The Broadcast Flag will make recording TV shows illegal!
cha...@dougstanhope.com
ALL I WANT is to make a high-definition copy of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, save it on a DVD, and loan it to my friend," says Sarah
Brydon, looking up from a long table covered with half-built
computers. These sound like the words of a science fiction nerd, not a
revolutionary. But Brydon is a new breed of protester – and she's
expressing her discontent with the U.S. government by building a
television.
She's one of a dozen consumer activists who have gathered on a
Saturday morning in late January for a high-definition television
"Build-In" at the Mission District office of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (where I work). Part computer hardware nerdfest, part
hell-raising political action, the Build-In is a high-tech protest of
a new Federal Communications Commission regulation called the
"Broadcast Flag."
According to the FCC, the flag is going to ease the nation's
transition from today's analog televisions to tomorrow's
high-definition televisions. What exactly does it mean for a
government agency to "ease" the transition from one kind of TV signal
to another? In this case, it seems to mean making the entertainment
industry feel very warm and fuzzy inside.
The Broadcast Flag is designed – poorly – to stop people from putting
high-quality recordings of TV shows on popular file-sharing networks
like BitTorrent. In reality, it will give the government an
unprecedented amount of control over what we do in our own homes with
recordings of HDTV. The flag is supposed to stop mass copying and
infringement, but it will also stop most consumers from perfectly
legal activities like saving HD copies of shows for personal use.
...
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Security cameras in toilet stalls and bedrooms are a small price to pay if it makes us safer!
Tim
bit of creativity on the part of the thieves.
BTW, Buffy is bad example to use, as the whole series has been released on
DVD.
<cha...@dougstanhope.com> wrote in message
news:k5ov21d4v3208sn32...@4ax.com...
> http://www.sfbg.com/39/22/cover_fcc.html
>
>
> ALL I WANT is to make a high-definition copy of Buffy the Vampire
> Slayer, save it on a DVD, and loan it to my friend," says Sarah
> Brydon, looking up from a long table covered with half-built
> computers. These sound like the words of a science fiction nerd, not a
> revolutionary. But Brydon is a new breed of protester - and she's
> expressing her discontent with the U.S. government by building a
> television.
>
> She's one of a dozen consumer activists who have gathered on a
> Saturday morning in late January for a high-definition television
> "Build-In" at the Mission District office of the Electronic Frontier
> Foundation (where I work). Part computer hardware nerdfest, part
> hell-raising political action, the Build-In is a high-tech protest of
> a new Federal Communications Commission regulation called the
> "Broadcast Flag."
>
> According to the FCC, the flag is going to ease the nation's
> transition from today's analog televisions to tomorrow's
> high-definition televisions. What exactly does it mean for a
> government agency to "ease" the transition from one kind of TV signal
> to another? In this case, it seems to mean making the entertainment
> industry feel very warm and fuzzy inside.
>
> The Broadcast Flag is designed - poorly - to stop people from putting
Dave MacRae
> Ah, this is a new one: Theft as personal freedom. I like it, as it shows a
> bit of creativity on the part of the thieves.
>
> BTW, Buffy is bad example to use, as the whole series has been released on
> DVD.
So, it's currently legal in the US, and most other countries, to record
a show onto VHS or DVD for your own personal use but the Broadcast Flag
now prevents this (at least in the US).
The RIAA and the MPAA win again. Film at 11.
--
Dave
Tim
news:es9q0d...@127.0.0.1...
*rant mode on*
God forbid anybody profit from their own work! It must all be given away to
any scumbag with access to the internet. The Great Unwashed will it and it
must be so!
*rant mode off*
Seriously, with the rate shows are coming out on DVD these days, home
recording is obsolete as it is. The original post seemed more concerned with
not being able to "trade" recordings via the net.
Anyway, this Broadcast Flag thingy didn't keep me from recording "West Wing"
while I slept last night.
Rick
Tim, I'm confused. First you rant against people recording
broadcast shows, then you finish by saying you recorded one
last night? :-)
The law does give Americans the explicit right to record TV
shows for their own use, and this Broadcast Flag does make
that impossible (at least a few days or weeks, until the new
scheme is cracked).
Dan G
"Tim" <sp...@spam.spam> wrote in message
news:mr-dnYFI5aL...@comcast.com...
> recording is obsolete as it is. The original post seemed more concerned
with
> not being able to "trade" recordings via the net.
>
> Anyway, this Broadcast Flag thingy didn't keep me from recording "West
Wing"
> while I slept last night.
>
>
When your VCR has a chip in it to prevent recording West Wing off-air, you
will sing a different tune. Yes, that's right, the MPAA wants to force ALL
hardware makers to include such chips, even in VCRs. DRM is the current wave
of the future, and it will eventually eliminate any recording off-air if
they have their way. Many DVR's that are currently in use have this chip
already, and will stop recording flagged programs when the flags are
enabled.
Tim
news:39c3keF...@individual.net...
> Tim, I'm confused. First you rant against people recording
> broadcast shows, then you finish by saying you recorded one
> last night? :-)
I guess I should have ranted more clearly :) See below
> The law does give Americans the explicit right to record TV
> shows for their own use, and this Broadcast Flag does make
> that impossible (at least a few days or weeks, until the new
> scheme is cracked).
I'm all in favor of being able to record for your use, but what I was
objecting to was the original poster's complaint that you could not longer
upload shows to the web. It's the whole "Napster, Kazaa, everything must be
available on the net for free forever" theft by proxy thing I hate.
Tim
BucketButt
U.S. copyright law covering the matter is very simple -- not necessarily
pleasant, but simple. The Betamax case set the precedent that recording
of ordinary over-the-air television for one's personal use is considered
permissible under copyright law, but passing along that recording to a
third party or using it for any commercial purpose is not permissible.
The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), which I personally detest,
goes beyond previous law in that it provides for the owners of
copyrighted material to incorporate Digital Rights Management (DRM) into
their works if they so desire; and under the DMCA, defeating any DRM
scheme for any purpose (including making an archival copy, previously
permitted) is a federal offense. It's all quite legal, apparently.
The big impetus in Congress for passing the DMCA was the argument that
today's digital transmission and recording technologies are so far
superior to older methods that "perfect" copies are now possible which
are completely indistinguishable from the original. With traditional
NTSC television, the image you got on your TV was never as good as the
original, and recording onto videocassette degraded the image further;
you might be happy enough with the quality that you'd keep a copy for
your personal enjoyment, but you'd never be able to pass off your
homemade tape as a commercially available copy made from the original
master tape or film. Nor was there, at the time, an economical way for
home users to edit the copy so as to violate the owner's copyright and
pass the work off as one's own.
If you want to make digital-quality recordings of TV programs right now,
you can invest a lot of money in the best hardware and software
currently available for home use, but act quickly -- I expect all the
available home technology will either include DRM or be pulled off the
market completely no later than the end of June. Or, when and where
they're available, you can buy DVDs of your favorite TV series; the
copyright owner then gets a royalty, and you're free to loan out, sell
or give away the DVD you purchase. (But you still can't make copies and
give them to your friends -- that is piracy, pure and simple. And under
the DMCA, even making your own archival copy is illegal.)
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. I am, however, a retired broadcaster
who had to pay closer attention to copyright law during my career than
an ordinary consumer ever will. If you doubt or disagree with any of
the above, pay a lawyer to give you an expert opinion. And if you then
decide to ignore what they lawyer says, please don't tell me or anyone
else about it.
Now, please quitcherbitchin and either obey the law or use the means set
forth to change it to your liking.
--
Walter Luffman Medina, TN USA
Amateur curmudgeon, equal opportunity annoyer
The Babaloughesian
"Tim" <sp...@spam.spam> wrote in message
I love that whole thing. Theft by proxy kicks ass. Smallville's
advertisers don't deserve anybody's attention.
Walter Luffman
those who think they have a "right" to violate copyright law because it
isn't "fair". To those I say again: quitcherbitchin.
Tim
news:39ci1hF...@individual.net...
> I love that whole thing. Theft by proxy kicks ass. Smallville's
> advertisers don't deserve anybody's attention.
It's only fair. Smallville itself doesn't deserve anybody's attention... :)~
Tim
Oh, calm down, it's a only a joke, honey!
Steven de Mena
"Tim" <sp...@spam.spam> wrote in message
> Ah, this is a new one: Theft as personal freedom. I like it, as it shows a
> bit of creativity on the part of the thieves.
>
> BTW, Buffy is bad example to use, as the whole series has been released on
> DVD.
Not in High Definition.
W. Blaine Dowler
> Previous message in this thread was not directed at Tim, but rather at
> those who think they have a "right" to violate copyright law because it
> isn't "fair". To those I say again: quitcherbitchin.
First of all, I don't pirate. I'm concerned about the Broadcast flag,
though, as it makes it possible for the broadcaster to decide that the
episode can't be recorded at all. Of course, there's also a setting for
"it can be recorded, but then only watched once, and on the same AV unit,"
which is completely fair given the legalities of the thing. I tend to
randomly work late, so if the broadcaster decides that I can't tape
"Smallville" that night, then I'd have to wait for a large part of a year
before I get a chance to see that episode. Since I try to review every new
episode within 24 hours, that would be quite irritating.
--
- Blaine
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum
mechanics cannot possibly have understood it.
- Niels Henrik David Bohr (1885-1962) Danish physicist.
The Babaloughesian
"Walter Luffman" <bucke...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:39cnvkF...@individual.net...
> Previous message in this thread was not directed at Tim, but rather at
> those who think they have a "right" to violate copyright law because it
> isn't "fair". To those I say again: quitcherbitchin.
Legal rights aren't the only ones humans have invented over the years. I
imagine when people refer to rights to violate copyright law, they're not
referring to legal rights.
Tim
"Steven de Mena" <dem...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:B7OdnUNDpLk...@comcast.com...
But it wasn't made in HD, so what's the difference?
Tim
Walter Luffman
> Walter Luffman wrote:
>
>
>>Previous message in this thread was not directed at Tim, but rather at
>>those who think they have a "right" to violate copyright law because it
>>isn't "fair". To those I say again: quitcherbitchin.
>
>
> First of all, I don't pirate. I'm concerned about the Broadcast flag,
> though, as it makes it possible for the broadcaster to decide that the
> episode can't be recorded at all. Of course, there's also a setting for
> "it can be recorded, but then only watched once, and on the same AV unit,"
> which is completely fair given the legalities of the thing. I tend to
> randomly work late, so if the broadcaster decides that I can't tape
> "Smallville" that night, then I'd have to wait for a large part of a year
> before I get a chance to see that episode. Since I try to review every new
> episode within 24 hours, that would be quite irritating.
I agree with you all the way on this. I'm not a pirate either, but like
you I tape episodes for purposes of time-shifting and occasionally
re-watching to see if a perceived inconsistency is really there. Since
I already have DVDs of the first three seasons and know that Season Four
DVDs have been announced for late this year, I have no need to keep
lower-quality videotapes of the episodes.
If digital TV with DRM were already in use, and The WB decided to block
me from recording episodes on my VCR, I'd be greatly annoyed and might
even stop following the series after missing a few episodes. No
television series can afford to simply write off all the viewers who
time-shift in order to remain current, so the marketplace will continue
to be self-correcting. I do not know, obviously, but I suspect that
VCRs will be able to record broadcast TV (at lower-than-digital
definition) for as long as VCRs continue to be made; or maybe future
PCTV tuners will take on this role, letting people time-shift their
favorite shows while preventing duplication or transfer. Eventually
subscriber-based services similar to what we already have for some cable
content will deliver broadcast programming-on-demand for a nominal fee
... and I'll pay that fee now and then to catch an episode I missed when
it originally aired.
Of course, there will always be those who want to go beyond permitted
uses under copyright law; and there will always be those who will find
ways to defeat DRM, just as they have since the earliest days of
copy-protected software. As long as the U.S. legislative system works,
I'll rely on public pressure to keep Congress from doing anything too
crazy, or at least to fix their mistakes in time. Toward that end I'm
already active in efforts to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
so as to restore any consumer rights in previous copyright law that were
abridged in the DMCA. That's activism, which is always more effective
than merely complaining to no-one-in-particular ... and that was my
point all along.
Steven de Mena
It was done on film, no? Then it was in high definition. (HD being a
process to bring us closer to film's resolution).
Steve
Sparky Singer
> "Walter Luffman" <bucke...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
> news:39cnvkF...@individual.net...
>
>>Previous message in this thread was not directed at Tim, but rather at
>>those who think they have a "right" to violate copyright law because it
>>isn't "fair". To those I say again: quitcherbitchin.
>
> Legal rights aren't the only ones humans have invented over the years.
Which other rights have humans invented - specious? BS? Self serving?
If it's not legal, is it really a right?
Rick
> The Babaloughesian wrote:
> If it's not legal, is it really a right?
Absolutely, at least in the U.S. Read the Ninth Amendment.
Amazing the number of Americans who don't understand the very
core of their freedom, and think something has to be codified into
law for it to be a right.
David Johnston
>"Sparky Singer" <Spa...@moon.sun.org> wrote in message news:nuGYd.14000$tH3....@fe12.lga...
>> The Babaloughesian wrote:
>> If it's not legal, is it really a right?
>
>Absolutely, at least in the U.S. Read the Ninth Amendment.
>
That's right. The Ninth Amendment guarantees everyone's right to own
a car.
The Babaloughesian
The ones you speak of now are actually larger categories of which "legal
rights" are a subset.
> If it's not legal, is it really a right?
Legal rights aren't even "really" rights.
Dave MacRae
--
Dave
The Babaloughesian
Give this man a prize.
Mikey
Well if that's true, it's even moreso for government and
corporations.