New Bill: More Digital TV Limits

"After spending a year in closed-door sessions with industry leaders, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) released a draft of his long-awaited DTV bill. The controversial measure calls for the adoption of a broadcast flag, an end to analog television compatibility and increased cable interoperability....

However, some groups believe that in his effort to jump-start the digital television industry, Tauzin has given Hollywood the keys to control what American viewers do in their living rooms.

The most contentious fight centers on the broadcast flag. Embedded in digital television signals, the technology would prevent people from recording a TV show or movie and then rebroadcasting it over the Internet.

The goal is to keep a Napster-like video service from developing, but one group believes the bill does more than that.

'The bill asserts that fair use will be protected at the same time as providing content providers with bulletproof piracy protection,' said a statement released by DigitalConsumer.org. 'But no such technology exists to meet both of these goals.'

The group worries that movie studios and television networks will force people to pay premium prices so they can record and transfer shows between devices -- something they have traditionally been able to do with their VCRs for free....

An addition to the bill also requires that analog ports no longer be added to digital televisions. That would render VCRs and other analog media obsolete, a concern for those who believe emerging technology restricts consumers' fair use of digital content....

With analog devices legislated out of existence, Electronic Frontier Foundation technologist Seth Schoen said Tauzin's bill would allow the government to control the next crop of consumer electronics." [Wired News]

I was just talking to my parents about this, and they don't believe me about the threat this poses to fair use, the ability of libraries to circulate digital content, and even your own rights to view and distribute your own content (home movies, garage band recordings, etc.)

Read this article and then ask yourself what happens when you're forced to buy a new [digital] TV and a new but far more restrictive digital VCR. After you've spent your own money on these items (just for the privilege of continuing to be able to watch television shows surrounded and embedded with advertising and maybe even recording it on that one machine to watch it later on that one machine), then think about your camcorder. Where are you going to play those videos of your kids if that video doesn't have a broadcast flag in it? It won't play on your spiffy new TV, and it certainly won't play on your siblings' TVs or your neighbor's TV.

This is serious stuff that affects average consumers, libraries, and video-related industries (hey Blockbuster - how do you think you're going to lend movies when they close the analog hole?). I'm still waiting for someone from the entertainment industry, technology industry, or Congress to explain how personal content and digital content from libraries will be able to retain their current abilities (lending, backups, fair use) under this and similar proposals.

Wait, let me clarify. I'm still waiting for anyone to explain how this will happen without using the word "somehow" or the phrase "figure that out later."