FCC Moves to Stifle TV Piracy

[MrRant 0]

In a blow to fair-use advocates, the Federal Communications Commission approved new rules Tuesday aimed at preventing consumers from distributing copies of digital television programs over the Internet.

 

The rules allow broadcasters to insert code, known as a broadcast flag, into digital TV shows that would allow viewers to make personal copies of programs on a VCR but not share the programs with others over the Internet. The restrictions apply to digital broadcasts of news and public affairs shows as well as entertainment programming.

 

The rules also mandate that makers of consumer devices capable of receiving broadcast digital TV signals, such as VCRs and DVD players, include a broadcast card that will recognize the flag.

 

Consumers still will be able to make unlimited copies of shows, but they will not be able to send them to other people through peer-to-peer networks on the Internet.

 

Critics say the rules encroach on fair use, which is defined as an individual's right to use copyright material in a reasonable manner without the consent of the copyright owner. They also say the rules will not prevent consumers from sharing digital shows, since products -- like older VCRs that don't recognize the flag -- already exist that make it possible to circumvent the restriction.

 

The Motion Picture Association of America appealed to the FCC to pass the rules after the association failed to convince Congress to pass legislation that would bar Internet sharing. The MPAA said the rules are needed to stop Internet piracy from cutting into the syndication of TV shows outside the United States.

 

Fritz Attaway, the MPAA's executive vice president for government relations, admitted that the industry has not yet suffered losses from the piracy of television shows, but he said the association had taken a pre-emptive step.

 

"Because so few people are capable of trafficking in the large audiovisual files today, the economic impact today is probably fairly low," he said. "But we are trying to provide for the future."

 

The MPAA convinced the FCC that if TV producers weren't able to protect their shows from piracy they would begin to sell their shows only to paid outlets like HBO.

 

"The widespread redistribution of broadcast TV content on the Internet would unnecessarily drive high-value programming to more secure delivery platforms," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell in a statement announcing the new rules.

 

The FCC said the protections would help speed innovation and the move toward higher-quality, crisper digital television signals, which the government said had been thwarted in part by piracy issues.

 

Powell said the new mandate "strikes a careful balance between content protection and technology innovation in order to promote consumer interests."

 

But representatives of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the move will undermine innovation and competition.

 

"The broadcast flag rule forces manufacturers to remove useful recording features from television products you can buy today," said EFF staff technologist Seth Schoen. "The FCC has decided that the way to get Americans to adopt digital TV is to make it cost more and do less."

 

Before designing new consumer products with innovative features, technology companies would have to make sure they comply with certain requirements.

 

"The mandate comes with all kinds of obligations about what kinds of features you're allowed to offer with your product and how they must be implemented, and the people who control those requirements are the Hollywood movie studios and other technology and consumer-electronic companies," said Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney at the EFF. "It creates an environment where small innovators who are not willing to compromise for someone else's business model essentially get shut out."

 

But Powell said the FCC had modified the MPAA's proposal to appease technology companies.

 

"As recommended by many in the information technology community, we have identified objective criteria to guide our decisions on new content technologies. These criteria lay out a roadmap for companies seeking to bring new technologies to market."

 

Previously, the mandate would have required product makers to use specific encryption technology from an approved list of companies. But Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said the FCC "set up on an interim basis a transparent, open and objective approval process that will promote the development of competition in the marketplace and foster innovation."

 

She said the FCC will consider proposals for other encryption technologies and will provide a list of approved technologies sometime in early 2004.

 

Makers of television equipment that can receive digital broadcast signals will have to comply with the FCC rules by July 2005.

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I'm sure someone will find a way around this soon after it is implemented.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

This has been around for a while but not en masse. I'm not sure how it works fully, but there's a number of issues. The first of which is that only the rich folk own digital TVs, and those aren't the people who are pirating generally, because they easily afford to do it legitimately and not deal with the risk.

[MrRant 0]

You can get a HDTV for $400 bucks. Soon the only TV's you can get will be HD 27" and larger.

 

Soon if you want certain channels you will have to have HDTV and VCR's don't record HD at all right now.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

You can get a HDTV for $400 bucks. Soon the only TV's you can get will be HD 27" and larger.

Yeah, right. Even if it's true, nobody's going to move overnight.

[NoCalMike 0]

My friend did get a 27" HDTV for $499. It was a very good deal. I think from best buy. That is really a good idea, however when I finally buy HD someday, I want it to be a 16x9 screen. And those models are still in the thousands for a decent model.....ok onto the subject.....

 

Nice try FCC, it will only be a matter of maybe a day or so until you can go to www.download.com and get the latest patch to descramble the "flags"

[Jobber of the Week 0]

That is really a good idea, however when I finally buy HD someday, I want it to be a 16x9 screen.

Hope you're ready to look at grey bars 80% of the time.

[NoCalMike 0]

That is really a good idea, however when I finally buy HD someday, I want it to be a 16x9 screen.

Hope you're ready to look at grey bars 80% of the time.

huh? are you referring to the black bars? If so, NOPE, that is what a 16x9 screen eliminates. The black bars on a traditional square shaped tv are there in order to give the 16x9 impressionable "widescreen" picture. So all those dvds everyone that is buying that say widescreen will not have black bars on a 16x9 tv. Now, if "grey bars" are something different, then please fill me in.

[sfaJack 0]

huh? are you referring to the black bars? If so, NOPE, that is what a 16x9 screen eliminates.  The black bars on a traditional square shaped tv are there in order to give the 16x9 impressionable "widescreen" picture.  So all those dvds everyone that is buying that say widescreen will not have black bars on a 16x9 tv.  Now, if "grey bars" are something different, then please fill me in.

I think he's talking about the gray bars that appear on the sides of the picture when you watch a regular tv program on a 16X9 screen. From what I understand (through discussion with a friend of mine, not my own experience), it's pretty much the opposite effect of the black bars on top and bottom of the screen when you watch a widescreen movie. Since TV shows are generally shot in 4:3 format, gray bars appear on the sides of the picture when you watch these shows on a 16X9 TV.

 

If that's not right, someone please correct me.