The fight against the Broadcast Flag just got harder. The Broadcast Flag is a regulatory proposal that's nominally about digital TV, but it's a Trojan horse for taking over the whole technosphere, putting consumer electronics and IT companies under a Hollywood veto to keep them from building devices that challenge the MPAA's business model.
Now, the Broadcast Flag is the subject of a mandate embedded in a proposed WIPO treaty, so that governments will be obliged to make this happen, even if voters manage to convince their lawmakers to keep technology free.
This treaty would require national law to grant to broadcasters:
* "the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit the fixation of their broadcasts;"
* "the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit the direct or indirect reproduction, in any manner or form, of fixations of their broadcasts;"
* "the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit the retransmission, by wire or wireless means, whether simultaneous or based on fixations, of their broadcasts;"
* and other rights, including the rights to control the exhibition and distribution of fixations (recordings) of broadcasts.
(Thanks, Seth!)
