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

Re:Legislative body

[emc]

They are not, but Orrin Hatch is.

He is also the lapdog of the entertainment industry.

Buy your own laws, here

[FunWithHeadlines]

Get yer laws, here! Nice fresh laws for sale!

Whatsa matter, sport? Courts got you down? They say you have no legal leg to stand on? Don't listen to them! Get your own laws! You write 'em. You pay for 'em. You benefit from 'em.

Re:Legislative body

[MrAnnoyanceToYou]

Welcome to Corporatized America. If you can afford it, you're a legislative body.

Re:Legislative body

[eln]

You would be surprised at how much legislation is actually written by corporations, and given to "friendly" Congressmen who sponsor it as their own. Many large businesses and businesses organizations have lobbying groups whose job it is to craft legislation friendly to them, and sell it to members of Congress.

MPAA was elected?

[twl1973]

I love it how the MPAA can draft legislation for the Congress now. I thought that we elected people to actually draft legislation but I guess I was wrong. Now all you need to draft legislation is a billion dollars and the knowledge of where to deposit some of the money.

Re:MPAA was elected?

[brontus3927]

No, no, no. Any one can draft legislation. All you need is to know how to write, and a way to write it down. We elect people to sponsor legislation, debate legislation, and vote on legislation. Further, I'd hazzard a bet that there hasn't been a bill on the table in many years that was actually WRITTEN (i.e. drafted) by a Congressperson. Most were written by their staff.

Re:Legislative body

[gr8_phk]

And he'll just append it to the next bill to fund the troops or fight terrorism and it'll go through for sure.

Better copyright provisions:

[rice_burners_suck]

Perhaps it would be wisest if the government would rule as follows: Any information broadcast in such a manner as to distribute it widely shall be deemed protected under copyright law, but only to the extent that you cannot sell copies of the information; that is, you may record it in any medium you want; you may display the information in any manner you want, even in a public performance; the only thing you cannot do is charge for it; only the copyright holder may do that. Therefore, you cannot charge others to watch a public performance of the same, nor can you charge for copies on, say, DVD.

This would solve a variety of problems: Fair use would not be destroyed. And because information broadcast is, to all practical extents, available for consumption by "the public", then there should be no restriction on time- or format-shifting of the same. This law would be much more fair to both sides of the issue, as the bottom line is that our country is meant to be free, not governed by the will of corporations, though corporations should still have a fair chance at profits, even big profits, because corporations are the ones that pay us, feed us, drive our economy, and give us a better standard of living through the channeling of funds and efforts that would otherwise not take place.

Interesting Implication

[Bob(TM)]

You know, it's interesting that the MPAA is taking the approach of giving additional regulatory power of the FCC rather than lobbying congress to mandate the flag.

Laying groundwork for easier actions in the future, perhaps ...

with apologies to Mel Brooks...

[Foobar of Borg]

"Fellow members of the American Senate, hear me! Shall we continue to give hand-out after hand-out to the rich? Or shall we aspire to a more noble purpose and draft decent legislation for the poor? How does the Senate vote?"

[in unison] "F**k the poor!"

"Good!"

Problem with it is...

[snwcrash]

The device makers will put up a pretty strong resistance to this. MPAA isn't the only industry group that would be lobbying over this.

The FCC regulations were politically convenient, since the elected officals could distance themselves from it, claim to support or oppose it depending on the direction of the political winds.

Republicans would probably find it hard to increase the amount of regulation on high-tech industries. Not saying it's impossible, but it's hardly going to zip right on through. Unlike the DMCA which was generally pro-business this bill pits several intrests against one another. If the bill directly attacked consumers it would pass in a hearbeat :)