I just received an email from a fellow named Steve who wishes to disagree with me on my ClearPlay Chronicles. If you’re behind on the reading, check out my debates with Carl on the same subject:

Bleep & Cut Your DVD
ClearPlay DVD Filtering
More ClearPlay Discussion
Final Thoughts on ClearPlay
One More Time on ClearPlay
The Absolute Last Word on ClearPlay… until next time…

Steve writes:

I just came across your ‘allow me to retort’ posting where you state your concerns about what ClearPlay does.

Well, hello Steve.

You say you don’t like that they make money from it; that they’re getting paid to do my parenting. Heaven forbid anyone should sell a stroller that relieves a mother of her obligation to pack her kid around-and make money off helping parents do their job. Baby formula makers should be ashamed of themselves. Everyone knows breast feeding is the way to go.

Interesting analogy. Inaccurate as hell, but interesting. Strollers and breast milk are not works of art. (Some breasts are, though…)

[Is ClearPlay altering DVD’s?] No, it is not. This third party [ClearPlay] merely provides extremely detailed information to parents on exactly where certain content resides on DVDs they already own. The parent then gets to choose from many levels of censorship of those aspects of the film they want to protect their kids from.

We’ve already got that; it’s a little black letter on the DVD that says “G” or “PG” or “PG-13” or “R”. Some of them even come with the more detailed “L”, “V”, “N”, and “SC” sub-labels.

But believe it or not, I don’t object to extremely detailed information about the naughty bits of a DVD. If you sat there with a spreadsheet that said “Warning: curse word at 0:43:55” or “Warning: naked boobie at 1:13:02”, I’d have no problem with you muting or skipping those parts.

Where I have a problem is with ClearPlay marketing technology to do it for you without the director’s permission. And I’ve said before, directors are fools for not cashing in on licensing this phenomena; there is obviously a huge hypersensitive audience for bowdlerized films.

But you say:

In its entire history, ClearPlay has never edited an artist’s original work and released that work in an altered form. They will never do so in the future.

But yes, ClearPlay has altered a director’s original work. See, you’re confusing the DVD with the art that resides on the DVD. When you buy “Saving Private Ryan”, the shiny disc with encoded bits read by a laser is not what the director created. The director created the images and sounds that are produced when those bits are decoded.

This is important, Steve. The idea that ClearPlay has not edited or altered DVD’s is true enough; your shiny disc is still in the same condition it was when you bought it. But the continuous series of sounds and images that Spielberg created IS ALTERED when played through ClearPlay. And that’s different than you manually skipping that which is offensive. This is a DVD player manufactured to purposefully play only parts of a director’s movie.

What I don’t understand is why you feel you have the right to consume these movies that are so against your values. Why would you put on a movie for your children to watch that is clearly labeled as containing material inappropriate for children? Isn’t there enough cartoon / Disney / Nickelodeon channels on the cable dial?

You may censor anything you like in your home. Like you say, you have a mute, fast-forward, and an off button on your remote. What I object to is a company making money doing the censoring for you without the director’s permission. Which you address by saying:

I know these movie people like the back of my hand.

(Would that be actors, producers, and directors with whom you have personal acquaintence, or is this just one of those “damn Hollywood liberal elite!” screeds?)

It’s not about the money-it’s about ALL THE MONEY. If somebody other than them is making money in connection with their products, they simply must slap it down.

So, what, you don’t mind toy makers making unauthorized Star Wars replica action figures? How about video pirates taping a movie with a HandiCam and selling the DVD’s on the corner? What about a tavern showing an unauthorized pay-per-view fight and charging $5/person cover charge? They’re all making money in connection with someone else’s artistic products without permission, after all.

Of course the directors are slapping down ClearPlay, because it is a device that produces motion pictures unequal to the art the director created without the director’s permission.

And it is not as if director’s never give their permission to have their movies censored or altered. When TV networks broadcast a movie, you often see the disclaimer “This feature has been modified from its original form. It has modified to fit your screen and edited for the time allowed.” Networks have to get the director’s permission to do that; it’s one reason why Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” had to be aired with the swear words, Spielberg wouldn’t give them permission otherwise.

They can’t help themselves. Oh my god, somebody is free-riding on our product! Well, how dare Hollywood profit by putting their motion pictures on DVD without sending all profits directly to the corporations who invented DVD? They’re free-riding on technology they had nothing to do with creating.

Um, is the place where I should mention that the studios do have to pay a license fee for DVD technology to the companies that invented DVD? Same goes for the Dolby Digital or Lucasfilm THX sound technology. Nevermind, why let facts interrupt a hilarious rant…

Free-riding is one of the great strengths of a market economy. The success of one market spawns other markets. It happens everywhere, and these pampered Hollywood pets are the only ones I can think of who are upset about it. If we shut down the free-riding phenomenon, we shut down our entire economy.

I think I see what you’re getting at. Mousepad makers are “free-riding” by making a product that serves someone else’s technology. This “free-riding” you speak of, it’s natural and capitalism at its best for a company to make an ancillary product for someone else’s product, right? This “free-riding” has brought us “Pimp My Ride” car accessories, all sorts of plug-and-play computer accessories, and sofa covers and steam cleaners.

Well, it’s an interesting point if you’re talking about cars, computers, or furniture, but not so relevant when we’re talking about art. Art is created by an artist in a pure form and anything less than that pure form makes it no longer the art the artist intended.

I’m not against ClearPlay technology or home censorship. I’m against ClearPlay doing this without permission and ClearPlay owners who feel they have a right to sanitize every movie made for the mature adults. Do the directors have a case? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

–“Radical” Russ

P.S. You know what, the more I think about ClearPlay, the more I like it. I’m going to produce a little electronic book reader called TrueView. You clamp it over a Holy Bible, then you set it for the interesting stuff you want to read. It dutifully skips over all the boring “God said let there be light” and “Do unto others” stuff and goes straight to the polygamy, filthy women on their period, masturbation, raping of daughters, slaughter of 42 children for teasing a bald guy, and damnation for eating lobster stuff. I’ll set up on a corner and let TrueView read aloud while I tell everyone that this is the word of God. Do you think the original artist will be upset with me?