[ExtractStream] Re: My Dangerous Idea - A technical question, not a legal question

[sharkey@a...]

> > Yes, it's his call, but his logic is still just plain wrong. He sees and
> > likes Tivo and want's to protect Tivo, and takes actions which protect
> 
> Actually so do I. I bought some Tivo stock so I hope Tivo does well.

And I do, too. I wish Tivo (the company) all the best, even if I wish
Tivo (the business model) to go down in flames.

> > Tivo's choice of business model is fundamentally flawed. They should
> 
> Here I agree.
> But until they change their business model, I believe it's reasonable to
> think that releasing all that Tridge has done (and the rest of non-releasing
> guys, for that matter) would harm Tivo.

Short term harm or long term harm?

I agree that there would be short term harm. Tivo would have to change and
adapt to the new situation, either by throwing up new barriers, like
extra layers of "encryption" and staunching the flow quickly, but again,
temporarily. This could involve some lost profits.

But long term, Tivo will become stronger. By using a well founded business
model, they'll be able to make more money in the long run. If they
required even just six months of service, that would be enough because
I think most people would just keep the contract rather than terminating
and switching to another provider, assuming the alternate provider provides
similar quality service and it requires a bit of hacking to get the box
to switch.

I mean, how many times do we need to read about companies that sell loss
leaders and don't adequately ensure a return on their loss?

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/07/02/239233&mode=nested

It's not good for Tivo to walk down this road.

> Still: While Tridge and the rest of the gang (sorphin, alex, mbm and others)
> won't release their stuff to the *public*, they are happy to share it with
> fellow hackers who agree not to spread it.

I don't do NDA, sorry. I don't want to have anything to do with this little
gated community of elite hackers. I believe in the principles of free
software. I believe in empowering the consumer. This whole "TV your
way! (Well, not really your way, just as much your way as we're willing
to allow. Stay within the lines, don't do anything creative.)" is
distasteful to me. I want "TV my way" and I'm not getting it, not just
because they aren't providing some service I'd like, but because they're
actually spending time and wasting resources putting up road blocks
to make the job of expanding on the Tivo's functionality more difficult.

The best cryptanalysists in the world agree that this is both pointless
and (for the company) self-defeating.

http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0105.html#3

It's far better to get on the right foot, sooner, rather than later.

> Approximately, what do you think it would be the ratio between people who
> use the feature to feed tivo with international programming and people who
> would use it to avoid feeds? Try to be realistic...

What's the chance that Tivo is going to switch business models before this
information is out there in hands of the public? Try to be realistic
yourself.

Eric