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.

Comments

Please note the difference:

[tverbeek]

A bugaloo is not the same thing as a boogaloo.

No such thing as "digital"

[Khyber]

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.

Re:harder this time Huh???

[kclittle]

This is another attempt to bypass courts and surreptitously impose a law that tramples upon a citizen's rights.

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.

Re:Legislative body

[eddiegee]

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.

Re:Better copyright provisions:

[arkhan_jg]

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.

Re:Legislative body

[AstroDrabb]

So you get Sony, Universal, AOL, as "companies" giving their bribes. Then you can have all the big execs giving bribes at the expenisve "dinner" parties.

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.