What Critics of the Critics of the FCC Rule Miss

Asprin writes "Businessweek has an editorial up which argues that the FCC's HDTV broadcast flag rule is a good thing, and that everyone is just overreacting. What the author is overlooking is that this rule gives exclusive control over production to the studios that are in "the club", essentially denying private citizens the right to make their own HDTV format video. To wit: "The problem comes when a program taped on an old VCR can't be replayed on a next-generation VCR. So consumers may experience some compatibility problems between machines as they upgrade." Awww, she almost gets it. (...and she was sooo close, too!) The problem is the word "consumers", which doesn't describe us anymore. There's nothing like being locked out of your own old family videos when your current VCR dies, eh?"

Comments

Is the frog boiling yet?

[KingReuben]

Put a frog (alive) into a pot of cold water. Put the pot on low heat. If you heat the water slowly enough, the frog will not jump out, even when it eventually boils to death.

This is what is happening.

Re:Is the frog boiling yet?

[pavon]

Exactly. The most telling quotes are the attitude that the author took on the subject:

The agency's move to allow encryption-like protection for digital shows takes away one more excuse from the broadcasters to delay the rollout of high-definition TV ... If consumers want their HDTV, they have to accept limits on the ability to redistribute TV shows on the Web.

At what point did move from
"companies competing to win the business of their customers"
to
"you consumers better fall in line with the wishes of the companies or no goods for you"
?

Oh, that's right, when the government decided (as it has in the past) that competition isn't necisarry in capitalism and started looking out for the good of large (illegal) monopolies and trade groups, instead of the good of the market.

\begin{rant}
If this continues indefinately we will end up approaching a system simular to Soviet Russia but from the opposite direction. There the government and corporations were merged by the government taking control of the corporations. Here they are being merged by the corporations merging and then asserting control of the government. Either way there is no democracy, but rather all economic, political, and military power are centralized into a very small number of hands who have no reason to act in the interest of the population.
\end{rant}

That's why I'll make a killing.

[Quasar1999]

When companies like Apex, simply ignored the Region coding stuff, they sold like hotcakes... So I plan on doing the same thing, simply ignoring the flags (or whatever they end up being), manufacturing my units in some country the US can't touch (say China), and making a fortune...

What part did I mess up? I must have missed something... This seriously is too good to be true... I'm gonna be rich!!!

Lenin

[sulli]

Lenin once said: "The capitalist will sell you the very rope you intend to hang him with." ... When will corperate [sic] america *get it*?

The point is that corporate america does *get it,* and they are trying to avoid selling said rope. Failing, but trying.

It's All Our Fault!!!

[Nom du Keyboard]

When the next West Wing won't be ripped off Napster-style, producers will likely air more HDTV programs.

So this is all that is stopping them now. HDTV will only happen when the Internet is locked down. Once upon a time producers wanted people to see their shows. It's not like these are pay-per-views that go out over our airwaves.

If consumers want their HDTV, they have to accept limits on the ability to redistribute TV shows on the Web.

You know, maybe I don't want my HDTV that badly. Present TV is good enough for the fare they serve up on it. Of course, regular TV is now also distributed on the Internet. Are they next going to threaten us with no TV at all?

One can only hope.

Typical business mindset

[downix]

The article thinks that the only content is that provided by the big studios. I don't know about you, but most of my home video library is composed of home movies, short films I have created myself, and some classic material that you can't get on tape.

This ruling eliminates any kind of non-authorized content, weither that is indie films, home movies, pirate TV stations, or illegal downloads. It doesn't matter to the machine, it's all unplayable. The FCC has done its job here, with regulating commercial playback, but it has overstepped its bounds in forbidding non-commercial use of non-broadcast signals.

Shoot, there is no guarantee that I can record my local township's cable channel anymore with this. It will force these no-budget public access stations to pay who knows how much or else their programming is no longer viewable by their constituants.

The solution is simple.

[Temsi]

Apart from the government stipulating what hardware manufacturers MUST have in their hardware, I see no problem with this.

If they use 10% of the FCC's collective brain power (which is approximately at the level of Homer Simpson at this point), they'll figure out that the easiest way to get this done is to allow new VCR's/DVD's/DVR's/PVR's to play non-flagged content as well as flagged.

RULE 1: If there's a flag, do what it says.
RULE 2: If there's no flag, play the damn thing.

That makes everyone happy. The FCC and MPAA can mandate their stupid flags as much as they want to and it will do what it's supposed to, but I can still play my home videos and all the pirated videos I'll be able to get once someone cracks the flag (and you know it's inevitable).

AH, but here's the crux

[gilroy]

Blockquoth the editorial:

If consumers want their HDTV, they have to accept limits on the ability to redistribute TV shows on the Web. (emphasis added)

But isn't that the point -- judging by sales, consumers don't want their HDTV. Why is this allegedly pro-capitalism administration, usually so gung-ho to invoke the market to address societal needs, apparently so willing to overlook the overwhelming verdict of the market: People just aren't itching to get HDTV.
Why is government intervention and the "picking of winners" OK here but not, say, in national health insurance?