IBM Files DVD Spam Patent Application

An anonymous reader writes "Mark Wilson of Gizmodo.com reports that IBM is applying for a patent for DVDs that contain or download 'on demand' commercials that cannot be skipped. Consumers would be able to purchase these DVDs at a lower price than regular DVDs and pay extra to enjoy their purchase ad-free without having to buy a second DVD. Perhaps this is part of the massive shift in advertising that IBM predicts."

Re:Spam?

[somersault]

Yep, not so much spam as mafia tactics. If you dont pay up, we send round the boys. The advertising boys.

Wow that's great

[mrjb]

<sarcasm>Wow, I can't wait to get a defective-by-design DVD player that supports this.</sarcasm>

Opportunity for profit!

[Anonymous Coward]

1 - find out what address these ads are served from.
2 - set up a server of your own, serving 0.5 seconds of not-advertising insterad of all the crappy ads the manufacturer intended.
3 - Use hosts file or simlar cleverness to redirect DVDs to the fake server.
4 - ????
5 - PROFIT!!!

DVD players with guns

[Emperor Tiberius]

I wonder how long it will be before home entertainment products come with weaponry to coerce you into viewing advertisements...

Recursive Advertising

[Attila the Bun]

Shortly after the system goes online, it will start downloading adverts for more advert-infested DVDs. Disks will start multiplying exponentially, the world will plunge behind an event horizon, and the universe will be sucked into a supermassive black-hole of infinite advertising.

Much the same kind of thing happened when they started printing adverts for breakfast cereal on packets of breakfast cereal.

Re:Where do I sign up?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think he was talking about those movie theaters...