Previous Politech message: "SonicBlue ordered to track ReplayTV users' viewing choices" http://www.politechbot.com/p-03488.html EPIC's Megan Gray wrote this amicus brief: http://www.epic.org/privacy/replaytv/amici_brief_eick_order.pdf -Declan --- fwd: The Washington Post, June 01, 2002 Copyright 2002 The Washington Post The Washington Post June 01, 2002, Saturday, Final Edition SECTION: FINANCIAL; Pg. E02 LENGTH: 281 words HEADLINE: Studios Lose Court Skirmish; TV-Recorder Maker Doesn't Have to Collect Data on Viewers BYLINE: Joyzelle Davis, Bloomberg News DATELINE: LOS ANGELES, May 31 BODY: -- A federal judge overturned a magistrate's ruling ordering Sonicblue Inc., the maker of ReplayTV recording devices, to turn over data on its customers' viewing habits to major film studios and television networks. The media companies contend that the ReplayTV recorders violate copyright law by letting viewers share video over the Internet and skip commercials when viewing TV shows. But Sonicblue, joined by privacy advocates, argued the original order constituted an unnecessary invasion of consumers' privacy. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper acknowledged those concerns, although she overturned the order on the basis that it "impermissibly" requires Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sonicblue to create data that doesn't currently exist. Sonicblue "would be required to undertake a major software development effort, incur substantial expense, and spend approximately four months" to gather the required information, Cooper wrote in an eight-page order. She said the plaintiffs could get the same information through a survey. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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