Towards the end of 2003, the FCC announced that starting from July 2005, all digital recording devices and tuners must recognise "a broadcast" encoded in digital TV. The broadcast flag is stored along with the recorded content which may limit the way the consumer may use recorded content such as prevent duplication or sharing over the Internet.
Last week various groups including the EFF have asked the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to ensure the FCC does not have the right to force equipment manufacturers to implement and enforce copy protection measures based on content. They said that consumers should not lose rights just because the content format is different. The MPAA however argue that restrictions are necessary to prevent users from recording and sharing out broadcast content.
If the current rules planned by the FCC are enforced, it would also mean that one consumer cannot share or make recordings for a friend or playback elsewhere with new equipment sold after the deadline. Lohmann from the EFF argues that consumers would be more tempted into building their own DVR equipment that ignores the broadcast flag. The FCC has asked the court to wait until it can consider other challenges to the broadcast flag rules.
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At issue are regulations the FCC issued in November 2003 that stipulate that, starting in July 2005, all digital video-recording devices -- including digital VCRs and digital tuners -- recognize a "broadcast flag" encoded in the digital television stream. Recorders must then encode a flagged program so it cannot be shared from machine to machine or over the Internet. The American Library Association, Public Knowledge, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other public-interest groups asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last week to stipulate that the FCC has no right to impose content controls on equipment manufacturers or to restrict copying of copyright materials. "What is at stake is what kind of rights we have when most media is digital," said Art Brodsky, a Public Knowledge spokesman. "We want to make sure that rights aren't taken away because the material is in a different format." "We want this technology to be the best it can be, not the second- or third-best," Brodsky said. The Motion Picture Association of America, which has been leading the fight for the technical restrictions, argues the rules are necessary to prevent widespread peer-to-peer sharing of copyright programs, which it says would lead to the end of free television. Read the full story here. |
While the broadcast flag rules would work fine with most users that record for later playback, it would pose a problem for users that archive recordings or take recordings outside their home. An archival example includes recording special episodes of a soap or series that the user wishes to keep even if their DVR is later replaced or breaks down. Also many users who leave home for a period will have to rely on recording timers to record shows since the broadcast flags would likely prevent a friend from recording shows for them.
Source: Wired News
