Antitrust And The Broadcast Flag

Blogging in absentia, David Giacalone passes along some timely links:

1. The American Antitrust Institute, "A red flag for the broadcast flag:"
   

   
   

   The scope of the regulations the program producers are asking for is enormous. Their proposal requires detailed rules on the manufacture and design of DTV receivers and other devices. It requires that the outputs on such devices be strictly controlled and tamper-proof. And it would make illegal the importation into the U.S. or the possession of devices that do not comply with the regulations and provide penalties for consumers who attempt to circumvent them. [...]

   
   

   The problem is that the broadcast flag proposal aims at delegating to the private companies that own the copy protection technologies the power to make and re-make the rules for how DTV signals should be handled by consumer devices. Through their rules, these companies have already decided how consumers should be permitted to handle even non-broadcast video.

   
   

   
   


2. The joint statement of Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Public Knowledge, and the American Antitrust Institute, opposing the Broadcast Flag scheme: "The attempt to try and fast-track this through an agency process, while it hasn't wholly silenced consumers, has diminished their voices in a manner that's ultimately going to affect the way that they enjoy TV and their consumer electronics devices, and even the ways they use their computers." (Those links again to speak your mind: EFF; Digital Consumer.)


3. The American Antitrust Institute's guide to Intellectual Property and the Antitrust Laws. We have David to thank for this excellent resource, as he is the volunteer editor.