FCC flying TV flag

U.S. adopts anti-Internet piracy measure

By SUSAN CRABTREE

WASHINGTON -- The federal government Tuesday approved a major Hollywood technology goal: an antipiracy device designed to make it harder for computer users to illegally distribute digital TV programs over the Internet.

The U.S. will require personal computers and other electronic devices including digital TV sets to recognize a code called a broadcast flag that broadcasters can embed in their signal. The flag makes it harder for people to upload programs to the Web. In its order, the Federal Communications Commission said it would require all digital television receivers to be able to recognize the flag by July 1, 2005.

"The FCC scored a big victory for consumers and the preservation of high-value, over-the-air, free broadcasting with its decision on the broadcast flag," Motion Picture Assn. of America topper Jack Valenti said late Tuesday. "This puts digital TV on the same level playing field as cable and satellite delivery. All the way around, the consumer wins and free TV stays alive."

Ongoing project

The MPAA as well as major studios and networks have spent the past several years trying to lobby Congress and other federal government agencies to help them protect their content as they make the transition to high-definition and digital television.

But electronics groups have fought the flag, claiming a government mandate would stymie innovation and competition.

"The broadcast flag rule forces manufacturers to remove useful recording features from television products you can buy today," said Seth Schoen, a technology specialist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The FCC has decided that the way to get Americans to adopt digital HDTV is to make it cost more and do less."

The FCC maintains that consumers' ability to make digital copies of broadcast content using existing DVD or VCR machines would not be affected. The flag aims solely to prevent individuals from distributing content en masse over the Internet, agency officials said.

"The goal of today's action is to foster the transition to digital TV and forestall potential harm to the viability of free over-the-air broadcasting in the digital age," FCC chairman Michael Powell said.

The Big Four nets lobbied aggressively for the FCC to approve the flag before the beginning of the new computer and recording devices' manufacturing season. The nets wanted to ensure that all computer and recording equipment will read the flag well in advance of the 2007 congressionally mandated deadline for broadcasters to switch to digital.

All five members of the FCC supported the ruling, but the two Democrats at the agency voiced some concerns.

"The broadcast flag should be about protecting digital content, not about tracking Americans' viewing habits," commissioner Michael Copps said. "Protecting personal privacy is too important to leave to chance."