spent by TV producers and TV stations trying to make such activity illegal. Their main enemy is the Torrent technology that allows peer-to-peer sharing of their product.

Torrent technology allows any individual to download a file from one or more other computers. This technology is different and more efficient than merely transferring a single file from one computer to another. Many computers can download from many other computers simultaneously. But that’s not the point.

The point is that the industry wants it to stop. Why? Money. They produce the product and sell it to subscriber services or sell advertising, and they see this after-market file-sharing cutting into their profits. Just barely, it’s argued, but still…

How can they stop it? That’s their problem. Not only is it ludicrous to try to regulate such an innocent and time-honored activity, but it’s also physically impossible. Instead, they want to add a surcharge to recording media such as tapes, CD-R’s, and and DVD-R’s. And computers, and DVD players, and MP3 players. And Internet service providers. And utility companies. And the web-based facilitators of file-sharing.

Money grab is their game, and they’ll keep throwing their lawyers and lobbyists at it until it happens.

Meanwhile, Google any of the countless Torrent search engines out there for a copy of the latest episode of your favorite TV show. Use any of countless free Torrent download programs to bring the copy onto your computer. Watch it there, or burn it to a disc and watch it through your DVD player.

It’s not illegal. Yet.

Six-Eye Jackson

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