The Broadcast Protection Discussion Group is a conspiracy to convince Congress to give Hollywood studios the power to decide what kind of digital video technologies are mandatory and which ones are forbidden. At the EFF, we rooted out the conspiracy and thoroughly documented in in hundreds of notes on a blog that detailed the participants, the proposals, and the way to join its mailing list.
One reason that this was so effective is that the MPAA — who were calling the shots at the BPDG — were trying to keep the BPDG an open secret. Theoretically, any interested party could attend its meetings and read its mailing-lists — except journalists. However, the BPDG had no website, no public presence, no press-officer. The idea was to keep it a secret while still being able to tell Congress that they'd invited input from everyone with a stake.
The upshot was that since the EFF was the only group talking publically about the BPDG, all the public information orignated with us, with very little rebuttal from Hollywood's representatives.
The MPAA has finally put its FAQ about the effects of the BPDG mandate online. It is a work of sheerest FUD, and my colleague, Seth Schoen, has torn it to bits, exposing the truth underneath the propaganda:
Q: When the broadcast flag is implemented, can I record any TV program with my existing digital player/recorder and watch it later at more convenient time?
MPAA answer: Yes. If you own an early model digital player/recorder, you will be able to record and playback time-shifted digital recordings of flagged broadcasts. These digital recordings will also play on legacy DVD players. However, when Broadcast Flag-compliant DTV receivers are introduced in the marketplace, their recordings will only play on other compliant players and not on older (legacy) devices. Of course, you can still record and playback digital programs with any existing analog videocassettes recorders/players. The broadcast flag does not affect what you have been able to do in the analog world.
EFF comment: This answer confirms that "Compliant" devices produced under the BPDG-proposed rules are less capable than current-generation devices.
The MPAA suggests that use of analog recorders is unaffected by this proposal, which is correct, but not the whole story. The MPAA has proposed broad legal restrictions on analog recorders which would limit their ability to record copyrighted works. Those restrictions are not a part of the BPDG proposal, but they are certainly a part of the MPAA's agenda.
(Thanks, Seth!)
