Invasion of Piracy

How to watch The Phantom Menace in the privacy of your own home

Comments (0) By Jonathan Vankin Wednesday, Jun 23 1999

Cigarhas been the number-one keyword used to search the Clinton testimony, according to Ball, even though "the word cigarwas only spoken one time in that whole testimony. But the subject was referred to seven or eight times. So we actually went in and found those seven or eight times and added metatext to the footage. So when you type in cigar,you get these other places, even though the actual word wasn't spoken."

Now that's public service.

FasTV, according to Ball, has no plans to change its bite-size approach, even as cable modems and other "broadband" technologies become widely available (and affordable), thus speeding up the Internet to the point where video will feed as smoothly as it would over coaxial cable. "People will be just as busy in a broadband world," he says. In any case, that broadband world may be further away than hair-yanking, teeth-gnashing 56k surfers might hope. Ball says that by the year 2002, no more than 20 percent of Internet users (never mind the rest of the human race) will be wired for high-speed access.

In other words, regardless of George Lucas' paranoia, online Star Warspiracy will have little impact, restricted by oppressive download waits. Episode II is safe. Safe, that is, from everyone but Evil ISO and their nefarious ilk, who will be there with camcorders ready and aimed at the screens.