From the archives...
Unpublished stories from the past.
June 28, 2006
A rather disturbing story has caught my eye recently, a story about a group of Senators who feel the need to intrude into what one legally records from their television. The communication bill being reviewed by the Senate Commerce Committee deals with the issue of broadcast flags and other issues, among them being net neutrality (keeping the internet and content providers un-regulated by the ISPs, keeping the playing field leveled and free of discrimination, and thus following the spirit of the internet being a free and fair domain), which had an amendment to legislation struck down in the House earlier this month. Many of the Senators endorsing the broadcast flag amendment – which federal courts told the FCC it could not use because it violated fair/free use of paid or open-air content – have the entertain industry as either their major constitutionally (as in the case of Senator Diane Fienstien (D-CA) and Representative Barbra Boxer (D-CA)) or the industry is a major campaign contributer (as in the case of Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)). With net neutrality, most supporters were Democrats, with broadcast flags (a different but almost-as-worrying issue), both parties have supporters. The bottom line is that anything against net neutrality would let the service providers control the content providers, thus contradicting the free and open network of content that we call the internet. Broadcast flags are against fair use and could prevent, like Sony’s somewhat-failed DRM, people from using the content legally and would probably do little to cut down on piracy (which is why we have a criminal and justice system – and which is one of the things they should be doing). Since the U.S. is the self-imposed ruler of the international body of the internet, it is ever more important that we do not take actions that, on the insistence on Hollywood’s powerful, can destroy the prospect of a free internet and free use of open-air or paid content. You can stay up to date on issues surrounding net neutrality at this site.
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