# "Time-shifting" TV shows via the Internet **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 11, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-shifting-tv-shows-via-the-internet/352174 "2006-04-11T01:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-shifting-tv-shows-via-the-internet/352174/1 "2006-04-11T01:35:45Z")
I rarely get a chance to watch the new _Doctor Who_ episodes on Fridays when they are broadcast on the SciFi channel. Instead, I have my mother record them on her DVR and I come by later in the week and watch them. (I skip the commercials when I do.) It is my understanding that the courts have ruled this behavior to be legal. Say I forget to set her DVR one week, or my stepfather deletes the show by mistake before I get a chance to watch it. I go on line and download a copy of the show using Bittorrent, or a similar P2P system. Under current US law, is this legal? If (as I suspect) the courts have not ruled decisively on this, how do you believe they should rule, based on existing law. Why? Episodes of _Doctor Who_ are broadcast in the UK and Canada before being shown in the US. Suppose I want to “time-shift” an episode from the future, and download this Friday’s episode from a recording made available on the Internet by a UK watcher who recorded it last year. Same questions as above. Finally (and facetiously), didn’t the Doctor himself implicitly approve of this sort of thing with his use of “jiggery-pokery”? GROUND RULES: This is not the place to debate intellectual property rights _in toto_, only how such rights as they currently exist apply to these cases. I am not asking about saving a copy of the episodes for repeated viewing, nor about downloading movies or other content not normally subject to time-shifting. Some (but not all) P2P networks require that the copy you make be available for others to copy for at least a short time; this may be discussed if it has legal implications of it’s own, but I don’t want the two issues to be confused. Some people believe that that recent legislation (specifically the DMCA) conflicts legally with the letter or intent of earlier copyright law. This can be discussed, but only as it pertains to these senarios. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-shifting-tv-shows-via-the-internet/352174/2 "2006-04-11T02:35:07Z")
Sorry, as usual, I realized **after** I’d previewed and submitted my post that I wasn’t quite clear. In the second case, I am asking about downloading an episode scheduled for US broadcast in the future in order to watch it prior to it’s US broadcast. In other words, I want to watch this Friday’s episode tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-shifting-tv-shows-via-the-internet/352174/3 "2006-04-11T05:07:03Z")
> [@Alan Smithee](#): > > Say I forget to set her DVR one week, or my stepfather deletes the show by mistake before I get a chance to watch it. I go on line and download a copy of the show using Bittorrent, or a similar P2P system. Under current US law, is this legal? If (as I suspect) the courts have not ruled decisively on this, how do you believe they should rule, based on existing law. Why? Well, I’d like to see them declare it absolutely legal, but I suspect they’d rule against it. _Sharing_ the content with other P2P users is almost certainly illegal. As you noted, not all P2P systems require you to share the files you download, but a system where no one shares the files cannot stay running for long. If you’re using BitTorrent, you will be sharing parts of the file with other users as you download it. _Downloading_ copyrighted content has been found legal in Canada, IIRC, but not in the US. I don’t think it’d be unreasonable for our courts to rule that saving bits you download from the internet counts as making a copy, and is thus illegal without permission. OTOH, one might argue that downloading a show you could have recorded for free should be considered fair use, because it has little or no effect on the market for the work (you’re seeing it for free either way) and you’re doing it for your own personal enjoyment.