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  • SUNDAY MAY 8 2005 8:08 PM

Broadcast Flag Burnt. For Now.

Submitted by almostfamous

Edited by Olivia

Filesharers, and of course every American citizen that values their fair use rights, should be celebrating after the Court of Appeals told the FCC they have no right to control what we record from television.

A controversial US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation that would have required all hardware capable of receiving broadcast transmissions to recognize a so-called broadcast flag, or DRM signal, starting in July 2005, has been shot down by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Reuters reports.

The court ruled that FCC had "exceeded the scope of its delegated authority" with the regulation, promulgated in 2003. FCC "has no authority to regulate consumer electronic devices that can be used for receipt of wire or radio communication when those devices are not engaged in the process of radio or wire transmission," the three-judge panel concluded.


Of course the FCC won't just sit back and take that, the fight will go on, but at least one court is capable of understanding that just because a technology can be used for something illegal doesn't mean all the legal uses should be hamstrung as well.

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Comments
aegies

aegies

Oakland, CA
June 2004

MAY 08, 2005 09:07 PM

hopefully that decision stands as precedent for other rulings against the fcc.

sadisticmika

sadisticmika

I'm lost
July 2004

MAY 08, 2005 09:14 PM

As far as I know, people really weren't concerned about broadcast flag, and that comes from people who I know who actually do that stuff. But, good deal nonetheless... this sort of thing is happening anywhere there is digital entertainment content being distributed...

BurningKrome

BurningKrome

San Jose, CA
April 2005

MAY 08, 2005 10:03 PM

Actually, the purpose of the FCC was to regulate signal control and content in broadcast medium.

The content control aspect of the department was devised specifically over concerns that there were so few public stations available, at the time, that people would not be able to find a channel with "acceptable" content.

Of course, now there are so many radio and television stations glutting every inch of your dial, that this service being fulfilled by the FCC is no longer needed. If the content of a channel is inappropriate, in your opinion, tuning in to another station is ALWAYS an option.


[Edited on May 08, 2005 10:04PM]

dem_z

dem_z

United Kingdom
June 2004

MAY 09, 2005 05:34 PM

I'm not sure how this ruling ties up with the copyright laws, don't the Americans have a law saying that circumventing an effective copyright protection mechanism is a crimnal act? I guess it depends what you call effective.

freshprncebelair

freshprncebelair

Ellicott City, MD
June 2004

MAY 09, 2005 06:02 PM

demetrius_z said:
I'm not sure how this ruling ties up with the copyright laws, don't the Americans have a law saying that circumventing an effective copyright protection mechanism is a crimnal act? I guess it depends what you call effective.




Yup...DMCA.

Im glad to hear the Flag was dropped.

Ed Felten is probably partying right now.

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