re: Regarding the policy on illegal streaming audio links...

quote:

---

I am a former paying member and will no longer pay for such a poor quality product.

---

+1

It was actually better a long arse time ago when it was free.

quote:

---

Suppose someone in the stands does a live podcast. Does LSU have the right to quash a link to TD to said podcast? Nope.

---

Of course not. That's not the issue, though (and I think that issue was actually decided by the Supreme Court last year, wasn't it?).

The issue here is the streaming of LSU's proprietary broadcast, featuring the commentary of the announcers LSU hired and paid to perform for the broadcast (how in the hell Hawthorne's contribution is supposed to add value to a broadcast I cannot imagine, but that's their "business plan"), by people who have not compensated LSU for the right to use that broadcast for their own commercial gain. And that is not even remotely related to a 1st Amendment issue.

quote:

---

Of course not. That's not the issue, though (and I think that issue was actually decided by the Supreme Court last year, wasn't it?).

The issue here is the streaming of LSU's proprietary broadcast, featuring the commentary of the announcers LSU hired and paid to perform for the broadcast (how in the hell Hawthorne's contribution is supposed to add value to a broadcast I cannot imagine, but that's their "business plan"), by people who have not compensated LSU for the right to use that broadcast for their own commercial gain. And that is not even remotely related to a 1st Amendment issue.

---

That's what I was trying to get at. Guess I wasn't specific enough.

quote:

---

by people who have not compensated LSU for the right to use that broadcast for their own commercial gain

---

Who has been doing this? just askin'

quote:

---

Who has been doing this? just askin'

---

The sites that provide the free streaming audio of the broadcast are doing that. They are distributing the broadcasts -- which are LSU's property -- without paying the licensing fee required to secure LSU's consent to distribute the broadcasts. And they are deriving commercial benefit from it because the traffic generated by people listening to the broadcasts adds to their advertising revenue.

Huh? So the site makes money just for me clicking on the page? hmmmmmmm

quote:

---

I'm pretty sure at least some of them used to

---

They did, but I don't think that is the case anymore. Until a few years ago, you could listen on lsusports.net for free as well. I believe once they started making people pay for GZ, they made affiliates stop the streaming. I might be wrong, but if affiliates ARE streaming, then there would be no need for people to go to a third party source.

quote:

---

I was told that it is illegal to rebroadcast the transmission of the games without consent, and that a cease and desist order has been sent to UStream.com and other similar sites by LSU/SEC to stop this practice.

---

Somebody -- either me or a lot of other people on this board -- must be very confused about what is going on. I have seen many posts attacking LSU's policy decision to go after TD.com, or to try and prevent posters from talking about the games. The above is quoted from Chicken's original post regarding this with what I feel to be significant portions emphasized. From what Chicken posted, LSU is not trying to prevent posting about the games on this site. Nor are they attempting to shut down this site. All they are attempting to do is stop the illegal rebroadcasting of their broadcasts by sites like UStream.com. They have asked Chicken for his "help" inasmuch as they have asked that this site stop facilitating the illegal activities in which those sites engage.

This is not an attack on TigerDroppings. This is not an attempt to shut down gamethread posts. This is LSU trying to preserve its property rights by putting a stop to the illegal rebroadcasting.

I agree that GeauxZone sucks, but that is completely besides the point. If GeauxZone did not exist at all, LSU's position regarding the illegal streaming would still be 100% legitimate and I would still agree with it 100%. It is LSU's property and no one should be allowed to use it without their consent. No different than my money or your car. Period.

I agree with copyrights and all that for protecting properties of whatever kind. Those laws are to prevent folks from making money off of someone else's works. But let me try to understand this.
If a person is paying for a payfor view item and shares it with friends, is that illegal? Can they tell you that it would be illegal for you to have people other than yourself watching the event?
That is what this is becoming to me. If people are using the computer as an extension of their home to allow friends to view, is that illegal?
Just asking questions.

quote:

---

If a person is paying for a payfor view item and shares it with friends, is that illegal?

---

Not if they do it personally.

quote:

---

Can they tell you that it would be illegal for you to have people other than yourself watching the event?

---

No, just as you can have people over to watch a pay-per-view fight or something (as far as I know).

quote:

---

That is what this is becoming to me. If people are using the computer as an extension of their home to allow friends to view, is that illegal?

---

No, if the people who were paying for the stream were simply showing it to others, there would not be a problem. But what is happening (apparently) is that people are taking the broadcast and putting it on a 3rd party hosting site, which the other people then visit (generating webtraffic and thus ad revenue for that 3rd party site; i.e., profit) to listen to the broadcast. It is the actions of that 3rd party hosting site that are illegal. They are distributing the broadcast without consent for a commercial venture.

As an analogy (though not a perfect one, of course), imagine there are two radio stations in a market area: WABC and WXYZ. WABC pays a licensing fee to LSU's sports marketing enterprise to be an affiliate of the LSU Sports Radio network. WXYZ does not. When gametime rolls around, WABC airs the broadcast. WXYZ tunes a receiver in to WABC to pick up the broadcast, then re-broadcasts it on WXYZ. WXYZ is getting the commercial benefit of LSU fans tuning in to their station to hear the game without LSU's consent, and LSU is not getting the licensing fee they should have been paid for that consent.

Again, I do not mean to suggest that this is perfectly analogous to what is going on with the internet streaming sites and I am certainly no expert on Copyright or Intellectual Property Law. But I think the general principle is the same. LSU owns the broadcast, and those sites -- the ones hosting the streaming broadcast without LSU's permission -- are the ones breaking the law.