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Regulators Lose Piracy Battle

asok_g33k writes "The US broadcast regulators were told today by a court of appeal that it 'crossed the line' in trying to dictate how devices functioned. This was after the regulators tried to ban a device which allowed TV shows to be pirated. This comes after studies revealing that massive amounts of TV shows are beign illegaly downloaded from the internet and the regulators want a way to stop these shows being pirated and copied."

3 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Hallelujah! by bigtallmofo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From TFA:

    "Selling televisions is not what the FCC is in the business of."

    Amazing they needed a three-judge panel to tell them that. It's obviously not over yet with the appeals court still yet to rule whether the consumer groups that brought the suit have standing, but it's a fantastic sign! Both for this decision as well as upcoming decisions on whether the government can force PC makers to implement DRM and "Trusted Computing" initiatives.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
  2. Illegal? by FidelCatsro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "massive amounts of TV shows are beign illegaly downloaded from the internet"
    Is this really illegal , I am not aware of any case in which someone has been prosecuted for downloading TV shows .
    IANAL , though wouldnt this classify as Potential copyright infringment, as it is yet to be tested in court.
    Does anyone know if this is definantly illegal ?

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  3. Meta Slashdot by Greger47 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    How about this?

    Lets create "Meta Slashdot", a site where we solicit news items. We'll have some real editors that actually weed out the dupes and check the facts. Then we submit the news to Slashdot where Cowboy Neal can rubberstamp it.

    With some luck we can even bribe Slashdot's ISP to reroute their mail to us, to make sure all submissions are properly vetted. :)

    So, what do you say folks? Instead of this endles bitching about how the Slashdot editors suck, let's get together and do something about it!

    /greger