[DMCA-Activists] RE: Mr. Rogers, Information Freedom Advocate

[Ryan Jairam]

What a sad day in the neighborhood.
 
I never really did realize that Mr. Rogers was one of the witnesses in
the Betamax case, though.  I guess I owe him a million thanks, since I'm
an avid user of a modern digital time shifting device (TiVo), without
him standing up for our rights to time shift TV programs, there would
possibly be no VCR's, and hence no TiVo.

Goodbye Mr. Rogers.

-----Original Message-----
From: Seth Johnson [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 7:26 AM
To: address@hidden;
address@hidden;
address@hidden; address@hidden;
address@hidden
Subject: Mr. Rogers, Information Freedom Advocate


(Forwarded from Boing Boing Blog)

-------- Original Message --------
    Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 09:32:04 -0800
    From: "Xeni Jardin" <address@hidden>
      To: address@hidden


Aside from being a decent and compassionate human being,
Fred Rogers  was also a champion of fair use. From the
website of the Home Recording  Rights Coalition: 

    In [the Sony Betamax] ruling that home time-shift
recording of  television programming for private use was not
copyright  infringement, the Supreme Court relied on
testimony from  television producers who did not object to
such home recording.  One of the most prominent witnesses on
this issue was Fred  Rogers. 

    The Supreme Court wrote: "Second is the testimony of
Fred  Rogers, president of the corporation that produces and
owns the  copyright on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The
program is  carried by more public television stations than
any other program.  Its audience numbers over 3,000,000
families a day. He testified  that he had absolutely no
objection to home taping for  noncommercial use and
expressed the opinion that it is a real  service to families
to be able to record children's programs and to  show them
at appropriate times. "

    (Excerpt from Mr. Rogers' trial testimony: ) "Some
public stations,  as well as commercial stations, program
the 'Neighborhood' at  hours when some children cannot use
it. . . . I have always felt that  with the advent of all of
this new technology that allows people to  tape the
'Neighborhood' off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the 
'Neighborhood' because that's what I produce, that they
then  become much more active in the programming of their
family's  television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to
people being  programmed by others. My whole approach in
broadcasting has  always been 'You are an important person
just the way you are.  You can make healthy decisions.'
Maybe I'm going on too long, but  I just feel that anything
that allows a person to be more active in  the control of
his or her life, in a healthy way, is important."

We'll miss you, Mr. Rogers.

Link: http://www.hrrc.org/history/betamax/mr_rogers.asp
Discuss: http://www.quicktopic.com/19/H/yw7axtrQkxLq

(Thanks, Seth!)

--
Posted by Xeni Jardin to Boing Boing Blog at 2/28/2003
9:29:33 AM

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