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Send a fax to the FCC telling them to stop the broadcast flag!
The FCC is going to be ruling shortly on a broadcast flag for digital
television. If you like to watch, record and enjoy television, this
decision will have a large impact on you.
Hollywood is pushing the Federal Communications Commission to forcibly
implant copy-protection technology in digital television receivers.
The FCC is weighing a plan to mandate this "broadcast flag". This flag
will govern what you are allowed to do with the digital television you
receive.
Here are a few reasons why the broadcast flag is a bad idea:
- It won't work.
The broadcast flag won't stop illegal copying. Devices will still have
analog outputs, and these outputs can still be used to copy shows to
computers or to the internet.
- It isn't necessary.
The movie industry claims that digital television won't take off
without their movies, and that they won't offer their movies without a
broadcast flag. But both claims are false: many stations are already
broadcasting HDTV, and those stations are showing movies without a
broadcast flag. There is no evidence of widespread copying of existing
HDTV programming. (The vast majority of movies and TV copied on the
internet are obtained from analog broadcasts.)
- It will outlaw behaviors that are currently legal.
Jack Valenti, the president of the Motion Picture Association of
America, has admitted that the broadcast flag could prevent users from
copying shows between TVs in their own homes. Recording a TV show to
take to a friend's house would also be prohibited.
- It will bring innovation to a halt.
Because the broadcast flag defines what uses are authorized and which
are not, unanticipated uses of content which are not foreseeable today
are by default unauthorized. If we allow the content industry to lock
in the definition of what is and is not legitimate use, we curtail the
ability for future innovation -- unforeseen but legal uses that will
benefit consumers.
- It will keep users passive.
In the analog world, users can't do much except watch a TV show when
the broadcasters decide to air it. Digital technology has the
potential to give people much more flexibility. For example, you can
record a television program and watch it later; clip a small piece of
TV and splice it into a home movie; send an email clip of a child's
football game to a distant relative; create multimedia homework
assignments which contain short TV clips; or record a TV program onto
a DVD and play it at a friend's apartment. But the media companies
want to use the broadcast flag to give us even less flexibility in the
digital world than we had in the analog world.
- It will give Hollywood veto power over consumer electronics.
In order to build a device that interoperates with digital television
content, the device will have to use an approved technology in an
approved way. If the device isn't approved by the movie industry, it
can't be sold or distributed. Given that the movie industry has
already sued companies such as ReplayTV, we can assume that they won't
grant their permission to future innovative products.
- It will require users to upgrade all of their equipment.
In order for the broadcast flag to be effective, digital TV cannot
interoperate with existing devices that don't understand the flag. In
order to enjoy the benefits of digital television, consumers will have
to replace all of their equipment with new models that obey the flag.
- It will allow massive invasions of privacy.
Certain copy-protection technologies used with the broadcast flag can
log every usage of a given television show or movie. Circumvention of
such technologies would be illegal.
- It will prohibit open-source development.
In order to build a device that interoperates with digital television
content, the device will have to be "untamperable". This rules out
free, open-source applications for processing digital media content.
For more information, see these links:
Send a fax to the FCC telling them to stop the broadcast flag!
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