DVDs: User Operation Prohibited
Software
Now I know it's not just me!
You know how at the beginning of a DVD you have to sit through all the Hollywood logo presentations and copyright warnings and during that time your fast-forward controls are 'disabled'? It is actually a standard part of the DVD… standard.
Most DVD players prohibit the viewer from performing a large majority of actions during sections of a DVD that are protected by this feature, and will display the no symbol or a message to that effect if any of these actions are attempted. It was intended for copyright notices and the ubiquitous (at least in the United States) FBI warning. Some publishers run protected commercials on their DVDs, which is widely seen as an abuse of the feature.
- English Wikipedia Project article: User Operation Prohibited
What really infuriates me about this sort of forced advertisement watching is that when I watch a DVD I've bought I've done just that; I've bought it. Commercial free-to-air networks can show advertisements because that's how they keep their networks free, but I shouldn't have to watch advertisements on something I've paid for. It's ludicrous.
