Build Your Own TV Without Broadcast Flags

doom writes "An account of an event sponsored by the EFF, a "roll your own television" build-in. The San Francisco Bay Guardian has coverage in an article entitled Build Your TV!". From the article: "According to the FCC, the flag is going to ease the nation's transition from today's analog televisions to tomorrow's high-definition televisions. What exactly does it mean for a government agency to "ease" the transition from one kind of TV signal to another? In this case, it seems to mean making the entertainment industry feel very warm and fuzzy inside." The EFF's efforts against the flag have been covered before on Slashdot.

Wha?

[wang33]

I thought the courts slowed/stopped the fcc from mandating anything like this? References in reverse chronological order

Like here /. Story One: Broadcast Flag in Trouble [slashdot.org]
Or Here /. Story 2: Court Says FCC Out-of-Bounds With Digital TV [slashdot.org]
So why are we worried?
Wang33

Re:Courts

[Anita Coney]

I agree it will likely be a flop. People are just too used to recording shows on TV. Either there will be quiet ways around the problem (like in your regionless DVD player example) or a major backlash which will get Congress to change the FCC's direction.

But, before that happens, the Court opinion is meaningless. All the Court said was that the FCC might not have authority from Congress. Thus, all Congress has to do is to give its authority. Even with Congress, that could take less than a month.

Re:Kit TVs

[Arbin]

Won't be possible. There is a provision in the broadcast flag legislation that states the devices be rugged and difficult to modify. A simple little chip removal ain't going to happen.

Re:Kit TVs

[aug24]

Nope: if you rta, you'll see that there is also a prohibition on models which are easily circumvented by the user. So no kit tvs.

J.

Re:We've seen this before...

[TheRaven64]

It is exactly like the copy protection found on all audio CDs. Audio CDs include two flags for copy protection. The first marks the disk as copyright, and the second marks it as original. A copier that fully complies with the specification will allow copies to be made from CDs with both flags set. The copy will then have the copyright flag set, but not the original flag. Copies of the copy are then not permitted. CDs without the copyright flag set may be copied, whether or not the original flag is set (although the original flag should be unset in the copy). Technically, copying music from a CD without maintaining this flag is in violation of the DMCA...

um, what?

[JeanBaptiste]

Where exactly in the constitution does it give you the right to record shows?

p.s. The constitution does not grant rights to individuals. Instead it limits the rights of the government.

Re:Bush won't let this happen

[edremy]

Bush is a great president and he will not let this broadcast flag happen under his watch. I know liberal /. probably doesn't get this, but the Republicans are all about SMALLER gov't, people.

You've got to be joking [mediamatters.org]. (At least, I hope you're being sarcastic) Check the second chart down. Bush has increased nondefense discretionary spending faster than Clinton by a large margin, and that's *with* a Republican dominated congress. Of course, that's not even including the *huge* growth in defense and homeland security related spending, most of it stuffed into little-reviewed supplemental appropriation bills. ("Yeah, we need another $90 billion for Iraq. Don't count it against the deficit figures, please.") Just look at the absurd Medicare prescription drug coverage bill- any true conservative would have run from this screaming.

The Republicans today are all about huge, intrusive government. They want to make sure you're a good little consumer, worship the proper god and avoid the gay. Oh yeah, and don't worry about running up the deficit to 3rd world levels- we'll never have to pay that back...

Just sign me "Disgusted ex-Republican".

VDR: Mature code and hardware to build on

[D4C5CE]

The televisions created at the Build-In are also computers, and they contain a TiVo-like device called a personal video recorder (PVR) - you can use them to pause a show, record it, sample it, and even save a copy to DVD. Using the TV she builds today, Brydon won't have any trouble loaning her friend a copy of Buffy.

Under the name of VDR [slashdot.org], there is one GPLed code base for a range of hardware setups, with strong backing by a leading IT publisher and development centered in Europe (i.e. out of the reach of FCC policies, and yet still threatened by software patents [ffii.org] as well) that is proven to work very well and has just celebrated its 5th anniversary - worth having a look.

Re:um, what?

[Anita Coney]

Why do people, who have NO experties in an area, feel the need to talk about an area.

In the United States we have a United States Supreme Court. That Court interprets the Constitution and statutes. It has interpreted Article. I Section. 8. Clause 8 to have limits on monoplies associated with IP. The limits are called "fair use."

These rights were enacted by Congress in TITLE 17, CHAPTER 1, 107 of the US code.

Based on the Courts' interpretation of both the Constitution and the code, they held in the case of Universal v Sony that citizens in the US have a fair use right to record shows.

Does that answer your question?

Re:Just don't buy ATI...One card for US+CAN

[Anonymous Coward]

From ATI:
Regarding Broadcast Flag:

There will only be one version of the card produced and after the date of the
Broadcast Flag institution the cards manufactured after this date will support the feature.
I do not know if Canadian broadcasts will have a similar limitation.

Regards,

Rick Carman
Customer Care
ATI Technologies, Inc.
http://www.ati.com

Re:um, what?

[cpt kangarooski]

Fair use is a defense, not a right.

The right you're looking for is the right of free speech; it's the same right that the creators of the show rely upon to record it the first time, even before broadcast.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Bullshit.

[shotfeel]

IIRC, it actually says it will become illegal to manufacture hardware without "flag support" after that date. Anything built, even if its not sold, before that date is OK.

Re:um, what?

[sconeu]

Actually, it *is* a Constitutional issue. See The Ninth [usconstitution.net] and The Tenth [usconstitution.net] Amendments.

Simply put, the Ninth says, "Even if we didn't mention them, you still have all your rights". The Tenth says, "If we didn't talk about it here, the Feds have no power to do it."

Re:Bush won't let this happen

[cot]

"Every administration, of whatever party, has overseen the growth of the government in one form or another. And virtually every one has overseen unprecedented growth, in that no previous administration had grown it that much."

So, you're saying that government is a cancer?

I'll buy that.

I was actually there

[elfuq]

As a photographer for the Bay Guardian. (You can only see my lovely portrait of Helen Seltzer if you pick up the dead tree edition of the paper.)

There were three women there. They were taking apart computers. I saw it and (even) photographed it.