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Copyright

Week in Review: Broadcast Flag in Court

A topic near and dear to my heart, which I’ve covered before, is the FCC & the Broadcast Flag.

The American Library Assoc. was in court this week, challenging the FCC on the legality of the Broadcast Flag. The 3 judge panel, while questioning if the ALA even has the right to bring a legal challenge, hammered the FCC on the FCC’s ability to mandate this without legislation from Congress. We’ll know the court’s ruling in a few months.

You can also read a blog with detailed coverage as the blogger attends in court.

We the Media

I finished We the Media by Dan Gillmor last week on the flight to Atlanta.

It was a great book, and extremely topical at this time. Published last July, the book’s focus is grassroots journalism, through mainly, blogs. While the first third of the book is very high level, it’s a great starting point for folks who aren’t necessarily steeped in technology daily. The book shares some interesting history, just in the last few years, of how blogging and grassroots journalism can help hold Big Media accountable.

It also covered the ongoing fight around copyright, Big Media, with a focus on professional journalists and their role in the evolution of journalism.

Mr. Gillmor makes the point a few times that really sticks with me: most of the hundreds of thousands of blogs are too self-centered, nothing more than online journals. It’s those blogs that find a topic, and become experts through commentary, analysis, or news that really make a difference. And he’s right – those blogs I have bookmarked are exactly that, where my blog is nothing more than an online journal.

It was a very good book, easy to read, and the timing is definitely right. Mr. Gillmor has also released it under a Creative Commons license, so you are free to read it on the web without having to buy it in a bookstore. That’s putting your money where your mouth is.

MythTV & Filesharing

The New York Times has a decent article up about MythTV, the Broadcast Flag, and Filesharing up. While it’s fairly high level, and some parts are wrong (Bittorrent letting you download a 1 hour show in minutes for example: I’ve downloaded plenty of TV shows and it’s not that fast, trust me) it’s not a bad article.

Even mentions the EFF and how they’re going to fight the Broadcast Flag, which may or may not put a stop to some of the filesharing. I agree with parts – I own Alias, 24, Sports Night, and every season of the Simpsons available on DVD. Purchased them and everything. I don’t mind buying TV I love (though it drives my wife crazy why I buy TV shows on DVD for shows I’ve already seen). But the government regulating even more the TV that comes over the air on what I can record, and how long it stays recorded for I start to have issues. It’s one thing if we’re talking about pay TV, say the Sopranos. But when I miss a week or two of 24, what is the issue if I download it?

If I miss an episode of 24, and I can’t download it, there is a good chance I am done watching for the season. Especially with serial shows like Lost, 24, Alias, and Desperate Housewives. Is it worth it to Big Media to not allow me to download and lose me as a customer for the entire season? I don’t think they always see the forest for the trees.

I’ll be buying a pcHDTV card for my MythTV box prior to July 1st when the Broadcast Flag goes in to effect. Maybe even two since hard drives are cheap now.

Gates just doesn't get it.

Gizmodo has their interview with Bill

Gates Part Four: Communists and DRM up.

Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chariman has been getting flak for some comments at CES where he equates those who don’t favor copyright and DRM as communists. He more than proves that it’s Gates himself that doesn’t get it in the above interview.

Look Bill: No one questions that artists should be compensated for their work. Period. The fact that some of us may choose to create content, say, a blog, and not want to be compensated, and want to share it, is our choice. And when we do choose that, we can choose to use the Creative Commons licenses to share our work.

God forbid a music artist, or the spoken word, or the written word want to be given away at the artists’ discretion. It’s worked in the programming world, and more and more examples in the media world have started.

Viva la revolution.

Why DRM is Evil, and what it means to your DVD Collection

Cory Doctorow discusses why you can’t legally back up your DVDs and who is to blame. Suffice to say, DRM, Digital Rights Management, is evil.

Cory Doctorow, European OutReach Coordinator for the EFF, is a science fiction author, DRM expert, and blogger.

One of my favorite authors on the evils of DRM, he once even gave a speech, at Microsoft, on the evils of DRM. From the speech, introducing himself to the crowd, he sums up what he does:

I work for the Electronic Frontier Foundation on copyright stuff (mostly), and I live in London. I’m not a lawyer — I’m a kind of mouthpiece/activist type, though occasionally they shave me and stuff me into my Bar Mitzvah suit and send me to a standards body or the UN to stir up trouble.

Go Go EFF!

The EFF is suing the FCC over the Broadcast Flag.

The brief argues that the FCC has no authority to regulate digital TV sets and other digital devices unless specifically instructed to do so by Congress. While the FCC does have jurisdiction over TV transmissions, transmissions are not at issue here. The broadcast flag limits the way digital material can be used after the broadcast has already been received. “Bowing to a group of copyright holders led by the MPAA, the FCC promulgated a rule drafted by those corporate interests that will dictate design aspects of a vast array of consumer electronics – televisions, DVD recorders, TiVos, digital VCRs, iPods, and cell phones – for years to come,” the brief reads.

ALA legislative counsel Miriam M. Nisbet said, “Two years ago Congress passed a law allowing for use of copyrighted works for distance education. Yet now the FCC through the broadcast flag would prevent schools from using an entire category of those works — high definition television programs — in distance education.”

Filing the brief along with EFF, PK, and the ALA were the Association of Research Libraries, American Association of Law Libraries, Medical Library Association, Special Libraries Association, Consumer Federation of America, and Consumers Union.

This is a great thing to see. and I’ll continue to publish other links that cover it, such as Boing Boing. Building a HDTV HTPC is a priority for me, along with getting the basement done. With pcHDTV’s out of stock on Linux HDTV cards, it will be interesting to see if I can get this done in time. I firmly believe the Broadcast Flag is an evil, evil thing. I want to record the shows I want to, when I want, without the government interfering.

Actions like this make me proud to be a Pioneer level member of the EFF.