in this murder mystery, it is Hollywood that is the villain

Call in Hercule Periot to solve this mystery. TiVo users are among the most fanatic, brand-loyal of consumers rivaling even the Apple-nistas. So, when TiVo announced their new Series3 HD model (costing $800) which records programs in high definition, the faithful were salivating.

But heresy has come to stalk this tale. Alas, the Series3 does not come with TiVoToGo. That is the ability to transfer the programs to customers' PCs, iPods or other mobile devices, or burn them to DVDs. All are part of TiVo's previous (and still available) Series2.

The reason? Hollywood's continuing and escalating battle against DVR capabilities through "Digital Rights Management" (DRM) restrictions. Thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed by Congress in 1998, technology developers like TiVo cannot lawfully build devices that receive content digitally and bypass the DRM restrictions unless they get permission to do so.

The company that decides these things, a private nonprofit organization run by the cable companies, is Cable Research Laboratories, or CableLabs.

Last week I highlighted the story of Bob Wright of NBC and his urging the nation's political and business leaders to attack piracy and counterfeiting. A noble sounding effort but one that is mis-calibrated (in my humble opinion). Mr. Wright even compared digital theft as something destabilizing to our country as is the threat of terrorism.

The TiVo story is yet another casualty of that type of thinking. You ask why? Well, the entertainment establishment benefits from high definition and consumer portability. Those are two things that people want. However, in Mr. Wright's world, someone might steal the program, so all consumers should be penalized.

I wonder which costs our economy more: someone recording a hi-def Lost episode on DVD or consumers not buying more TiVo Series3 boxes?