James Delahunty
7 May 2005 8:15
A U.S. appeals court has dealt a blow to the Entertainment Industry by ruling that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has overstepped its authority by attempting to force manufacturers to make devices capable of reading a "broadcast flag" after 1st July 2005. This broadcast flag would give content providers a chance to place restrictions that they hoped would seriously limit re-distribution of recordings made. The court's argument was that the FCC tried put restrictions on content after the actual transmission.
"In other words, the Flag Order imposes regulations on devices that receive communications after those communications have occurred; it does not regulate the communications themselves," the court stated. "Because the demodulator products are not engaged in 'communication by wire or radio' when they are subject to regulation under the Flag Order, the Commission plainly exceeded the scope of its general jurisdictional grant." Public-interest groups were delighted with the decision.
"It clearly was a slam dunk," said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. "This case is about much more than the broadcast flag," she said. "This case is about ... the power of the FCC over the internet and associated technologies." According to the FCC's requirements, consumers could make personal copies of content but couldn't re-distribute it on P2P networks for example.
Source:
Wired