Media: Call to Arms against the Broadcast Flag from Technology Review

"Losing Control of Your TV" is an impassioned call to reject the latest anti-piracy move rearing its head in the States.

In the future, every TV sold in the US will come equipped with an electronic circuit that will search incoming TV programmes for a tiny electronic flag. Motion Picture Association of America members will control this flag, putting it into broadcast movies and television shows. If the flag is present, the TV will go into a high-security mode and lock down its high-quality digital outputs. To record a flagged program, you'll have to do so on analogue tape or on special low-resolution DVDs. The Advanced Television Systems Committee Flag, better known as the broadcast flag, arrives on July 1, 2005.

'Many technologists that I've spoken with believe that the broadcast flag introduces dangerous Trojan Horse technology — a technology that could be rejiggered with even stronger anti-consumer provisions as time goes on,' says Garfinkel.

He calls it another step in Hollywood's ongoing project to remake both consumer electronics and desktop computers so that they are more to the industry's liking. He points out that the flag cannot achieve its goal of eliminating off-the-air piracy. 'So what happens when the broadcast flag has obviously failed? The MPAA will be back, this time demanding that even stronger anti-consumer technology be bundled into consumer electronics and desktop computers. Ultimately, Hollywood will settle for nothing less than the elimination of any consumer technology that can make high-quality recordings.'

He considers the last time that Hollywood attempted to control consumer electronics. 'What would have been different if the movie industry had won in its lawsuit against Sony is that the revolution in camcorders, amateur video productions, and independent moviemakers never would have happened. Steven Soderbergh would never have created "Sex, Lies and Videotape". Rodney King's beating by the police wouldn't have been filmed. Perhaps a generation of creativity and political change would have been lost. And Hollywood would have been happy.

'This is why I'm so passionately opposed to letting the movie industry dictate design specifications for consumer electronics and home PCs. Hollywood's moguls want consumers to purchase one-way devices that jack-in to today's business models. They're terrified of creativity that they can't harness and monetize. Instead of sharing the golden eggs with the world, they'd rather kill the magic goose. The broadcast flag's ability to stamp out the recording of high-quality digital signals is probably the largest step in this direction since Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act back in 1998 — a piece of legislation that has had astoundingly negative impacts throughout the high-tech world.'

There is a chance to have your say on the MIT TR site.

Associated Link: MIT TR: Losing Control of Your TV (One time sign-up needed)

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