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FCC Broadcast Flag Struck Down
An anonymous reader writes "CNet is reporting that the courts have struck down the FCC's broadcast flag requirement! 'In a stunning victory for hardware makers and television buffs, a federal appeals court has tossed out government rules that would have outlawed many digital TV receivers and tuner cards starting July 1.'" The EFF has details on the flag, the official ruling is online for examination, and commentary is available from BoingBoing and Ars Technica.
We really need to do something about them as they are obviously out of control. Don't they know who pays for their appointers election?!
"If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer
They just set it to 0.
It's about time the courts are on our side for something like this. Now if they can just do something about all the other idiots wanting DRM everywhere...
The onus is on the industry to find a solution within technology and capitalism, not within politics and law.
"I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
So it's nice that this lost, but it lost because the court said the FCC has no jurisdiction. This wasn't a victory for fair use, nor is it the end of the discussion. The MPAA will return to hammering Congress to either make the rule itself or grant the FCC the authority to do so (which the article clearly states at the end). This just gives us more time to get the word out about why the flag is a bad idea.
Since the entire American government is owned by corporate interests, it'll take about 5 minutes for this to get passed by Congress.
I'd hope that the consumer electronics lobby is stronger than the MPAA, but I fear it isn't so.
jh
Now what am I supposed to do with the warehouse of capture cards I bought to resell after this passed!?
rm -rf
woohoo! that means more HDTV quality stargate episodes!
I've put together a collection of links as well as pulling out various key elements of the case: Victory in Broadcast Flag Case! FCC Has No Authority Says Court
It's reaffirming to see that there are still people with some sense out there.
And it never will be until the slimeballs behind this (movie industry) get what they want. They are willing to pay more and wield more influence than the electronics makers. Watch for some legislation to be bought soon.
Do you have ESP?
Those damn activist judges are hurting America.
The Tools Of Ignorance wanna be a tool?
Wow, that's great news, but isn't it coming a little late in the timeline? If sets on sale in July were supposed to have BF support, you'd think that they would already be being manufactured that way. The TV makers would have had to already have designed BF circuitry into their sets and be producing them with that capability, if all the sets in the stores by July were supposed to work that way, as required by the law.
I wonder if there will be a way to disable BF circuitry in sets which get sold that already have it built in? Or will the makers even tell people that they are buying sets that are BF enabled? Maybe some people will buy them without even knowing it.
This is fantastic news for products like http://www.pchdtv.com/ which would have all been destroyed by this. Means a bright future for custom pvrs no less and creativity. When you start limiting what consumers can do with information you start limiting that which is often what leads to greatness.
p2p distribution of video over the Internet is the future. The airwaves are being wasted on obsolete technology. We should figure out what the TV spectrum would best be used for (wireless Internet? Cell Phones?) and then dismantle the whole shebang. Would this exceed the FCC's authority? Maybe. But it would be smart. The "broadcast flag" was dumb.
What's more, they won't take the risk. Now that the BC has become a "standard" feature, building anything without it is almost certain to be attacked by the MPAA under the DMCA.
If you have a BC-free tuner card, treasure it. They ain't making no more, ever again.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
FCC had no business in mandating the broadcast flag at the behest of MPAA and its cronies. This throws the claim out the window, for now, to be picked up by lobbyists for the next run with the congress. I would not be surprised if it aint a breeze convincing the majority of clueless that this helps innovation and protects copyrights.
:). As long as I can still make out the characters, I would continue watching it..bad feed or no feed.
FCC had no right to assist the content creators, pushing them on to the HD realm. The market and the millions of tv viewers should instead spearhead that, and creators who turn a deaf ear will find out finicky eyeballs prefer HD over SD as HD compatible TV's get ever cheaper and between equally bad scripted shows, they pick the better looking one.
Wonder what the Southpark creators would do with HD
Rapid Nirvana
So long as the following tweaks to the system are not implemented Congress will be able to ignore the wishes of the people and grant any and all favors to their lobbyists.
No representative or senator should ever be allowed to vote on any piece of legislation which they personally have not read
Any vote on anything that involves de facto laws, rules, regulations or monetary impact of any kind must be by roll call vote
The name of the legislator who introduced or modified each line of text in each and every bill must be fully disclosed
The 17th amendment must be repealed
If the g'vt kept the data on you that google does you'd better believe you'd be calling it "doing evil"
I think that broadcast flags are actually a good idea. Let's start with a "crap flag" that refuses to let me watch shows that are crap.
I'm a big tall mofo.
A judicial ruling that makes sense. I'm scared.
If you strike it down, it will only become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
Les Miserables Volume 1 now up with my reading of
Hmm, (searches for explanation): Yesterday was Cinqo de Mayo...Nope, I got nothing
There go those Activist Judges(tm) again! I'm sure Congress will step in to fix this technicality.
This was originally posted on slashdot when the case started, and it is excellent news to hear that the FCC regulation was indeed overruled. It is important to note that this case was about whether the FCC had the jurisdiction to impose such regulations, not on the legality of the regulations themselves. If congress decided to pass a law requiring the broadcast flag, it would probably stand.
.
As an aside the American Library Association (ALA) has been very active in working to protect our fair-use rights and trying to make copyright law more balanced, even though they might not be as well known here as the EFF and ACLU are. I would highly encourage anyone who cares about these things to help support them
"You can't regulate washing machines. You can't rule the world."
-Judge David Sentelle
When there weren't anything but non-BF devices on the market, the MPAA couldn't use the DMCA against the manufacturers. Now that everything is BF-compliant any device that isn't can easily be painted as a circumvention device under the DMCA and the manufacturer sued out of existence.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
... won't have nobody messin' with his TV.
Seriously, no congressman in his right mind is going to touch legislation that impinges on the general public's right to an unencumbered TV-experience.
DMCA and PATRIOT are no problem, but take away an American's freedom to watch, record and illegally sell for profit and there's going to be trouble. We're talking mobs in the streets here, complete with lynchings and excessive-firing-of-rifles-in-the-air.
UPS will be dropping off my Firewire HDTV tuner box from El Gato today. I bought it even though I don't have enough horsepower on my desktop to decode the hi-rez MPEG streams, or a proper antenna, but I wanted to get it before they were outlawed. Oh well, I'll get a G5 someday.
As to the politics of it, it's gratifying when the bureaucracy gets told they can't just usurp authority, that they need permission from the democratically elected Congress.
Hey, the war is never over, but winning feels good every once in a while :)
Though, knowing our luck, it's probably just a really late April Fool's prank.
Sheesh, and it's not like there's really anything on TV that's worth watching once, let alone recard to watch again and again!
Just turn the damn thing off. You'll save $50 to $125 per month, find interesting new hobbies, and maybe shed a few pounds in the process!
Why get all upset over silly things like broadcast flags and DRM when there are so many other, better ways you could be spending your time!
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Recent events seem to indicate that the U.S. is moving closer and closer to some kind of state mandated censorship. A growing number of states are trying to pass legislation that would outlaw the sale of "violent" video games to minors. So far these laws have been struck down on constitutional grounds, but I don't believe that will be the final word on the matter. Anyway, once video games are censored or otherwise restricted, it is just a short hop to doing the same thing for movies, music and television.
So far the entertainment industry has strongly opposed anything that looks like censorship. But they are also so vigorously pursuing stronger copyright restrictions that they may be willing to deal. If they believe they can make more money by giving up creative freedom in exchange for stronger copyright laws, I believe they'll do it in a heartbeat. To get the broadcast flag now, they'll have to deal with Congress.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
But why is this so? If you look at either the revenue or profit numbers, the technology industry is far bigger than the entertainment industry. Just start with Microsoft. They dwarf everybody else in every industry -- cars, planes, buildings, movies, television, music, you name it.
There's a surprise, huh?
Anyway, Technocrat reported this already.
The courts struck down the broadcast flag because the FCC was getting too big for their britches. They got all up in there, and the Judge was like "no you didn't." Judges do that a lot--watch Judge Mathis to see what I mean.
The courts didn't say that the broadcast flag was illegal because it interfered with fair use rights. While the effects of this ruling are to encourage consumer rights, that hardly seems to be the intent of the judgement. The fact is, the FCC was never supposed to make these kinds of rules--and someone finally called their bluff.
1 - Buy as many non-compliant tuner cards as possible before June 30.
2 - Start selling said cards on ebay on July 2.
3 - Profit!!!
Guess it's back to "natural enhancement" spamming for me. (kidding - please don't firebomb my house!)
Public Knowledge has coverage of the case here , as well.
No more donating to the ACLU for me - it's all EFF from now on.
The ACLU was needed in the age of McCarthy, but the work of the EFF seems more beneficial to me right now - in the short as well as the long term.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
This is an amazing victory. But let's remember that this is only an Appeals court. The TV cartel will take this all the way to the Supreme Court if they can. Let's hope that the highest court in the land is on our side.
Because the broadcast flag was so technically feeble, it required "robustness rules" to actually enforce it. In other words, equipment manufactures would have to "weld shut" their devices to prevent user tampering. This would've spelt disaster for GNU Radio, which lets you define an ATSC HDTV receiver in software.
As open source, it fails the robustness rules. Heck, as open source, it even encourages "user tampering." With today's victory the project has some hope, and we can see some future innovations exploiting it.
I say to you: Thanks.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
I mentioned this old story on my AQFL site It is from 5/2/2005. It was an interesting read.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I am a lawyer, but this is not legal advice. If you get your legal advice on slashdot, you're likely to end up as a "guest" of the government.
This is the stronger of the two main ways that the court could have struck down the ruling. Often, it's the *form* of the rule, in paraticular the way the administrative agency chose to make the rule, that gets struck down. This leaves the agency free to pass the same rule through the proper process. (Similar to the way the appellate court struck down the judge's behavior in the microsoft case--the governmet could have sought another order splitting microsoft.)
In this case, it's the *substance* of the rule that was stricken. The FCC *cannot* regulate in this area, and cannot try again.
However, this didn't adress the question of whether or not Congress could grant the power to regulate in such an area, nor whether Congress could pass such a law itself.
hawk, esq.
Screw writing my congressman. I obviously need to write some federal judges with multiple words of praise! I encourage fellow slashdotters to do the same.
It pays to have sanity in the one branch that has the final word on so many issues important to us: the judicial branch.
...Judge Harry Edwards was found dead today in his Washington home today after being brutally bludgeoned to death. A blood-stained Star Trek:The Next Generation season 2 box-set case was found in bushes outside his home.
A white-faced county coroner appeared with a shady looking man in a black suit behind him at the local morgue announced that Judge Edwards had died from natural causes, before sueeling "I have to go now" and running inside.
FGD 135
all they did was rule the FCC didn't have the authority. It takes 1 act of congress to give them that authority. The only real hope here is this'll delay things long enough that flag free hardware will become the standard, and people'll start to expect it. Then again, if congress forces the flag down everyone's throats, what good is a defacto standard?
If your expecting a public outcry, don't. The content providers will just wait to start flagging their shows until flagged hardware is everwhere and everything. People won't know/care until it's too late.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I want a B-chip. That damned purple monster has done far more damage to children than all the violent programs put together.
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When the late Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers *both* came out and publicly condemned it as not good for children . .
hawk
"Since the entire American government is owned by corporate interests, it'll take about 5 minutes for this to get passed by Congress.
I'd hope that the consumer electronics lobby is stronger than the MPAA, but I fear it isn't so."
And the eternal pessimist verses optomists battle rages on. First the pessimist saying "woe is me..." and then the courts say "no woe...", and now the pessimists not to be vanquished say "yes woe...". So how many "no woes..." does it take to get to the center of a pessimist?
I own three of them.
Counter-terrorists win!
[o]_O
" And it never will be until the slimeballs behind this (movie industry) get what they want. "
As opposed to "all your information wants to be free" getting what they want?
Just remember, you all started this war.
I must be dreaming.. A win FOR consumers.. Something is amiss here.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Ha ha. I don't own a TV. TV is for suckers!
We have stories about the Federal legal decisions almost every day. Yet Slashdotters (and worse, the Slashdot editors) manage to read all these stories without learning anything about how the courts work. Pretty pathetic.
CAN I GET A HALELUJAH?!!!!!!
If you mod me down, I shall become less powerful than you could possibly imagine.
You can be unhappy with the way your fellow citizens vote, but corporations aren't electing these people into Congress. Other people in your community are. If you don't like that, don't sit on your beanbag and complain about how corporations are destroying the country. Go out and tell people why they should vote the way that you want them to. Money is just a megaphone. If you're spouting garbage, it will just make the garbage stinkier.
It's funny how the things that are beyond our control are the things that we'd otherwise have to get off our buns and do something about.
Well I am happy there isn't a broadcasting flag anymore but what about firewire ports on cable boxes?
If you look at the ruling "FCC Eases Digital TV Transition for Consumers."(PDF) it states that all digital cable boxes must have a firewire port. This port is used to control the box and record from it. Now this has been in effect for a while now, although it takes alot of effort and showing your cable company this pdf article to get them to give you a box that has a firewire port and that port is enabled. My concern is the ruling seems to also removes the FCC's power in this area as well.
And the worst part is MythTV just started supporting recording over firewire...
just because your a schizophrenic doesn't mean people arn't really out to get you
as citizens. We have more power with congress then the FCC.
AS always write, fax, email. Maintaining freedom takes regular work, few hours per week.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
That's how I feel after donating to the EEF last year and this happening now. Looks like I'll be sending them another cheque this year
Good work folks! Now, let's make sure this never sees the light of day in any of the law-making branches of the legislature!
Yet another case of activist judges making decisions against the will, values, and mandates of the American people. Decisions like this one are a direct attacking the foundations of Christianity and this country. It should now be clear to absolutely everybody that fillibuster is the tool of the devil. If you can't see that, then you probably can't see the President's new clothes either.
I would have ruled the world damnit, if only I could control the washing machines!
We'll meet again, Sentelle, after I enslave the world with subverted washing machines!
pcHDTV and El Gato most certainly do not have broadcast flag compatible equipment! So what if Sony does? They are oh so fucking successful in the MP3 player world...
There's a variety of factors in place, but if you posit that the average voter is intellectually curious and able to form opinions not based on sound bites I'd tend to agree with you.
However, this simply isn't the case. Congressional elections are viewed with much less interest than the Presidential election (which is ironic in itself) and voters as a whole don't tend to be intellectually curious OR well informed. So it truly does become a matter of money, which is where the corporations CAN influence policy.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Just like all those DVD players were 100% region protected.
Quack, quack.
Just one word comes to mind: hubris
I seem to recall the joyous triumphant shouts of victory when Poland objected to the software patent law in the EU. Dead they said back then. And then what happened? They stuck a fish head on it and got it moving again through a fisheries council.
Hubris. What can't be done through the FCC can be done through other backdoor legislation. Like attaching the legislation to a spending bill, like ANWR is going to be opened up. And if that fails, there is always the tried and true method of treaties, where even the US Constitution can be changed instead of going through the much more difficult other methods of an amendment passed by 3/4 of the states or during a constitutional convention.
The entertainment cartel has been at this too long, has too much invested in outlawing the VCRs of tomorrow, has too much to lose for them to give up this fight.
Plug a leak and the water just comes out of a different hole. There are many ways to skin a cat and the entertainment cartel owns all the knives.
Hubris.
In effect the xxAAs are trying to rope the FCC into making all broadcasting a synchonous pay-for-view service without any recourse for pay-per-view-later (that would kill ALL recording, nevermind TIVO)
They are essentially trying to rewind the calendar to before they xxAAs lost the 'fair use' trials against those pesky player pianos. (And radio and TV and restaurant juke boxes and sheet music.)
They are against anything that makes a noise and they aren't getting paid. And fair use doesn't enter into their vocabulaty.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Sorry this is offtopic, but I really want to tap into slashdot's collective knowledge sometimes, and I'd hate to do an ask slashdot for such a small question.
:-(
So here's my question:
I was wondering if I could start a small business by building cheap but high quality PC's with a video capture card, and install Myth TV or something similiar and sell them on Ebay as a "DVR", sort of like a media computer. Would there be a demand for this? How do I get started?
I want to search but I don't even know what to search for
Friday's ruling represents a sizable setback for the Motion Picture Association of America, which had lobbied for the broadcast flag rules and had intervened in the lawsuit to defend them.
http://www.busyweather.com/
Elected legislators like to avoid responsibility for hard decisions.
In addition to the broadcast flag, politicians would like to avoid responsibility for voting for or against abortion or gay marriage, so they hide in the weeds and let unelected judges or bureaucrats take the heat.
Laws are often written in a vague enough way that responsibility for unpopular consequences can be dumped onto the bureaucrasy and sorted out by the judiciary.
If elected officials abdicate their responsibility, a tyranny of the judiciary or of the bureaucrasy is possible.
The bad thing about this broadcast flag matter is that neither the villains in the bureaucrasy nor the heroes in the judiciary were elected officials directly accountable to the electorate.
but corporations aren't electing these people into Congress. Other people in your community are.
Yes they are. Other people in my community are so apathetic that they'll vote for whomever they recognize from TV, and all major TV outlets are owned by corporations.
If you don't like that ... Go out and tell people why they should vote the way that you want them to.
Both major U.S. political parties support expansion of the scope of copyright. The problem here is the first-past-the-post system, which rewards voting against a candidate rather than for a candidate, such that a vote for Nader instead of Gore or Kerry is equivalent to half a vote for Bush. Besides, how can I tell people to vote Libertarian if there's no Libertarian running in my congressional district and I have neither the age nor the money nor the political science background to run for office myself?
so, is the broadcast flag really struck down, or is this like when the eu parliament 'ordered' the comission to restart the sw patent process and they went ahead with it anyway? something like this has enough industry support behind it that i doubt the big shots are just going to say "well, you win some, you lose some" and walk away from it....
If I don't put anything here, will anyone recognize me anymore?
An unwavering belief that there is only one absolute truth and the speaker is in possession of it is usually considered at least a mild form of insanity.
For all that hardcore Democrats condemn Bush for basing so many of his policies on articles of faith, the Democrats accept as an article of faith that no reasonable person could ever see anything redeeming in Bush.
Hypocrisy is the Devil's favorite sin.
So does the MPAA consider its loss "time-shifted"? Or was victory stolen from them?
"how can they call it a MINE if everything here is THEIRS?!?!" -Straight Jacket
...VOLUNTARY compliance? The other issue here is that the FCC lacks the authority to MANDATE that all equipment comply. This in no way prohibits manufacturers from complying. More to the point, it doesn't take away the MPAA's ability to lean on harware manufacturers and ask them to comply even without a legal mandate that they must.
Why on earth should they comply? Well, interoperability for starters--remember CSS? It would be perfectly legal for the MPAA to threaten to cut off the ability to license whatever future DRM-ing "software" they invent to vendors who aren't compliant with some standard of "partner in the fight against piracy", and considering "do you make equipment that doesn't respect the broadcast flag?" as a big black mark against a vendor....
Also, most harware makers have been designing under the assumption that the broadcast flag would be implemented. Would it make sense to rejigger their hardware at this stage, knowing the requirement may go back in? Or would manufacturers cover their ass by leaving this in "voluntarily" until the legal challenges settle down? I'd guess the latter...
Sure, the law allows for a vendor to legally NOT implement the broadcast flag, but the vast majority of manufacturers will probably implement it anyways. Sure, the people wanting to crack protection can get useable cards. But unless there's a true outcry from consumers, and a significant CREDIBLE alternative to the major manufacturers who own so much space in the major distributors, I really question whether this will make much difference.
Most people don't care enough to buy off-brand parts that don't respect the broadast flag over a Sony box that does.
Fast forward 2 years into voluntary compliance. Now the issue before Congress is "the overwhelming majority of people already have this feature, so it doesn't hurt much to make it mandatory for everyone." This is basically the same argument they're using right now to take away non-digital television.
How would it ompare to TiVo ?
That will probably go a long ways to answering your question right there.
Just turn the damn thing off. You'll save $50 to $125 per month
Not in areas not served by affordable DSL. Many cable Internet access providers require you to commit to a subscription to cable TV before they'll sell you a subscription to cable Internet access.
If I knew that this was a permanent victory for ordinary citizens, I'd call up all my friends and go out for a beer to celebrate. News like this still gives me a glimmer of hope that the true spirit of America isn't yet defeated.
The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star-systems will slip through your fingers."
I'll defend to the death your right to watch TV, but if you want to espouse unpopular views, you're on your own.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean the system is broken. (Thank goodness for our "activist judges", eh?)
And there is hope out there - look to a recent book The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy. There's a mobilization on the left to match the one that has already happened on the right.
Moveon.org, Commondreams.org, et al are all raising the public awareness to a degree that hasn't occurred in a few decades.
While there are outstanding issues that are difficult to solve (such as the extreme polarization in America and a lack of prominent centrist voices) the bottom line is that people are becoming more involved. Look at voter turnout for the last election.
That said, the ongoing issue of money influencing politics is still a very real issue, and has been since the inception of the country. Look to Thomas Jefferson's remarks WRT campaign finance back in his day.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
THE PATRIOT ACT!!!
I hope this doesn't end up striking the FCC's authority to let people tell their condo/homeowner associations to fsck off when they try to ban the installation of satellite dishes. I'd hate to see a GOOD rule that's genuinely in the interest of normal people get shot down as collateral damage. It'd suck to (for now, at least) retain the right to buy recording devices unhampered by DRM, but have the right to receive it taken away by nazi HOAs...
Looks like it's too late for movies. I hear minors are also restricted from buying violent, or "Rated R" movies.
I really don't see how not allowing 12 year olds to buy deplorably violent video games is much of a slippery slope.
I'm tired of all the /.'ers who think this is insignificant. The fact is that these judges said that this would infringe on a consumers ability to time-shift HDTV.
Don't be stupid and talk about DRM on DVDs because this isn't the same. I can watch a DVD over and over but with this flag I wouldn't be able to record 'Lost' and watch it later.
You may think that the average american, namely my father who was born in 1945 (yes, he's 59), wouldn't care about copying a DVD and you're right - he doesn't. But he sure as hell won't let anyone mess with his time-shifting ability, via TiVo (which he doesn't have but wants) or a VCR.
And when HDTV drops a little more he will get it and if he can't control it 100% like he wants he'll sick the AARP on them. And old people actually write their congressmen and complain until things get done.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
I believe the Broadcast flag would have killed HDTV adoption in the US; If my brother-in-law couldn't record his NASCAR to watch after work, what good would HDTV do him?
HDTV equipment couldn't be made in the US for export, because no other country would want broadcast flag equipped products, ensuring the ongoing death of manufacturing in America.
It would raise the cost of, and decrease the desirability of better HDTV, increasing the time until we can turn off the old signals.
The airwaves belong to the Public, and private interests should not be allowed to run rampant over the limited useful spectrum, all of the FCC's decisions should have a statement explaining exactly how it is expected to benifit the public, with respect to the spectrum used; just as with the EPA and Environmental Impact statements.
private encrypted tranmissions have a place (cell phones, military, wireless networking), and it other areas a balance can be struck (TV networks using satillites to send shows to affiliates should be protected) but government angencies should not profit from, or pander to business interests. (except from taxing their profits)
The MMPA is going to lobby congress to pass a broadcast flag law.
We need to oppose this. Contact your congressional representatives and let them know you are against it.
I realize that in demonizing a bad policy, a lot of people are going to ignore the facts and go overboard, but please don't assume that the general public is going to share you opinion when you reasoning for why they'd share it is based entirely on lies about what the flag would actually do. The average voter probably doesn't care a bit about fair use of his recorded content, as long as he can watch it, any more than the average iTMS buyer thinks that Fairplay is evil just because it's DRM, as long as he can listen to the music he bought.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
I always wondered if it was the evil MPAA pushing for the broadcast flag or if it was the evil manufacturers. "Quick! Buy all of our old inventory to avoid the broadcast flag. What's that? It was struck down before the deadline? Good thing we never added the flag to our next year's models."
Why?
* They're as owned by special interests as the Republicans. The bankruptacy bill? Everyone voted for it, even very liberal, Hero Of The People Democrats. I mean, SCHUMER voted for that turd, and dude really wants to be a liberal working-class savior. That's insane behavior.
* They are becoming Republican Lite. Look at Hillary. She's starting to get awful cozy with the right-to-lifers. The goal of the Dems is to actually become ok with the Fundies. And that is totally insane, because it can never happen.
They need to grow a spine, start leading, and actually stand up for something. Sure, they may take some hits for a while, but the tide will turn. Kerry lost because he was a flip-flopper, much as I hated the Republicans using the stupid term.
I mean, isn't a defintion of insanity to perform the same acts and behavior over and over again, and believe that there will be a new outcome?
jh
..tack it onto the current "emergency" military spending bill right after the National ID Card rider.
i'll be able to watch wonder showzen without government interference
GetTheJob.com : Nothing but Real Jobs.
...we get to watch the Congress whore itself to the movie industry by giving the FCC the authority the movie industry wants the FCC to have so that they can further circumvent our fair use rights. The fact that these rights are guaranteed by our constitution be damned.
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
'Cause that is what corps do. It's actually more effective than giving them a single vote. They frequently can get their own legislation introduced to congress. How would that be? To be able to write your own laws? The legislation doesn't always pass, but it does too often for my taste.
I like the idea of no campaign contributions from any entities not allowed to vote.
This is a most joyous day (with the exception of all of you out there who were hoarding broadcast flag free video capture cards). Not only is this a minor step in preventing draconian governmental controls (you only can record what WE say you can!) but it is a significant step in protecing consumer rights!!!
July 1, 2005 will no longer to be the day of dread all of us nerds have feared, it shall henceforth be a day of celebration. Nerds everywhere will be required to drink highly caffinated beverages and play dungeons and dragons... while they RECORD any show they want to!!!
... and in the DRM, bind them.
Correct, if by constituents you mean corporations and lobby groups with large bags of money. Like the MPAA.
If it was really one-sided like that there would be more cause to worry. But if you actually read the article then you'll note where it says that all sorts of other huge companies, like basically the whole computer and consumer electronics industry, DID NOT WANT these flags. If you has spent millions of dollars developing an HDTV chipset and then suddenly were told you were going to have to redesign the system with a new capability by fiat, would you happy? No you would not. So you have an even huger bag of money on the other side of the table that did not want it, but it didn't matter when only the FCC was making the choice.
In fact at this juncture you can thank your lucky stars the Rebublicans are more in control, who are probably more in the pockets of the computer/consumer groups than the Democrats who have far stronger ties to hollywood and thus the MPAA. That makes it more unlikley a law will really be passed to put the flag back in.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Tell your politicians how disappointed you are that it had to come a court battle to stop this anti-consumer measure the FCC was trying to impose. Tell them what you want, tell them about the bad effects of the entertainment-industry-lobbied DMCA. Maybe refer them to /. other discussion boards, to the EFF.
Instead of the entertainment industry adapting to new technology and the changes in society brought by them, they would rather have it the other way around. They didn't succeed in 1984, trying to ban video recorders, and they (hopefully) won't succeed today in DRM-crippling consumer video and audio equipment nor in banning p2p networks, but they're massively lobbying to try and have their way imposed on everyone.
Don't be illusioned about one thing relating to television however - thinking you could outrun commercials.
As long as most of television is financed through advertising, the tv and entertainment industry WILL(and need to) find a way to get it delivered to the majority of the viewers. If a large portion of people start to fast-forward by commercials thanks to time-shifted viewing, they might become very short and very frequent so as to not make it worthwhile to manually ff by each of them. Or they will completely move into the tv productions itselves, then expect more of the likes as James Bond car being a BMW, possibly more intrusive.
Since the entire American government is owned by corporate interests, it'll take about 5 minutes for this to get passed by Congress.
Well when you stop taking the mushrooms for a little while, try reading the article where it talks abotu how the whole COMPUTER INDUSTRY and CONSUMER ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY does not want it!
Is THAT a big enough corperate interest for you?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Something like the broadcast flag was going to PISS OFF consumers. Companies are realizing that, and pretty soon they are going to be whispering how ervry single voter in America who watches TV (actually I'm sure that's a superset of voters) is going to be wondering just who to blame for not being able to record the Big Game. And that would be thier congressman...
I'm actually not at all surprised this was struck down, but I am amazed it was reversed this early. I thought much of the populace would get pissed off before it went down.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The EFF lost my support when they failed to spot the issue in the Apple vs. ThinkSecret case. They can suck my balls -- they're not getting another dime from me.
I guess AC must stand for Arrogant & Clueless. Because the Apple thing was about getting the NAME of the guy who leaked info. They didn't want any money from the guy at all.
The EFF is a great organization who deserves all the money they can get.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The EFF is fighting battles now that will affect our daily lives for years to come on a very fundamental level, I really think the EFF is a far better organization to support now than just about any other human rights org.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Thinking that the congress is controlled by Scary Old Big Business?
Fine. With you so far.
Thinking that the MPAA will then buy the votes to make the flag a law?
TWEEEEET. Whistle on play, failiure to follow thought to consistant conclusion.
If the congress is controlled by big business, and the MPAA is the only buisness that wants a broadcast flag - then it would follow according to the theory (big business controls congress) that indeed a broadcast flag would never pass as the corperate forces arrayed against it (consumer electonic and computer industry) are too large.
I enjoy a healthy degree of paranoia related to those in power. But please take the time to follow the chain of thought your own paranoia leads to, instead of breaking the link off way too early and saying the sky is going to fall when according to your OWN THEORY it should not!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What am I going to do with the shipping container of non-broadcast flag HDTV cards I purchased on speculation that were destined for big Ebay profits in August!?!
=P
e.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
Because of the FCC flag issue I decided to buy the Elgato 500 in June. Its more expensive and powerful than I need right now, but I didn't want to be blocked from recording HDTV in the future (whenever I get it), until then I was planning on using the Elgato 500 for standard DTV with my current laptop or with a future purchase of a Mac Mini. Although, the ruling today changes my rationale for buying the 500 series. Any chance that this can be appealed or over ruled?
Prices on pre-brady parts were going down before the law expired. (though until it happend those parts were worth more) The Brady bill was law for a while, so those parts were scarce for 10 years. People who wanted them paid for them, buying from those who stock piled them.
In this case the law never took effect. The cases are different, those who stockpiled 'banned' parts lost this time.
Most are happy to loose, since they were not building stocks to make money, but to protect their rights. Those who stockpile pre-brady parts likewise would have preferred the law not take effect.
It was not us, the citizens. It was the corporations that apposed it that made it happen.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
The point I was trying to make is that it is circular to argue that:
1) People are too stupid to vote correctly.
2) I'm not going to waste my time educating them or engaging them in conversation.
The argument, to me, sounds like "1 therefore 2, 2 therefore 1. QED." It seems hypocritical and intellectually lazy to me.
Does anyone else sometimes make the metal/devil hand gesture at their monitor as they read a good blurb like this one?
"common sense revolts"
free culture
"What does slashdotting mean?"
"You've never heard of slashdot?"
"I know it makes websites not work."
"The consumer electronics industry is not going to let the MPAA dictate how they make products."
Sony disagrees.
This is wonderful. It's nice to see the government acting sensibly for a change, even if it is only because we stood up for what was right.
The next time the cartels try this kind of b.s., we're even more prepared to fight them!
Sony's subsidiaries certainly do have content and also connections with the MPAA, they went shopping a couple of weeks ago and bought MGM!
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Natural law trumps statutory law, common law, case law, and constitutional law.
Look at the "war on drugs." Is there anyone in the US who wants really drugs that can't get them? Of course not. (Well maybe those in prison, etc..) Many persons such as myself have no interest at all in procuring drugs, but would not bat an eyelash at purchasing a 'black market TV' etc..
If the flags went into place the market for pirate devices would skyrocket. Not only would I not have a problem purchasing 'black market electronics', I'd not have a problem making $$$ by smuggling 'black market electronics' into the US.
Passing laws, establishing regulations, etc. is simply not going to be effective in restricting the flow of technology.
Ultimately, all the $$$ spent by the MPAA, and RIAA will be for naught.
Natural Law will prevail.
"Oh drat these computers, they're so naughty and so complex, I could pinch them." --Marvin the Martian
Now I'm sorry the Court ruled as it did -- that would have been interesting!
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
I agree they have been holding back HD content.
But what it has meant is that other forms of HD content have become more watched than they would have been otherwise. If hollywood cares to wait long enough they may face a tide of forien HD flicks and start loosing market share to overseas movie companies.
SO I think with such a move they are really only hurting themselves - and electranics makers to some extent.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,67447,00 .html?tw=wn_tophead_1
After reading that story and seeing some quotes, such as:
1) On Friday, broadcasters vowed to take their fight to Congress and push for broadcast-flag legislation that "preserves the uniquely American system of free, local television," said Edward Fritts, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters.
2) "Without a broadcast flag, consumers may lose access to the very best programming offered on local television," Fritts said. "This remedy is designed to protect against unauthorized, indiscriminate redistribution of programming over the internet."
makes me think... What on earth is this Fritts talking about?
Free local television is not uniquely American first of all... and secondly, in American and Canada... how many people out of the whole are actually only getting "rabbit ear" television where cable is offered also?
I think this guy is talking nonsense.
What's the big deal about this flag anyway?
It's ridiculously easy to remove.
Parse the MPEG Program Map Table packet.
Find the descriptor with the tag 0xAA.
Change the tag to 0x80.
Recompute the CRC32 for the Program Map Table.
Write the packet out.
think of the FCC as the "Trade Federation", the US Court of Appeals as the "Jedi Council", and "entertainment industry" (RIAA etc) as "DARTH SIDIOUS"-- make no mistake, the RIAA is the "Darth Sidious" (DARK SIDE), not the FCC-- the FCC is simply THEIR CONDUIT to gain MORE POWER to control WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and HOW YOU SEE OR HEAR ANY BROADCAST OR RECORDED DIGITAL MEDIA! (I hope I am not in violation of any licensing agreement by referencing a certain popular space fantasy epic to explain real-world events!)