Screenshots and DVDs
I just read on BoingBoing that, following Microsoft, Apple has assaulted fair use by disabling the screenshot application in Mac OS X if a DVD is being played. (Try “print screen” with Windows Media Player, and you get a black square where the video should be.) Thankfully, the BoingBoing article includes a workaround.
This is insanely stupid. If I buy or—hell, this is a Mac, right—make a DVD and decide to make some screen grabs, why does a lawyer from Cupertino get to say that I don’t? What’s next, rootkits included with iTunes?
More reasons to run Linux.
December 2nd, 2005 at 8:09 am
I don’t know whether Apple is following Microsoft or not: this was present back in very early editions of Mac OS X. I seem to recall it was even in the development build I had before OS X was released.
Your point about screen captures from DVDs you make is probably the most valid. And this may be a legacy of the days before SuperDrives were standard in most Macs. On the other hand, if you’ve made the DVD, you should be able to make a frame capture from the source…
Still, I agree that this doesn’t seem to be in keeping with Apple’s stance on fair usage of music.
December 2nd, 2005 at 9:22 am
I don’t remember this from early MacOS, probably because I do as much as possible from the command line, and that’s the workaround (screencapture -i /path/to/output.png).
Both Apple and Microsoft err against the side of fair use when dealing with images. This is a reflection of wider culture, where for example publishers require permission for ANY image, but some (though fewer and fewer) allow you to use quotations without permission.
You’d think they would find a way to do this a little less ham-handedly.
December 2nd, 2005 at 5:38 pm
I was having the same problem a while back, and I ended up finding this application. It works fine for my purposes. I agree with the points you’re making, though.