No broadcast flag?
A while ago, the FCC mandated that, by mid 2005, all devices capable of receiving digital broadcasts must detect and honor the broadcast flag. This is a flag on the broadcast that indicates that the particular program may not be recorded in any form. Basically, it allows the networks to decide that you cannot record any TV you watch, you must watch it live or not at all. This has caused much furor in the tech community, which follows such things. Among other things, it means no digital VCRs, no TiVo like devices, no ability to fast forward through commercials, no ability to pause to go to the bathroom. Consumers would be completely at the mercy of the networks as to when and how they could watch television.
Now, it’s looking like this might not happen after all. A group of consumer watchdog groups, including the EFF, have filed a lawsuit saying that the FCC overstepped it’s authority, and it’s looking like the judges agree. Is there a chance that we’ll be able to keep some control over our TV watching? Or will congress step in, as it has so many times in the past, and rape our personal freedoms on behalf of the large corporations?
And the blog spammers hit us really hard while we were gone. I really have to find a way to block trackbacks entirely…