The FCC is ruling on the dread and dreadful Broadcast Flag, a technology mandate that would give Hollywood a veto over general-purpose PC and home electronics technology, in order to prevent the potential infringement of copyrighted movies on a potential national digital television broadcast network.
Breaking PCs and VCRs and PVRs and such today, before there's any evidence of any problem (indeed, Hollywood makes more money every single year, and just closed the books on its best year since 1959) — it's stupid. Passing a technology mandate before anyone can point to a problem is about as stupid as eating your seatmate before the plane crashes.
Nevertheless, there's every indication that the FCC will make the Broadcast Flag happen — unless we slashdot them with letters telling them not to. EFF has an action center item on this, a letter you can tweak and send in to the commissioners with one click of a mouse. A Broadcast Flag mandate today will make tomorrow's technology dependent on the sufferance of the movie studios — the companies that Business Week called "The most change-resistant companies in America." If you don't want these companies speccing your PC in a couple years, send a letter now — this is easily the most important thing you can do this year to safeguard your technology freedom. Tell your friends. Re-blog this. This is big, important stuff.
Hollywood is at it again, trying to control the design of new digital technologies. If the motion picture studios have their way, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will force all future televisions to include Hollywood-approved "content protection" technologies. Fair use, innovation and competition will suffer. What's more, the "broadcast flag" technology that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has proposed is so weak that it will do nothing to stem Internet redistribution of television programs. In fact, the only people hurt by this are legitimate consumers, innovators and researchers.
The FCC has promised a ruling before the end of October. We need you to tell the FCC that we don't need "broadcast flag" regulations that hurt competition, consumers and innovators.
