Aereo, Inc. is fighting a battle of survival before the US Supreme Court. Who are the company’s opponents? Every single TV content provider, with major broadcasting companies leading the way. Aereo takes free television signals from the airwaves and repackages them to be accessible through the Internet on smart phones, laptops, and the new “smart” TVs. Of course, it charges its subscribers a fee for the service. For those of us who are technology-impaired, this may seem like a strange fight.
Now, the issue is whether Aereo is violating copyright laws by re-packaging admittedly free TV broadcasts and charging a fee. Aereo argues that if the content is provided free of charge to the general audience, there is no implied (or otherwise) prohibition as to the use of the content. By extension, the cloud computing industry could be severely impacted by any decision of the Supreme Court makes to restrict use of content if that decision follows the ideas the major broadcasting companies are suggesting.
With the average age of a Supreme Court Justice being over 60 years old, it will be interesting how they will address this crossroad of technology and copyright content. Stay tuned ‘till June.