Aereo Debate

Aereo is a company that allows you to access local signals are broadcast over the airwaves. However instead of using an antenna on top of your house you pay Aereo for access to an antenna online.  With this service  Aereo bundles the  local signals and allows you to record the signals with a DVR in the cloud. In a recent debate that discuss a case that is before the Supreme Court, Neal Katyla argued the case for the broadcasters, who say what Aereo is doing is illegal.  Katyla argues that the broadcasters spend billions of dollars creating and distributing the content so it’s not legal for Aereo to come along and make a profit off of that content. He states in the debate that the Supreme Court case is not about whether or not what Aereo is doing violates copyright law (suggesting that is obviously is), but rather “….how broadly or narrowly the opinion should be written.”1      

On the other side of the case Shapiro filed a brief in support of  Aereo.  He argues that two courts have already decided that the company did not violate the law.  Shapiro also brings up the Sony Betamax case which allowed people to record the TV signals.  He points out that the broadcasters are required to provide a free over the air service and in this new world of technology, people are getting that signal in new ways.  In addition, he also argues that the over the air broadcasts are supported by advertisers and Aereo doesn’t block any of the advertising. It just makes the signal available to more people, many of whom  would not have access to the signal without Aereo.

        This is a wonderful case for looking at the issue of intellectual property. You have each side making the standard arguments. The companies that are creating the content say they created the content so should control how it is distributed.  The new tech company argues that if people are not allowed to access the information as freely as possible then innovation will be stifled. Although I want to side with Aereo on this I don’t really buy Shaprio’s comparison to the Sony Betamax case. Here Aereo is redistributing the information. They have taken it and sold it  are using it the same way the original broadcaster does. With a VCR the consumer records the signal but does not sell it to anyone else. However, since this case involves cloud based technology, it could have a big impact on businesses that store data online.

1 "Watch Now: PBS NewsHour | Justices Consider Future of TV and Copyright in Aereo Case | PBS Video." PBS Video. PBS, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 May 2014.

Note: You can hear more about this from an interview with Shapiro in the following YouTube video:
Aereo and The Risk of Innovating with Gary Shapiro