p2pnet.net News:- Broadcast Flag which, among other things, stops you from making perfectly legitimate personal copies of broadcasts, is nigh.

Thanks to the entertainment industry’s relentless pressure on the Federal Communications Commission, the Flag is scheduled to go into effect on July 1 after which, “all personal video recorder (PVR) technologies must be Broadcast Flag-compliant and ‘robust’ against user modification,” as the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) points out.

It’ll, “outlaw the manufacture and import of a whole host of TiVo-like devices that send DTV signals into a computer for backup, editing, and playback,” says the EFF …

… “and that means, once again, that the entertainment industry is trying to tell you what you can do with your own machines.”

But, receivers built before the deadline will be useable under the FCC’s Flag regime – and devices made now can be re-sold in the future.

Enter the WSS – the Wendy Seltzer Solution, namely, Make Your Very Own Personal Video Recorder (PVR) with KnoppMyth r5a5 and pcHDTV.

Nah, you say? Too complicated?

Seltzer, an EFF lawyer, built one last year to prove it could be done, and now she’s running two home-made PVRs - one in her office and one at home. Cost? About $880.

“We’re not saying this is the answer to the problem, because clearly not everyone is going to be able to build their own PVR before July 1,” Seltzer says.

“But,” she told p2pnet, “we’re very serious about demonstrating what it’s possible to do now that won’t be possible after the flag takes effect. If even a few people who are building their own machines go off and do interesting things with them and describe them to their friends and start to educate more of the public and, ultimately, more of congress and regulators about what’s being cut off by this kind of rule, it will count.

“Everything that’s legally made before July 1 is grandfathered. You can continue to sell it and if you stock-pile TV tuner cards, you can see what kinds of premiums they get on eBay afterwards.

“But nobody will be able to manufacture new equipment after July 1.”

The EFF held its first Build-In at its offices in late January when local programmers, TV fans, and bloggers tried out the EFF HD PVR Cookbook and baked their own very tasty HDTV recorders using standard computers equipped with HD tuner cards.

The results?

Twelve people built five working PVRs in one day, using the KnoppMyth distribution of the open-source MythTV software package.

Groups planning their own Build-Ins can contact the EFF for a ‘Throw Your Own Build-In’ kit, which includes a hard copy of the HD PVR Cookbook and a KnoppMyth CD-ROM.

The EFF DIY challenge to Broadcast Flag comes on the same day it and other civil liberties groups take the FCC on in the courtroom.

In ALA v. FCC, the groups - including the American Library Association and Public Knowledge - argue that the FCC has overstepped its authority in mandating the Broadcast Flag and that the rule should be struck down.

Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net

===================

See:-

built one - Beat Broadcast Flag, p2pnet, July 5, 2005
July 1 - Public Knowledge vs FCC, p2pnet, February 21, 2004

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

HOME

Viewed 4911 times