[Discuss-gnuradio] Declan: Politicians want to raise broadcast flag

[Eric Blossom]

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.