Broadcast Flag Hearing on Feb 22nd
February 19th, 2005 | by Mike G |http://www.tvtechnology.c…one.php?id=2755
The soon to be government sponsored mandate to control content on the public airways will be introduced this summer sparking DRM in each information appliance that can receive that signal with the flag.
Can you hear that? That is the death of Digital Television before it ever really took off.
Public interest groups like the EFF are suing the FCC over the introduction of the broadcast flag, their argument is that the FCC doesn’t have the jurisdiction to impose the Broadcast Flag.
While the flag itself is an abomination, (I think it’s mentioned in Leviticus.) There should be a quick ending to this hearing. Clearly, if any organizational body should have jurisdiction over the flag, it would be the FCC.
The flag is sure to fail in the marketplace, though. Either with consumers not purchasing digitally aware equipment or with the introduction of the “Digital Freedom” cottage industry– producing a small silver filter to place on your cable coax that strips away the broadcast flag.
In any case, there are other solutions. Let’s produce the content ourselves, leaving it flagless. Or convince the FCC that holding content broadcast over the public airwaves hostage is a bad idea
