CommDaily: MPAA May Not Seek Broadcast Flag in DTV Bill
June 01, 2005
Extraordinarily good news from Communications Daily (behind a pay wall,
unfortunately):
The Motion Picture Association of America is unlikely to push for a
broadcast flag component in DTV legislation establishing a 2008 hard date
because the bill's main author, House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton
(R-TX), is against the provision. Meanwhile, the MPAA will keep briefing
House and Senate members on a broadcast flag bill's importance and seek
other ways to get the content protections it wants.
A new Congressional Research Service report raises concerns that the
broadcast flag's technological limitations could hinder activities normally
deemed "fair use" under copyright law. For instance, students might not be
able to email themselves copies of projects incorporating digital video
content because no secure system exists for email transmission. "The goal of
the flag was not to impede a consumer's ability to copy or use content
lawfully in the home, nor was the policy intended to 'foreclose use of the
Internet to send digital broadcast content where it can be adequately
protected from indiscriminate redistribution,'" the report said, quoting
from the FCC order.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/003619.php
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