Telecom bill chugs ahead with even stricter broadcast flag

[cyberpj]

6/26/2006 11:33:22 AM, by Eric Bangeman

Late last week, we reported on the latest draft of the Communications, Consumer's Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006, which would substantially rewrite the nation's telecommunications law among other things. Particularly alarming was the reappearance of the broadcast flag in a clause that would empower the Federal Communications Commission to mandate its use in television and digital radio. It's about to get worse.

snip...
This is bad news for consumers and consumer electronics manufacturers. Enacting the broadcast flag will make it easier for the MPAA and RIAA to limit how consumers view and consume media, forcing us to pay multiple times for the same content in many cases. For consumer electronics manufacturers, the flag would require them to get the FCC to sign off on any device capable of recording television or digital radio.

Plans are for the Committee to work step-by-step through the bill over the next couple of days, so there is still a chance more consumer-friendly changes could be made. That's why it is vital to contact Committee members over the next couple of days to let them know how consumers feel about the legislation in general and the broadcast flag in particular.

entire article:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060626-7131.html

If you're in the states listed below, call your Senator NOW, and ask him or her to support the Sununu amendment to remove both TV and audio flags (he also has an amendment to modify the audio flag, so be clear you want to kick out both flags). If your Senator is a Republican, emphasize the danger of giving the FCC extra regulatory powers. If your Senator is a Democrat, emphasize how bad this is for consumer rights. Either way, tell them that entertainment industry powergrabs have no place in a telecom reform bill, and they need to be kept out.

Chairman Ted Stevens (AK), [phone]
Co-Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (HI), [phone]
John McCain (AZ), [phone]
Conrad Burns (MT), Main: 202-224-2644
Trent Lott (MS), [phone]
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), [phone]
Gordon H. Smith (OR), [phone]
John Ensign (NV), [phone]
George Allen (VA), [phone]
John E. Sununu (NH), [phone]
Jim DeMint (SC), [phone]
David Vitter (LA),[phone]
John D. Rockefeller (WV), [phone]
John F. Kerry (MA), [phone]
Barbara Boxer (CA), [phone]
Bill Nelson (FL), [phone]
Maria Cantwell (WA), [phone]
Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ), [phone]
E. Benjamin Nelson (NE), [phone]
Mark Pryor (AR), [phone]