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Library and Consumer Groups Sue FCC over Digital-TV Copy RestrictionsA coalition of library organizations and consumer groups has asked a court to block the Federal Communications Commission from requiring that digital television recording devices include copy-protection technology designed to prevent redistribution of programming. The agency issued regulations in November 2003 calling for all such devices to recognize a “broadcast flag” embedded in the signal that will restrict copies from being played on other machines or being shared over the Internet. The groups submitted papers to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., March 3 claiming that the FCC exceeded its statutory authority by imposing the regulations on manufacturers. They also ask the court to determine whether the FCC overstepped by restricting copyrighted content even though the copyright laws give the agency no such power. Miriam Nisbet, legislative counsel for the American Library Association, voiced concern that the broadcast flag requirement would prevent the use of digitally recorded TV shows in classrooms and long-distance education, an exemption to copyright law granted by Congress in the 2002 TEACH Act. “That fairly recent amendment to copyright law could be remanded, in effect, by the broadcast flag,” Nisbet said in the March 11 online Wired News “We are concerned about undermining something that has just been done to try to update copyright law for the digital age.” Joining ALA in the suit are the Association of Research Libraries, American Association of Law Libraries, Medical Library Association, Special Libraries Association, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Public Knowledge. Posted March 19, 2004. |
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