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Broadcast Flag 2 - Electric Boogaloo
blamanj wrote to mention that, a week after we reported on the court rejection of the broadcast flag, the MPAA is working on new legislation to broaden the FCC's power. From the article: "The draft bill says, simply, that the FCC will 'have authority to adopt regulations governing digital television apparatus necessary to control the indiscriminate redistribution of digital television broadcast content over digital networks.' The DC Circuit nixed the flag on the grounds that the FCC didn't have the authority. This language would clear that up." Update: 05/13 19:20 GMT by Z : Title amended with apologies to the Bugaloos.
A bugaloo is not the same thing as a boogaloo.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Nothing is digital, once going to the pure nature of electronics and electricity. Even information transmitted over a fiber optic cable is an analog wave of light. Anything transmitted over a copper wire is an analog electrical waveform. When it comes down to all of it, Digital does not exist. We cannot look at a digital signal thru an oscilloscope and see 1's and 0's shooting across our screen.
Digital phone network? Nope, it's still an analog wave carrying all of the information. No matter how anything goes or is transmitted, there's no true such thing as digital.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
And yet... people still watch TV, movies, selecting new ringtones and backgrounds for their phone, finding music for their iPod, burning DvDs of their wedding. They're working 50 hour weeks to put food on the table. And they're also buying nifty gadgets that had been cool little projects only available to tech-heads a few years back.
This country has been run on consumerism for quite a while. Corporate influence is nothing new. It's the flow of data that's new to average lives. And as specific interests try to tighten control on that flow, it will generate a market for more transportable data. That means either turning to alternative markets that are willing to offer data in acceptable formats, or turning to a black market that strips restrictions from mainstream market data.
Wasn't the DMCA evidence enough of this? But there are plenty of other examples.
No, they aren't a legislative body, but they do seem to own several members of the legislative branch such as Orin Hatch, for example, who seems to do the bidding if his dark lord and master, "MPAA" frequently and regularly.
I don't have a high opinion of him at all.
If someone came to me and said, "For several million dollars, would you be willing to sell out the constitutional ideals of our nation?" I'd have to say absolutely not. Those ideals mean something to me because the effect of the removal of those ideals have an impact on my life. They don't impact him or those with a lot of money and stuff so it seems to matter not at all to him and people like him. It's a sad thing really.
It can be spinned (spun doesn't seem appropriate here) any way you like but I think this emerging situation indicates the lengths these people are willing to go in order to get their interests served while they clearly aren't thinking the long-term repercussions through on this.
I only wish we could have laws put into place to prevent this sort of unfair money-driven interest from taking place to begin with. It is unfair that we presently have a system in which politicians, laws and ultimately the entire government can be bought in this way. Money should NOT be allowed to influence any judiciary, executive or legislative governmental body in any way. It's immoral, unethical and unfair to "we the people."
Let's not lose sight of how the U.S. Government works here...
Congress *makes the rule*, and the courts *enforce* them. So, the media, having been told by the courts, "this is not what Congress intended", are going to the source of the rules and requesting a change -- as any group of citizens in the country have a right to do. You may not agree with the request, and it is your right to oppose and argue against the change, but there is no "bypassing" to rant an rail against.
Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
Its $2000 actually....to the individual congressperson. The limits are $25000 a year to the national party, $10000 a year to the state party and $5000 to a PAC. And it will not just be the RIAA but the MPAA, Sony, Universal/Vivendi, Viacom, AOL/TW, plus the individual executives who go to the $1000 a plate dinners. Soon it adds up to real money.
But our high holy Courts have decided that money equals speech, so don't you dare trample on the rights of massive conglomerates to brib....I mean "contribute" to the politicians of their choice.
I was going to say exactly the opposite thing. Once there's some testimony -- and the computer companies are certainly going to insist that they get a chance to air their views in public -- that the only ways the FCC can handle this is to either (a) outlaw copying outright, which takes away constituents' ability to continue time-shifting, or (b) micromanage all kinds of different technologies like hard disks and software decoders in order to ensure that the flags are honored, I figure that Congress is going to want nothing to do with it.
Like a supplemental spending bill for Bush's Iraqi adventure. After all, who would not want to support the troops?
You're assuming the companies the MPAA represents, and the congressmen they own, want a fair deal.
To them, it won't be a fair setup until everything we watch is
a) produced by a MPAA member
b) paid for* by every watcher, every time they view it. Yes, that means you pay twice as much if two people watch one show simultaneously.
c) even better, paid for by potential viewers, whether you watch it or not.
d) uncopyable, unless they're doing the copying
e) Chargable like b) every time you change format or viewer, in addition to the per-viewing fee.
f) only viewable when the MPAA producer wants you to watch it, especially if you're in a different country
g) eternal copyright, so that all of the above applies to all content, forever.
h) all fair use of any kind is eliminated.
* paid for to include a flat rate fee, per-viewing fee, or unskippable commercials. Ideally, they'd like all three at once.
"[Skipping ads with a PVR or VCR] is theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial . . . you're actually stealing the programming."
This beautiful piece of logic was bruited about as part of the Big Media blitz against ReplayTV's model 4000 personal video recorder.
This is what we're dealing with.
Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
Have you ever looked at www.opensecrets.org? If congress critters and senate idiots could "only" get $2,000, how do you have all these corrupted bumbs getting millions every year like Dennis Hastert and Nancy Pelosi. Go take a look at the Politicians page to see just how many millions in bribes they are getting. Oh, and then go look at the Industry page to see who is giving. Notice how the TV/Movies/Music industry gave $31,931,262 in 2004 with 69% of that going to the Dems.
Do you really think there is any democracy left in our political process with hundreds of millions in bribes going around to our "politicians"? I know I don't.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison