Nobody is perfect


If you follow me, I will try to explain why to buy a book and to buy a dvd are not the same businsesses. Well, the two acts are different in many obvious respects, as you of course know at least if you think what you are going to do with them, but there might be one respect that you have never thought about. This is the story of what happend to me recently, after I walked in a bookshop to buy a book and a dvd, without realizing that I was paying ownership rights that are not on equal footings.

But this is also the story of a dear old friend with chips and leds who you once thought to be nearly the perfect guy, and then you found out that he is not so.

Let me start by saying that I am not an expert on copyrights, laws and all that stuff. There might be things that I will say that are wrong or imprecise, and I will try to stress when I will be only talking about just my opinions. But in general, once we put aside the legal aspect of the matter, I will be honest in saying what I believe is right and what I believe is not right.

A short course on regional codes for dvd is necessary here. Dvd's with movies usually come along with a regional code, one that is from 1 to 7. For example code 1 is for the US and most other American countries. Code 2 is for Europe, 3 for Eastern Asia and so on. A dvd that has no regional code is conventionallly said to be code 0. For example, if you burn your own dvd with the short movie that you made with your friends after your last vacation, it will have a regional code 0, that is no code. The code is a regional digital label imprinted on the dvd by the maker and copyright owner. Here is something that I might be imprecise about, but I believe I am right. I believe that this code is just a label that the copyright owner freely and willingly puts on it to defend its rights, but there is no obligation whatsoever to put that label.

Copyright owners usually do not produce dvd readers, and I guess they give the digital codes to the companies that do that, so that the readers can be used to watch movies. But of course, those companies are not bound to make that code as a prerequisite to watch ANY content of any dvd, be it code 1, 2, 3, 0 or whatever. Nevertheless, in most countries dvd readers are only compatible with the regional code of that country, and with the code 0.

I think that all this has to do with movies made available somewhere, and not somewhere else, or in both places in different formats, or because of taxes here and there, market and all that. My opinion is that the copyrights owners are right that their ownership must be defended against illegal exchange that may take place from one country to another, whenever that is for profit reason. In fact, in most countries those actions are illegeal and would be pursued if discovered.

On the other hand, it is my opinion that the private owner who only makes personal use of what he buys should be as well defended against abuse of power. If he makes personal use of what he gets, I see no reason why he should not be free to watch what he paid for, in any place of the world he likes to do that. I see no reason why if I buy a movie, then I can see it only as long I do not go to another continent, where my right to watch what is mine ceases to exist.

(I might add my thought on that. I will not buy any other dvd here in the States. Therefore the consequence of such politics is that the movie companies care more about fighting dishonest guys that to reach out to the honest ones)

This is one way the book is different. The book has a language it is written in. The pages however do not become suddenly encrypted as soon as you place your foot on another continent. If you were careful enough to buy the book in a language you can understand, and not foolish to do otherwise, you will have the right to read and enjoy your book all along in your lifetime, anywhere.

I promised to talk about a friend, and I stated in the title that nobody is perfect. Well, the moment I was buying my dvd and the book I was very confident that my Mac - that has never once really let me down since I bought it two years ago - would have been more than capable to read whatever I passed through its stomach. The heck I thought, it is a superior machine, and one that has technology and the user as its primary reasons to exist. I was shocked! Indeed my computer is capable to switch code, from 2 to 1 and the reverse, and the same with all the other codes. Of course it does, it is Mac. Surprise surprise! Simply it will allow me to do that only five times, ever. Then it will get stuck forever. If I had a collection on dvd with mixed codes, I would be ruined (f***ed). And that is my own Mac, and those would be my own dvd's. And the guy can do whatever he wants to, it is portable and should be logically able to let me rent and watch dvd whenever I like to, wherever I am.

Why that happened? See, again I am talking opinion and I might be wrong. I suspect that Apple just wants to please the big companies that have the movies. They are powerful, that might be the thing, and Apple might be helping them, want to show them that they are serious about this stuff. There should be the law to do that, not the companies. I would understand Microsoft, in my opinion they are less inclined to put technology before profit. But Apple! Come on! And is not America the place where private property is kind of sacred? Is it not the dvd my private property? Well, not if you encrypt it and you prevent anybody elsewhere in the world from deciphering it.

So, this was a big shock to me from Apple. The machine can probably read hieroglyphs, it is capable, but will not let me do that. So untechonlogical, so surprising. I do not know about all the legal stuff, it just sounds wrong to me. Most of all, when you love the machine and you think it is perfect, you cannot be sure you will ever recover from the delusion, that you will forgive one day. It is not the same thing as when you expect something to happen, the betaryal to be a possibility every day. It is very different.

I will see. I hope my powerbook will live tens of years. But if they do not get that straightened out, mmh, I am not sure I will be convinced again to get one. From a lesser machine I expect to be deluded, I would not feel hurt. That makes all the difference in the world sometimes.