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found this on yahoo. It's really interesting.
Activists Make Last-Ditch Appeal To Stop `Broadcast Flag'
Wednesday October 22, 3:47 pm ET
By Mark Wigfield, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Consumer groups have mounted a last-minute e-mail blitz to derail proposed federal rules that will require consumer electronic equipment to protect digital television programming from Internet piracy.
Just since last Friday, roughly 700 people have e-mailed the Federal Communications Commission (News - Websites) urging the agency not to adopt the rules.
Many are form letters generated from the Web sites of groups like DigitalConsumer.org, expressing concerns that the rules will inhibit personal use of copied material. Other writers expressed fears that they will have to upgrade their existing, expensive "high-definition" digital television equipment.
"I have an HDTV system and I don't think its fair that I would have to buy another piece of hardware to still receive the same signal," wrote Franklin Riegle, Jr., of Sunbury, Pa. In an interview, Riegle said he submitted his comments to the FCC after receiving an e-mail alert from a friend about the issue.
An FCC official said Riegle's worries are unfounded. The agency "has bent over so far backwards so people won't be disenfranchised," the official said.
Nevertheless, the campaign is reminiscent of the recent backlash to the media ownership rules the agency adopted in June. However, the volume of comments -a total of nearly 7,000 since the digital piracy proceeding began in August 2002- pales next to the 17,000 filed in the media ownership debate.
Comments notwithstanding, the FCC seems likely to move ahead next week with rules requiring anti-piracy capabilities in new digital televisions and other devices. The larger goal: To speed the slow-moving rollout of digital television, which Congress has mandated be complete by Dec. 31, 2006.
The success of the rollout depends on cooperation from Hollywood, the FCC believes.
But digital broadcast television "is subject to an extraordinarily high risk of unauthorized redistribution over networks such as the Internet," according to comments filed with the FCC by the Motion Picture Association of America (News - Websites) , the four television networks, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and others.
"The threat of such wide-scale piracy, if not addressed, will lead content providers to cease making their high-value programming available over broadcast television," the groups' comments continued. "The digital TV transition would be seriously threatened by such a development, with consequent harm to consumers."
So in August 2002, the FCC began examining an industry proposal for a " broadcast flag" that would prevent Internet distribution of high-value digital programming aired by broadcast television. The flag is essentially coding that would be read by receivers, DVD players and other devices.
Cable and satellite equipment may not face the same mandates, but still would be required to protect digital content from widespread distribution on the Internet.
The Republican FCC, philosophically reluctant to impose industry mandates, had its own concerns about the proposal. Should the government be involved in choosing technology? Would the flag be effective? How would it affect development of new consumer electronic technologies, and would it restrict distribution of materials on secure digital networks?
DigitalConsumers cofounder Joe Kraus isn't confident the FCC has addressed its own concerns.
He believes the flag won't stop piracy, because it can be circumvented through the use of analog ports on televisions and recorders. At the same time, it will prevent consumers from sending film clips to friends over the Internet, or from playing discs recorded on a new DVD machine on an old player, or from moving protected video on a home Wi-Fi network.
An FCC official says consumers theoretically will still be able to transport protected content on home Wi-Fi networks.
But Kraus compares Hollywood's insistence on a broadcast flag to its resistance to VCRs 20 years ago.
"A real interesting question to ask is whether there would be a VCR industry if the broadcast flag was in effect in 1960," Kraus says.
Companies have chimed in as well. Philips Electronics Ltd. has urged the FCC not to mandate use of specific technology, such as that proposed by the Motion Picture Association and the so-called "5-C" companies: Intel Inc. , Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (NYSE:MC - News; 6252.TO)), Toshiba Corp. , Sony Corp. , and Hitachi Ltd. .
Dell Inc. (NasdaqNM:DELL - News) and Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) have urged the FCC to adopt a broadcast flag regime that allows consumers to view digital television on their computers.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., picked up on many of these concerns in a recent letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell. He noted the split in the electronics industry and the comments from "thousands of consumers."
"Given these apparent doubts about the effectiveness of a broadcast flag, has the commission considered whether the anticipated benefit to be derived from such a mandate justifies its potential cost to consumers?" he wrote.
One FCC official said the agency has been paying close attention to these and other concerns. Indeed, Philips lobbyist Thomas Patton believes "the FCC has taken a lot of the issues raised to heart."
"But I don't believe it's going to prevent the FCC from acting," he added.
-By Mark Wigfield, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-828-3397; Mark.Wigfield@dowjones.com
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