Book People Archive

FW: Globalization DVD/E-texts


Michael S. Hart Wednesday, March 28, 2001 4:34 AM wrote:
<<The players actually come with codes built into them as to what country
or region of the world they are licensed for. . .thus if you buy a DVD
in France, it probably won't play DVDs you bought here, and vice versa.
I have already received email from someone who bought a computer here
in the US that had a DVD drive from Europe, and it wouldn't play ANY
of the DVDs available here.  This is really disgusting!>>

The real problem here is the stiff approach to "import" that the United
States has again adopted with respect to DVD copyright protection. Let me
explain; it is currently illegal in the United States to own a DVD device
that reads region 1(US) AND region 2(The rest of the world) DVDs.

However, region 2 countries which includes Asia as well as Europe and the
Middle East have made commercially available appliances that will read both
region 1 & 2 encoding. Also note that the United States stands pretty much
alone in region 1 encoding. This translates into being that (other than
China, and Muslim fundamentalist states...) an individual has a far richer
variety of DVD selections outside of the United States.

This is very alarming! Today economics dictates what people can and cannot
view in America. I am beyond my initial realization that the United States
has progressively evolved, not as a leader in democracy, but as a leader in
capitalism. Great one might think, but this malady of seeking to retain
economic control, to turn each and every aspect of a society into a money
making opportunity, is bound to limit that society from experiencing the
treasures of the outside world...

How will this translate in the future in regards to other published
material? What if paper books are replaced by digital books? Will that mean
that in America we will also have less literature to select from? And as the
entertainment industry is currently transferring music CDs to the DVD medium
will that not ultimately affect the selection of music we hear?

More painfully, I have lately tried accessing several foreign financial
websites, from the USA, and was surprised to see that access to certain
areas of these websites is restricted to viewers from the US territories -
meaning you are blocked from seeing any of the content at all! What next? I
am seriously considering to move to another country with a greater respect
for cultural exchange, and a society that encourages intellectual
versatility.