A federal appeals court which ruled against the FCC's broadcast flag rules has been seen as a victory for consumer groups and library associations as well as been praised by those who brought the court challenge. The broadcast flag rule which was adopted by the FCC in 2003 was suppose to become enforced on July 1st. If enforced, manufacturers of digital TV equipment would have to enforce the restrictions of a broadcast flag that transmits with programming. The restrictions could range from simply prohibiting further copying or distribution down to a short period of timeshift-only recording.
The FCC created the broadcast flag rules in an aim to allow content owners to control what consumers can do with their content, thus making Digital TV a more secure medium for broadcasters. However, the broadcast flag would cause problems: Only DVD recorders that support the flag would allow recording, thus only allowing playback on broadcast flag compliant DVD players. PC Digital TV tuners would only allow recording in a format that would not allow transcoding and where the consumer can only playback on their PC. Finally, TV Manufacturers may be forced to up their prices in order to add the extra anti-piracy technology.
The three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals said that the FCC had abused its authority by forcing manufacturers to use new anti-piracy technology in equipment that only receives TV signals from July 1st. Finally, the court could find nothing in law or legislative history that backs the FCC's broadcast ruling claims . Saruman and cd11 both used our news submit to let us know about the following news:
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The "broadcast flag" rule, adopted in late 2003, was designed to stop potential piracy of a new generation of television programs that offer superior sound and video quality. Such programming is a regular staple on for-pay cable and satellite TV systems, which scramble their signals. But the entertainment industry, which lobbied heavily for the rules, has threatened to withhold digital programs on free broadcast stations because of the risk that they might be copied and distributed over the Internet. Read the full article here. Some more info on Reuters and C|net. |
I'm sure anyone planning on getting a Digital TV or PVR will be delighted to hear about this ruling. Just a pity it comes so close to the former broadcast flag enforcement date as by this stage the majority of new Digital TVs, PVRs and PC tuner cards would be broadcast flag compliant. Then again, chances are that some manufacturers probably have some hidden remote sequence that would unlock the restriction, like how some DVD players can be unlocked of Macrovision and region restrictions with a secret remote sequence. For Digital PVRs, DVD recorders and PC tuners, it may be just a matter of the manufacturers releasing updated drivers or firmware that is free of broadcast flag recognition. :p
For the FCC and MPAA, this is actually very bad timing as by the time they do
manage to properly enforce a broadcast flag ruling (if successful), the
majority of consumers may have upgraded to digital TV displays and equipment
that lack broadcast flag support. When it comes to HDTV, so far only 10% of the population had
a HDTV set by the end of 2004.
Saruman wrote: This is good news! The supreme court has blocked the FCC from overstepping its bounds to protect big business.
Source: Washington Post - Technology
