Hey look, it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen! (updated)
Tape it off the internet, or TIOTI for short, is a great service. You record something from the telly, and upload it to TIOTI for others to see, with tags (hey, it’€™s Web 2.0!). Great, now you can download that episode of House you missed!
However, what does the TV network think of this? TIOTI better have a good strategy for these kinds of things. They claim they’€™re matching everything with Itunes, AOL and services like that, but seriously, do they have editorial control over uploaded content?
I don’€™t know, it’€™s in invitational beta, as is the custom in Web 2.0. To me it sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen, so I’€™ll skip it for now. The idea, could it be done legally, is great however.
Update! Check out this interview over at TechCrunch UK (thanks Devon) for more on TIOTI. It doesn’t lay everything out there in the open, but it clarifies some things. There is, however, BitTorrent streams to snatch, although not hosted at TIOTI. In my opinion they’d need to remove them if they’re to become 100% legit in the eyes of the TV world.
I think they are more of an aggregator of material on other sites rather than actually hosting or allowing media to be uploaded themselves. There is along interview on techcrunch with one of the founders (http://uk.techcrunch.com/2006/11/01/whats-on-tonight-just-tape-it-off-the-internet/ ) which seems to explain this.
So uploads are basically just P2P referrals or what? I’ll take a look at that interview, thanks Devon!