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Joe Hall posted a comment on this, but I wanted to put it up top. The CDT just released this report: Implications of The Broadcast Flag: A Public Interest Primer [pdf]:
The "broadcast flag" proposal -- a combination of technical standards and federal regulations designed to curtail unauthorized redistribution of digital television broadcasts -- has emerged in 2003 as a focal point in the digital copyright debate. The broadcast flag system is now the subject of a major rulemaking proceeding at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Observers expect pressure for protection of digital video content to mount as the
U.S. moves steadily towards the transition to digital television called for by 2006.
[...]
Major findings of this report include:
Protecting copyright in the digital age is important for both consumers and content owners; failing to protect content can have major implications for the availability of high-quality programs on new digital media; and genuine fears have been raised about unauthorized redistribution of unprotected digital TV.
Proposed broadcast flag regulations, currently before the FCC, create many
legitimate concerns for television viewers, Internet users, and industry groups. As drafted they may restrict reasonable uses of content by viewers, hinder innovation, and impose costs that are not worth the limited copy protection provided.
Revisions to the broadcast flag proposal could help address many of these concerns, primarily by creating more clearly objective and focused functional standards for the devices and uses that will be permitted by flag regulations, and by creating a more open and accountable process for certifying permitted technologies. (emphasis mine)
Even with those improvements, the flag proposal poses unresolved issues regarding technical regulation of computers and the Internet by the government, the impact of the flag itself on innovation and future consumer uses, and the definition of "fair use" and other copyright doctrines in the digital age. It also leaves other serious copy protection problems for television content unresolved. (emphasis mine)
Whether the FCC adopts the broadcast flag approach or not, the combination of copyright enforcement, new economic models and digital delivery mechanisms, and consumer education hold out great promise to have a broad, long-term impact on copyright infringement online.
Also, Ed Felten analyses the BF. And Donna keeps up on the BF here, and here, noting Fred Von Lohmann's observation "...about digital rights management (DRM) that it's used by corporations to take away your fair-use rights--so that those rights can then be sold back to you."
Later: The bolded sections of the CDT's findings seems unrealistic, because I don't think the FCC will make the revisions CDT notes are necessary to make the BF more fair and reasonable. I do respect the CDT's even handed approach to this issue, but I am worried that the perception of this report held up by the copyright industry will be: "CDT thinks the BF is okay with a few tweaks." There are serious problems with the BF, and in the end, it's not a balanced technology, because all the benefits go to the copyright industry, with the public and other industries like the consumer electronics heavily restricted, with no benefit in return.
Posted by Mary Hodder at October 21, 2003 01:03 PMHere is the note I just sent off to CDT:
I appreciated the work that went into the Broadcast Flag report, and it looks like a lot of hard work went into trying to make sure important issues on both sides were noted.
I was rather surprised that even after all these issues; CDT still supported the concept of a broadcast flag. I see a whole lot of negatives in return for a mostly ineffective "speed-bump". Im afraid that your carefully crafted document wont be very well read, and the politicians will just simplify it to "CDT endorses the broadcast flag".
There are a whole lot of downsides to the flag, even if the FCC actually follows all of your suggested improvements -- and they won't. Based on past actions and the current government; here is solid prediction of what will happen if the FCC actually mandates the broadcast flag:
It will take a mind-boggling amount of regulations to create and administer rules to make this speed-bump work within the boundaries of fairness assumed by CDT; and there is no way I can see a Republican controlled government creating that type of regulation regime. Remember, the current people in control are the guys who want to eliminate the FCC altogether. The flag mandates may have a few token nods towards the consumer, but will leave it up to the industry to "self-regulate". The Republican politicians will feel that "The Market" will take of any problems, conveniently forgetting that they just sabotaged "The Market" in favor of the copyright holders at the direct expense of consumers (and the electronic and computer industries).