It's no secret that's it's pretty easy to find TV programs from all over the world online. Whether or not it's legal to download them is still for many, a grey area. Here are some of my thoughts on the issue and of course in turn, I'm very curious to know yours.
When it comes to the copying and selling of pirated DVD's and CD's, no one would deny it's wrong. Making money from the efforts of artists who work hard to create that material is impossible to justify. Although record companies and book publishers have reportedly been doing it for centuries, that's another issue. What I'm interested in discussing is whether or not it is acceptable to download a TV program that after being shown on a public TV station, is recorded and then freely distributed through the Internet so that others, presumably in other countries, can watch is reasonable or unreasonable.
2 comments:
This is a difficult issue. I usually get TV programs of Hong Kong through internet, because I can not watch it here. It is the only way I can watch it in Taiwan, but I never think get TV programs this way is legal or not.
I think it is okay, if we don't make any profit by this way. A lot of people upload TV show to YouTube free space to share film around the world, and there are no TV stations to complain it to cause their damage at present.
Kiki,
TV companies complain that it does damage them by reducing potential DVD sales and rentals. Advertisements that are used to pay for TV programs are often edited out prior to being put on the Internet.
Interestingly, there was an arrest made last year of the owner/manager of a site called TV Links. The result of the arrest was nothing. No charges. No fine. Nothing. It seems that as most people who download aren't profiting financially from it, authorities really don't have the legal authority to prosecute them.
It will be interesting to see how this develops in the future.
- Paul
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