CEA Urges Barring Broadcast Flag Amendments From DTV Bill
To the certain delight of consumer advocates like Public Knowledge and Consumers Union, CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro wrote the Senate Commerce Committee leadership urging that any DTV legislation omit broadcast flag amendments promoted by the content industry. That includes the so-called catch-all policy bill due to be considered as early as this week.
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Amendments proposed by the MPAA to ratify the FCC’s broadcast flag decision for DTV, and by the RIAA to authorize the Commission to establish a copy protection flag for digital radio, “should be considered on their merits, not rushed through because a legislative train is available to carry them,” Shapiro told Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) and ranking Democrat Inouye (Hawaii). CEA believes “a narrow” broadcast flag amendment for digital video, “with appropriate exceptions, may well serve the public interest,” Shapiro said.
But Shapiro said CEA opposes the “simple ratification” sought by the MPAA of the broadcast flag rule struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals on grounds the FCC lacked authority to impose it. “With sufficient time for consideration, the Committee can no doubt find the appropriate balance between the interest of content owners and content consumers, and the consumer electronics and technology companies that make it all possible,” Shapiro said.
As for the RIAA proposal of a digital-radio flag, Shapiro said CEA was unequivocally opposed. “We can see no possible justification for the RIAA’s proposed limit on home taping of music delivered via terrestrial broadcasters,” Shapiro told Stevens and Inouye. RIAA’s “vague and ill-considered proposal would hobble new digital radios” restrictions on recording and could make it impossible for new receivers to work in existing home networks, Shapiro said. He said the proposal’s “most startling aspect” is that it isn’t aimed at Internet pirates, but at the “noncommercial practices that millions of Americans have engaged in within their homes for 4 decades.”
By comparison, the FCC’s broadcast flag rules for DTV were “properly focused” on the indiscriminate and unauthorized redistribution of video content over the Internet, Shapiro said: “If Congress were to endorse RIAA’s latest scheme to limit home recording, consumers would rightfully rebel at this unprecedented government intrusion into their private, noncommercial home use practices.”