EFF Begins Digital Television Liberation Project

Dozix007 writes "One year from today, on July 1, 2005, an FCC regulation known as the Broadcast Flag will lock up your digital television signals. But EFF's "DTV Liberation Project" aims to help the public keep over-the-air programming free. The Broadcast Flag, which places copy controls on DTV signals, attempts to stop people from making digitally-perfect copies of television shows and redistributing them. It also stops people from making perfectly legitimate personal copies of broadcasts. More disturbing, the Broadcast Flag will outlaw the import and manufacture of a whole host of personal video recorders (PVRs), TiVo-like devices that send DTV signals into a computer for backup, editing and playback. After the Broadcast Flag regulations go into effect, all PVR technologies must be Flag-compliant and 'robust' against user modification -- and that means, once again, that the entertainment industry is trying to tell you what you can do with your own machines."

Comments

Re:I still don't really see what hte big deal is..

[bgeer]

*sniff* *sniff* Anyone else smell astroturf?

Re:Is piracy really that much of a problem?

[stubear]

No, Its about copyright holders maintaining their rights. All the rhetoric about how evil the RIAA and MPAA are and how they are taking away rights masks the fact that copyright holders are losing their rights too. It is my right to protect my intellectual property from redistribution, public performance, and copying whether you like it or not. Until Copyright Law changes these are MY rights and you can't take them away.