We'll Never Know the Internet We Lost

Aereo was built around a technicality. Some have called it a gimmick—Judge Chin called it a “Rube Goldberg contraption”—but here it is: if your gut reaction is “This is ridiculous,” it’s because copyright law is ridiculous. Aereo relied on the law to build its business. Today, the Supreme Court said that wasn’t enough. The Cablevision “exception” In 2008, cable networks sued Cablevision over what was essentially a cloud-based TiVo. In presenting their case, Cablevision analogized their service to a long-distance VCR. This struck a chord with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals—or at least, made it seem very, very awkward to rule against Cablevision.