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Draft of 'Broadcast Flag' Treaty Now Available
The Importance of writes "If you liked the broadcast flag, you're going to love WIPO's proposed 'broadcast flag' treaty (PDF link). The draft treaty will give copyright-like rights to broadcasters, cablecasters and, if the US gets its way, webcasters. As a broadcaster, you wouldn't have to own the copyright in what you broadcast, but you could still stop people from recording your broadcast, reproducing it or distributing it. The treaty also includes DMCA-like protections, in case you try to circumvent the broadcast flag. The treaty is going to be discussed in Geneva, June 7-9. The draft is discussed over on Corante.com and late last year on the DMCA activists list."
... until the UN runs the internet!
The more they make TV a pain to own, pay for or operate, the more star systems will slip through their fingers.
er. wait... I mean, eventually I'll get tired of it and stop watching TV altogether.
First reply to a stupid first post!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
1 4|\/| teh l33t35t!
If I read that correctly, this means that even if I release something for free to the public, they can *still* find a way to prevent people from copying it and distributing it? In that case, I throw my full support behind the lo-techs and their falling cars of doom. Get your VCRs ready. I may even start carrying around 80 gigs of divx files in my head, childhood memories be damned.
I also reply below your current threshold.
what in the hell is a VCR?
evil_bit broadcast_flag sue_and_kill_evil_pirate's_dog
0 1 0
1 1 1
evil_bit
1 forAll evil_pirates
0 forAll good_guys(TM) = {RIAA, MPAA, political_puppets}
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1 always 1
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
You *really* old dudes know them as VTR's. That ring a bell?
I'm not a nerd. Nerds are smart.
Heh - Fahrenheit 451 style, we'll soon be memorizing and reciting episodes of "Sister Sister" on a remote island somewhere, far from the prying eyes of the evil broadcast flaggers.
I also reply below your current threshold.
...when amassing a huge collection of Ed, Edd, and Eddy episodes is outlawed, only outlaws will amass a huge collection of Ed, Edd, and Eddy episodes.
Gravy!
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
The V-Chip is already in TVs
And that's been such a rousing success.
But to be fair, the V-chip was merely implemented to prevent our future citizens from becoming conditioned to violence and growing up to be hardened criminals.
With the broadcast flag we're talking about a much more serious issue to the fabric of civilization - the potential loss of revenue by content owners from unregulated viewing of copyrighted media!
Given it's importance, I expect effective unambiguous government regulations to be expedited, probably without the needless delays of debate in open legislative session.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Now if only broadcaster's would broadcast something worth recording. Since FOX canceled both Firefly and Wonderfalls, and after Angel's demise (the show, not the character) at the end of the season, I'll be watching one single TV show for the 2004-2005 season.
I'm personally not a reality TV fan, or a teen-sex drama fan, or a law and order fan, so there's not much more on these days. There's a reason I'm watching less TV, and it's not all because of EverCrack. Thank god for Netflix.
Which I guess is a good thing -- sitting in front of the TV really kills your... your... what's that thing called? The one in my... uhh... uhh...