New bill will make analog VCRs and TVs illegal in 2006

Rep. Billy Tauzin has released a "discussion draft" of a bill to be introduced this session that will ensure that the Broadcast Flag mandate will come to pass. The Broadcast Flag is a ridiculous bit of anti-freedom policy that allows a video signal to tell receivers, "Don't let me be copied." The bill will require every device that can be used as a receiver — including general-purpose PCs — to employ only "approved" technologies. Moreover, this particular bill goes even farther, requiring that all analog-outputting TV devices be discontinued by 2006: that's right, your TV, VCR, camcorder, DVD player, and TiVo will all be obsolete in 2006. Hello, landfill! Here's a link to Digital Consumer's one-pager on the bill.

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(Thanks, Joe!)