Senator to FCC: Don’t even think about a broadcast flag
Senator John Sununu has announced that he will be working on legislation that would prevent the FCC from creating specific technology that have to be followed by CE companies. Of course, we all know he is targetting the broadcast flag. It is good to see our elected representitives take the side of the consumers for a change.
From the article:
Television and movie studios have wanted a broadcast flag for years. The flag is a short analog or digital signal embedded into broadcasts that specifies what users can do with the content. It would most often be used to prevent any copying of broadcast material, but there's an obvious problem with the plan: it requires recording devices to pay attention to the flag. Because no consumers wander the aisles at Best Buy thinking, "You know, I would definitely buy this DVD recorder, but only if it supported broadcast flag technology," the industry has asked the federal government to step in and simply require manufacturers to respect the flag.