[LINK] ABC embroiled in copyright debate over iview

[Gordon Keith]

On Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:03:20 PM David Boxall wrote:
> On 20/09/2012 8:30 PM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> > ...
> > The situation has resolved itself in a way, because Python-iView now has
> > mirrors on Github - beyond the ABC's reach.
> > ...
> 
> Python-iView is just a friendly gui to rtmpdump. It parses information
> from the iView site, presents it to the user, sends the appropriate
> command to rtmpdump, then captures the stream. It isn't the only such
> program and doesn't run on the most popular OS (actually, I did get it
> to run under Windows once - too much hassle to keep it up to date), so
> why did the ABC target it?

>From what I've read about iView the ABC is able to license content from third 
parties to be made available on iView for a short time (usually a month) on 
the basis that iView allows viewing only, not downloading and is not a conduit 
to privacy. 

The extent to which they can sell that message to content owners is the extent 
to which they can license content for iView.

Being seen to be acting in good faith by preventing the use of iView for 
downloading helps to sell that message.

Everyone knows that anything on the web is technically downloadable like 
everything that is broadcast can be recorded but iView is basically an 
experiment to see if a balance can be found between making customers happy by 
making content easily viewable and making content owners happy by making 
content hard to download and pirate.

The ABC does not seem fussed if content its owns is downloaded (it is also 
usually available on iView for much longer periods). The issue is how much can 
third party content owners trust the iView platform.

It's an interesting experiment in the evolution of media. You can be sure a 
number of content owners are watching its impact.

If iView succeeds there will be more content available via it and similar 
services. If it fails the ABC content will probably become more easily 
downloadable but there will be virtually no third part content. Either way it 
provide interesting insights into 21st century media.

Regards
Gordon