While the FCC may be mandating broadcast flag support & enforcement in all Digital TV products from this July, apparently the FCC never got authorisation from Congress to go ahead with this. As a result Harry Edwards, the US Circuit Judge told the FCC that they had "crossed the line" with its anti-piracy broadcast flag.
According to the panel of appeal judges, the FCC does not sell televisions as part of its business and thus should not enforce controls over how the devices work. While there is no there is no rule saying that the FCC cannot regulate televisions, the same could be said about if the FCC was regulating washing machines. While the FCC then started claiming that it is necessary to enforce DRM technology for digital broadcasts to take off, the Judge replied saying that it is not FCC's responsibility to ensure that digital broadcasts take off to the maximum extent.
While it may appear that the case is going well for the Plaintiffs, unfortunately as the FCC ruling only applies to digital TV content and the Plaintiffs don't appear to be in the business with devices that the broadcast flag would affect, this case could even be thrown out of the appeals Court. The panel of appeal judges are now deciding on whether the plaintiffs do have the right to challenge the FCC's broadcast flag requirements. Even if the FCC were to lose its case, they will likely try to get Congress to approve its anti-piracy system. Reverend J, The Doctor and mickrick all used our news submit to let us know of the following news:
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The "broadcast flag" is a small bit of data attached to US digital broadcasts. It tells devices that receive digital signals the level of copy protection. From 1 July, any device that cannot read the flag will be illegal to make. But the panel of appeal judges said the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should not dictate how devices work. "You crossed the line," Judge Harry Edwards told a FCC lawyer during arguments before a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. "Selling televisions is not what the FCC is in the business of." Supporters of the flag say it will help combat piracy by preventing people copying digital TV programmes and distributing them over the net. The mandate was brought in after pressure from the US entertainment industry which is keen to protect high-quality broadcasts. TV piracy is a growing concern for broadcasters, particuarly as next-generation high-definition devices and programmes become more popular. Read the full article here. |
Whether the consumer groups win or lose their fight, it looks like the FCC is going to get their broadcast flag enforced in some way. It seems like that since TCPA has not successfully been enforced, the FCC decided to try its own alternative but sticking to digital video broadcasts in this case.
The drawback is that if the broadcast flag goes ahead on July 1st, then users will lose their freedom on how they handle broadcast flagged content on their PC and other video recording equipment purchased after July 1st. For example the user will be forced to use what ever video codec's their broadcast flag compliant TV tuner offers as well as have issues transferring their content to DVD and especially Video CD.
mickrick added: Hopefully now common sense will prevail and the July 1 implementation date will be put on ice until the final ruling has been made on this. The FCC are saying all digital viewers are guilty of "piracy" until proven innocent. Treating tv viewers as potential criminals should not be acceptable in law.
Feel free to discuss and find out more about digital television including HDTV on our Satellite, HD-TV, Blu-ray and HD-DVD Forum.
Source: The Register
