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Build Your Own TV Without Broadcast Flags
doom writes "An account of an event sponsored by the EFF, a "roll your own television" build-in. The San Francisco Bay Guardian has coverage in an article entitled Build Your TV!". From the article: "According to the FCC, the flag is going to ease the nation's transition from today's analog televisions to tomorrow's high-definition televisions. What exactly does it mean for a government agency to "ease" the transition from one kind of TV signal to another? In this case, it seems to mean making the entertainment industry feel very warm and fuzzy inside." The EFF's efforts against the flag have been covered before on Slashdot.
I think it`s a good ideea to make your own tv, but it has some bad parts two, you cand blame anybody else :)
Think like a hacker, act like a hacker, but never become a hacker !
It means we're going to transition from a time when we have a constitutional right to record shows to a time when we don't.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
This flag is going to be like any copy protection that we've seen to date. Those who want to steal will just get around it, and those who don't steal will be extremely inconvenienced.
Keep your eyes to the sky.
"According to the FCC, the flag is going to ease the nation's transition from today's analog televisions to tomorrow's high-definition televisions."
Funny the only thing the broadcast flag is meant to ease is the minds of the media fatcats.
Just like software patents in Europe, the forces behind this (well-funded forces) will not give up until they succeed in implementing the lockdown of all media. A court ruling is just a minor speedbump in the process.
In Europe, even after near-unanamous votes against software patents, they are still about to become reality.
The court merely ruled that the FCC did not have the implicit authority to order the flag. All that is needed is a lay giving the FCC the explicit authority. That kind of law is easy to purchase.
There is not nearly enough love in the world, but there is far too much trust.
the Republicans are all about SMALLER gov't, people.
Indeed, and about BIGGER corporations...
"Money is a sign of poverty." - Iain Banks
Or, we could
.ca after they become illegal in the US.
1)Manufacture non-BF ready TVs in
2)Open a store at the border
3)...
4)profit!
Because the Reuters article says that while the judges felt the FCC overstepped its authority, they may not rule against them.
"But it was unclear whether the judges would strike down the FCC's 2003 rule, since doubts were also raised about whether the American Library Association and other opponents had legal standing to challenge the rule in court."
The judges may rule that these groups don't have legal standing to bring the suit, so it will take consumers to sue and most likely that won't be able to happen until AFTER July 1 when consumers can reasonably say that they have been harmed by the flag. No one can say they have been harmed by the flag until it goes into effect.
I'm not sure you need the 3) ...
but if you really want one(and yes I know the joke) - then 3) open online store
Anyone know if the US law would cover a small, indipendent, Canadian company that has no US presence, shipping un-flagged equipment into the US?
I'm sure we could find room for people like the guy in the article who makes cards for hdtv tuning that currently lives in the states.
Besides, I don't have the money or the channel list to warrant a HDTV purchase right now, but I will want it in the future to replace my current tuner.
Anyway...
On Arrakis: early worm gets the bird. Magister mundi sum!
or a major backlash which will get Congress to change the FCC's direction.
What major backlash? There aren't enough people w/HDTV yet (nevermind HDTV+recorders) that the broadcast flag would matter.
People will get their HDTV+recorders and say, "oh, we can't copy that, it makes sense, there's no such thing as timeshifting and fair use!"
They were smart about the flag... They did it before HDTV became entrenched. That way there would be no backlash because no one would know any different.
Surely the 'ease the transition' bit is like the regional coding for DVDs. If you remember the entertainment industry was so paranoid it insisted on this before launching.
Then a short time afterwards it was bypassed and everyone lived happily ever after.
That's exactly what will happen with the broadcast flag. Let them have it. If the entertainment industry thinks this will achieve their objectives then let them have their illusions - it won't make a damned bit of difference at the end of the day.
The broadcast flag is a part of a LARGER system to keep us from recording ALL programing.
i ne er/f-MO-Earth_to_congress.shtml
The way broadcast flags are mentioned its all about stopping HDTV programing from getting on the net. It makes it sound like we'll still be able to record our analog shows.
However, analog outputs will be soon be illegal on all television devices. Thus, this is about locking down ALL content.
http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/Masked-Eng
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
As I wrote in another post: Broadcast flags are a port of a larger system to lock down ALL content. Eventually it will be illegal to have analog outputs on TV and TV devices.
i ne er/f-MO-Earth_to_congress.shtml
http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/Masked-Eng
And why do you think people will think "it makes sense" they can no longer record. For decades we've been able to record shows, and suddenly we won't be able to, why would we suddenly accept that. THAT makes no sense.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Sounds to me like the legal system is becoming a bit of a joke in the US when it comes to the big media companies.
;-) ) you get training on how to "assume the position" whenever a big media company wants something made into law
I wonder if when you become a congressperson (gotta be PC
thankfully here in the UK I can't see something like this happening (at least in the near future).
Individual European Union member states are not allowed to mandate receiver requirements and any copy protection system would need to be agreed at a European level.
I watch the patent debate closely, if that goes the wrong way I assume the EU will crumble to corporate pressure just the US is starting to now
I stopped watching TV years ago, and with a few rare exceptions, I do not miss it at all.
Of course, they canceled one the exceptions ( farscape ), further reinforcing my decision.
That's the only way things will change: Vote with your cash, or in this case, your unwillingness to deal with their crap. You may think you *need* your TV, but you don't.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Yes!
I saw that nice bumper sticker "Shoot your TV". After some thought, I realized that this was meant entirely seriously.
I do not have a TV (never had, never will), and I keep hearing people say "Yes, but I only watch nature documentaries and the news...".
Chaps, the TV is like heroin. You get drawn into it. You can't help it. It's like a TV in a bar. Even if you hate it, your eyes find it again and again.
Get rid of it.
You want to see a movie? Get yourself a nice big TFT (they're getting really cheap), and watch a DVD (or, better, Xvid) off your PC.
Free PC version of ChipWits at http://www.breueronline.de/klaus/chipwits/
Smaller govt my ass. Check the facts, baba. Government has INCREASED in every catagory since that facist has entered office. Taxes up, military spending up, # government workers up, etc. The only thing that is down is the value of the dollar.
Good man/woman, agreed.
I have a TV but have nothing in the form of an aerial or lead in my flat, so i don't even get a slight temptation to watch it. the result? Sometimes i can be bored, but instead of watching mindless tv, i sit and read and/or educate myself about something. Not bad really.
It is a defense until the Supreme Court makes it a right. For example, Sony raised fair use as a defense. The Court accepted that defense and held that it was a right.
You might get sued by the RIAA for downloading songs off P2P. You might use fair use as a defense. However, if the Supreme Court ever upheld your defense, it would too become a right.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Not that I agree with the FCC or the proponents of the Flag.
But the theory goes that content providers and broadcasters will make the switch to HD faster if they have more control over how their content is to be used by the viewer.
One of the big problems in rolling out HD has been the slowness of broadcasters to actually make the switch. I guess the FCC believes that the broadcasters will make the switch faster if they have an incentive to do so.
- dj
Except neither one of us should be required to spend time and money to bypass something that shouldn't be there anyway. We all know the flag will do nothing to slow down "piracy", its only purpose is to give the industry more control.
For example, take the DVD player. The other day I wanted to show something to one of my kids quick as we were on our way out to return the DVD's we had rented. Put in the DVD and the usual junk starts up, so I...
Hit fast foreware : Operation not permitted.
Hit the "Next Chapter" button : Operation not permitted.
We were out of time, my wife was hollering at us to get going...
Hit the Stop button : Operation not permitted.
??? You mean I'm not even allowed to Stop playing, I have to watch it???
Fortunately the MPAA can't yet override the power button on the front of the player.
Yes, I have the hardware and software that would allow me to rip a DVD, strip it of all the crap, and burn a "perfect" copy to a blank DVD-R disk. But I shouldn't have to do that just to enjoy a movie the way I want to.
That's true but it will be at an inflated eBay price. Which btw, there is a grand total of 1 HD-2000 card available on ebay right now, and no HD-3000's.
I have a feeling that it will not be easy to find someone who wants to sell theirs after the broadcast flag is in full effect.
ender-
Nothing to see here
It's legal today to sell a kit at gun shows to convert certain semi-automatic weapons into automatic weapons. Do we really think that the broadcast flag is the end of TV recording? It's only a delay until some enterprising youth starts selling a kit to modify your VCR, PVR, etc. from a semi-recorder into a fully functioning recording device. I'm not saying the delay's not gonna suck - but I'll stick with what I have and wait them out.
Yeah, but if all the major manufacturers are signed up, you're left with crappy third world hardware or warranty-void gear.
Since this flag won't exist in 95% of the world (population-wise), do you really think major non-US companies like Sony won't produce any products without this flag?
Our neighbors-to-the-North, if no one else, will provide sufficient demand (and an easy place for us Northern US residents to go to get such products) to guarantee the existance of flagless TVs.
I expect that the rest of the world will want nothing to do with this BS, and, if the US courts don't outright shoot down the whole idea, Americans will end up paying more for the same products with the flag enabled. Or as an in-between step, we'll have something like we have now with DVD players, where most of them have a trivial means of disabling the flag (such as pressing "*11<MENU>27" or just telling the TV you live in Canada the first time you set it up).
What exactly does it mean for a government agency to "ease" the transition from one kind of TV signal to another?
The FCC wants to get broadcast TV off of it's current portion of the broadcast spectrum so that they can start selling licenses for telecomm use of those same frequencies.
They know that Hollywood will put more effort behind a system that "protects" the digital transmissions so that they don't wind up on the internet. With the backing of the big film studios, the FCC believes that it will be a shorter time until current analog TV is obviated and they can start selling those licenses.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
"I have a TV but have nothing in the form of an aerial or lead in my flat, so i don't even get a slight temptation to watch it. the result? Sometimes i can be bored, but instead of watching mindless tv, i sit and read and/or educate myself about something. Not bad really."
Or post on slashdot.
Anti-TV pseudo-elitist jerkwads, as parodied in the onion, are annoying enough, but internet hypocrites are just plain hilarious.
Do you REALLY think that posting on an internet messageboard like slashdot is ANY less a waste of time than TV?
BTW, play any RPGs? That'd just be icing on the cake.
The bottom line isn't whether you do this worthless thing or that other waste of time, it's what ELSE you do with yourself. At the end of the day, have you accomplished something you're happy about? Do you think that the things you've wasted time on during the day have seriously compromised your efforts to accomplish something worthwhile?
It's the same criteria I'd apply to ask whether someone has a drug problem.
Let's see what you're saying in a story on limiting internet access.
The Republicans are no longer the party of smaller government. They'll keep riding that pony as long as they can though, just to keep getting the votes from those who haven't turned Libertarian yet.