[clug] TiVo Goes After Sites Hosting Image Backups

[Neil Pickford]

Thought this might be of interest - There is a bit of a comment thread 
going on on slashdot.
Neil Pickford

TiVo Goes After Sites Hosting Image Backups

Posted by timothy on Wednesday December 10, @07:49AM
from the net-loss dept.
TiVo User writes "TiVo has apparently decided to come down on sites
that hosted 'image backups,' essentially tarballs of the OS for the
machine, which just happens to be Linux. TiVo owners use the images
to install on new, larger hard drives (increasing the recording
capacity of the unit) or to recover a dead system. Why TiVo has a
problem with this, but allows others to sell the same images for
profit is beyond me." Read on for the rest of TiVo User's comments.

"The images are not used to create pirate TiVos (as a subscription
service, TiVo justifiably controls access to their database tightly),
so there wouldn't appear to be much harm in allowing them to be
hosted. TiVo has always walked a fine line in allowing the user
community to mod their units, perhaps they have finally stepped over
that line, considering there are free alternatives that are less
restrictive. To their credit, the legal mumbo jumbo in their cease
letter is non-threatening compared to most other of this type, but
it's interesting the letter draws no distinction between the portions
of the software that are Linux, and therefore expressly
distributable, and those that are proprietary to TiVo."

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/12/10/0333211.shtml