FCC and the Broadcast Flag

The following is the text of an e-mail sent to Rep. Istook of OK, concerning the FCC’s Broadcast Flag.  To help support opposition to this legislation, see the links below.

Sir, I am writing you today to ask you to oppose any "broadcast flag" or "radio protection" legislation offered in response to the recent U.S. Appeals Court decision striking down the Flag Order issued by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC).  These protection schemes will hurt me as a consumer: not just by harming how I like to use my consumer electronics and computers, but harming my choice of new and affordable products in the market place.

As a consumer, particularly of electronics, I want you to be aware of the following points:

* This Legislation is Broad: There is no "narrow" way to implement the broadcast flag scheme because it necessarily puts the FCC in the role of gatekeeper, having to approve and certify every technology that might carry DTV - computers, cellphones, portable video game players, etc.  Drafts of the language is broad in order to give the FCC permission to do both the broadcast flag and radio protection.  As proof of the broad scope of the flag, when petitioned to exempt lawful uses of digital television, the FCC declined saying "practical and legal difficulties of determining which types of broadcast content merit protection from indiscriminate redistribution and which do not."

* Causes Consumer Confusion, Will Slow DTV Transition, and Probably Halt Digital Radio Rollout: At a time when Congress is concerned about making television sets obsolete at the end of the DTV transition, the flag would similarly render obsolete much consumer equipment because commonly used devices will not work together unless they all use the same copy protection technology.  The broadcast flag will not help the transition to DTV, but may indeed harm it because it makes consumers' TVs less functional than before.  Digital radio protection is aimed at being intrusive and restraining inside a consumers own home, including yours and mine.

* Limits Fair Use: As the May 11, 2005 Congressional Research Service report noted, the flag will prevent important fair uses, like the ability of teachers to engage in distance learning (which has become increasingly important to students in the workforce and deployed military members).  Making excerpts for public criticism of television media through the use of the Internet is critical (as seen by the Dan Rather/President Bush memo fiasco), yet it will be severely limited as a result of this legislation.

Lastly, the flag will also hinder educational use of copyrighted content, and will stifle the design, operation, and further development of innovative consumer electronics.  To me, this legislation is a bad idea, especially if Congress were to pass it with zero public debate.  Mr. Istook, I urge you to oppose any broadcast flag legislation.

The original BoingBoing post

Others are getting involved