[IP] Politicians [well funded I suspect djf] want to raise broadcast flag
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 1, 2005 5:33:59 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Politicians want to raise broadcast flag
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Politicians want to raise broadcast flag
By Declan McCullagh
<http://beta.news.com.com/Politicians+want+to+raise+broadcast+flag/
2100-1028_3-5886722.html>
Story last modified Fri Sep 30 18:05:00 PDT 2005
Twenty members of Congress are calling for the reinstatement of the
"broadcast flag," a controversial form of copy prevention technology
for digital TV broadcasts.
In a letter Thursday, the politicians called for rapid approval of a
federal law adopting the broadcast flag, which would outlaw over-the-
air digital TV receivers and computer tuner cards that don't follow
strict anticopying standards.
"Program producers will naturally be reluctant to license their high
value programs for digital distribution without protection from
widespread acts of infringement over the Internet," said the letter,
sent to Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House of
Representatives panel on Internet and commerce.
No legislation has advanced in either the House or the Senate, but
opponents of the broadcast flag have been warning that the proposal
could be attached to spending bills. The bill funding the Federal
Communications Commission through 2006, for instance, is still before
a conference committee.
In a 3-0 ruling in May, a federal appeals court rejected the FCC's
regulations adopting the broadcast flag. But the ruling was a limited
one: the judges said that though the FCC lacked the authority to
outlaw TV tuners, Congress could choose to enact a law allowing it.
Since then, the Motion Picture Association of America has been
lobbying Congress to reinstate the scheme. In an essay for CNET
News.com in May, MPAA head Dan Glickman wrote: "The broadcast flag
does not inhibit copying, nor does it prevent redistribution of
programming over a personal home network--it only restricts
unauthorized redistribution of programming over the Internet and
other digital networks."
Thursday's letter from Rep. Charles Pickering, R-Miss., and Edolphus
Towns, D-N.Y., demonstrates that the MPAA has secured broad
bipartisan support. It was signed by 12 Republicans and eight Democrats.
Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that has sued to yank down the
FCC's broadcast flag, said in an e-mailed response to the letter:
"The broadcast flag legislation would give the Federal Communications
Commission control over virtually any technology, from set-top boxes
to computer software."
Other signatories to the letter: John Shimkus, R-Ill., George
Radanovich, R-Calif., Mike Ferguson, R-N.J., Marsha Blackburn, R-
Tenn., Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., Mary Bono, R-Calif., Lee Terry, R-Neb.,
Ed Whitfield, R-Kt., Bobby Rush, D-N.J., Vito Fossella, R-N.Y., John
Shadegg, R-Ariz., Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., Albert Wynn, D-Md., Michael
Doyle, D-Penn., Charles Gonzalez, D-Tex., Charles Bass, R-N.H., John
Sullivan, R-Okla., Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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