There's a innocent looking (pdf) little draft bill being passed around by Gordon Smith that would essentially, to steal words from the EFF, render "fair use frozen in time."
The Broadcast Flag is a proposed bit of technology and legislation that would, without going into the gory technical details, pass along some information with digital media (digital TV, digital radio, sattelite radio, possibly internet radio, etc.) describing how that information may be used.
Read on, read on!
The technical side of things is easy to overcome -- just don't use a device that respects the broadcast flag. The same mentality that allowed people to "mod" their PlayStation and play copied game CDs, or people that hook up de-scramblers to their cable TV to watch the naughty channels. Or, hook into an analog medium such as "traditional" cable, "regular" radio, or over-the-air television.
The FCC has a push for Digital Television, a superset of High Definition Television (HDTV) -- that is, all HDTV is by definition, also DTV. The requirement for stations to switch to DTV is in place, and the requirement for "simulcasting" (providing DTV as well as old-fashioned NTSC analog) is in place, according to the FCC until at least the end of 2006. Radio may take longer, but I don't see any reason why the switch won't happen there any sooner.
The switch to digital medium will require people to purchase new equipment, either new television sets or some receiver (think digital rabbit ears). The reason for the switch is entirely logistical -- DTV takes up far less space on the radio spectrum than "regular" television, and can hold far more information. In a world where cell phones, wireless internet, and such are popping up left and right, it just makes sense.
However, with the creation of a digital form, copying the data to a computer is staggeringly easier, and that makes Hollywood nervous. I guess they haven't noticed how fast television shows appear on the various bit torrent sites (sometimes, before they're aired...) yet. Enter: The Broadcast Flag. Like I said earlier, the Broadcast Flag would piggyback on these new digital signals and tell the receiving piece of equipment what it's ok to do with the show. Restrictions like, "you may not time-shift this show" or "you may only watch this show 3 times before deleting it" become very real possibilities.
The bill grants the FCC the ability, means, and authority to force manufacturers to implement the broadcast flag technology in any related device from this point forward.
Fair Use Doctrine, and I use capitals because it's just that important, to try and sum it up in as few words as possible, is the consumer's ability to use media that they've obtained legally in any fashion they want, as long as they don't profit from it. I realize that's over-simplifying things drasticly, but as an example, Fair Use is what says that you can purchase an audio CD, rip the audio to your computer, and put it on your iPod. Fair Use is also what says that if you sell that CD, you should get rid of any other copies you have as well. Fair Use is what says that you can record "West Wing" while you're at work and watch it on your TiVo when you get home, and what says that you can make photocopies of a few pages of a book at the library.
Again, to steal wording from the EFF, Fair Use is a forward-looking doctrine, that allows for new technologies. This bill would essentially freeze Fair Use where it stands now. New technologies would not fall under Fair Use. As the EFF points out, if this bill had been law in 2000, we wouldn't have iPods, in 1990, we wouldn't have TiVos, and in 1970, we wouldn't have VCRs.
The Senate Commerce Committee is responsible for handling this bill. On Jan 24, there will be a full committee hearing (10:00 am, room 526 of the Dirsken Building, for anyone on That Side of the nation).
I suggest you write your Senator, and tell them to stop catering to Hollywood and start thinking about the consumer. And if someone sees Gordon Smith passing note..er, bills out, ask him if his constituents asked for it. The Committee's full membership list, by the way:
- Ted Stevens - Alaska
- John McCain - Arizona
- Conrad Burns - Montana
- Trent Lott - Mississippi
- Kay Bailey Hutchison - Texas
- Olympia Snowe - Maine
- Gordon Smith - Oregon
- John Ensign - Nevada
- George Allen - Virginia
- John Sununu - New Hampshire
- Jim DeMint - South Carolina
- David Vitter - Louisiana
- Daniel K. Inouye - Hawaii
- John D. Rockefeller IV - West Virginia
- John F. Kerry - Massachussetts
- Byron L. Dorgan - North Dakota
- Barbara Boxer - California
- Bill Nelson - Florida
- Maria Cantwell - Washington
- Frank Lautenberg - New Jersey
- E. Benjamin Nelson - Nebraska
- Mark Pryor - Arkansas
Edit: changed "Retarded" to "Dumb"