[IP] Politicians [well funded I suspect djf] want to raise broadcast flag

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Date: October 1, 2005 5:33:59 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@warpspeed.com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Politicians want to raise broadcast flag
Reply-To: dewayne@warpspeed.com


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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