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Author Topic: Court yanks down FCC's broadcast flag  (Read 2848 times)
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k4kyv
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Don
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« on: May 07, 2005, 01:27:03 AM »

In a stunning victory for hardware makers and television buffs, a federal appeals court has tossed out government rules that would have outlawed many digital TV receivers and tuner cards starting July 1.

Court   limits FCC's jurisdiction

Wouldn't this also apply to the FCC's ban on scanners and receivers capable of recieving cellular and other "forbidden" frequencies, since these devices likewise "are not engaged in the process of radio or wire transmission?"

Looks like the courts may be deciding after all that the government has jurisdiction over radio transmission, but not reception.
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Don, K4KYV                                       AMI#5
Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM...    Never got off AM in the first place.

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W8ER
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« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2005, 05:53:27 AM »

Quote
The FCC has no authority to regulate consumer electronic devices that can be used for receipt of wire or radio communication when those devices are not engaged in the process of radio or wire transmission."


That's not quite how I read it Don. It appears that the court views the reception of a radio or wire tansmission as part of the "transmission" process.

To me that the rub came because the broadcast flag only allows the same device that recorded the show to play it back. The reason it was struck appears to be because the flag would prohibit other devices from playing the recorded show, in other words the playing of a tape made on another tape machine. This clearly is a process that does not include the transmission or reception but has the FCC regulation imposed anyway.

In the limitation that the FCC made on the reception of cellular calls, the receiving device is part of the transmission process, thus their authority to do so cannot be challenged.   :roll:

Unfortunately, the way of the current regulatory bodies is that if the courts stike something down, go back and make a law that overrides the court, such as happened in the Schiavo case. Watch out for the friggin lobbyists for the motion picture industry on this one!

--Larry W8ER
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Mike/W8BAC
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« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2005, 10:10:31 AM »

"Watch out for the friggin lobbyists for the motion picture industry on this one! "

Good Point! Politics and greed. The movie and music recording industries view the public as piggy banks. If they can control, and charge for, each view of a show or each song we listen to they stand to win big. The cost of high priced lobbyists and congressional perks pail in comparison to future profits if digital limits are forced on the viewing public. A good example is paying a monthly fee to use a TIVO machine. Pay monthly so you don't have to watch commercials? Next they will find a way to charge me because I have a song stuck in my head. Hay I'm storing it and I might whistle it without paying royalties.

The next fight quietly making it's way through the courts is privacy. Internet companies like Comcast are spending huge sums to upgrade systems so they can offer Voice Over Internet Protocol or VOIP. Telephone service over the internet. The US government and other law enforcement agencies have already won the right to read your email without a court order specifying the exact goal. The landmark ruling stated in brief "if the data is stored on a computer or server than it isn't a wire tap". So what about VOIP? Simple! a store and forward system. A few milliseconds of delay in the data stream constitutes a stored message. Any interested party can obtain a blanket court order under the patriot act and listen to whomever for whatever reason.
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