The FCC has mandated that all television stations be capable of broadcasting HDTV by 2006, but that isn't the date that the Electronic Frontier Foundation is counting down to. Instead, it's July 1, 2005—the day that the FCC's broadcast flag mandate takes effect. Broadcast flags are designed to be a form of digital rights management (DRM) for HDTV programs: a bit-sized file is sent along with an HDTV transmission that prohibits HD digital video from being transmitted and/or recorded onto devices that don't comply with the broadcast flag mandate. But, "the only way they can make that flag mean 'do not distribute' is by putting a technology mandate on all HDTV receivers," says Wendy Seltzer, staff attorney at the EFF, which is exactly what the July 1, 2005 FCC broadcast flag mandate requires. After the first of July, all HDTV tuner cards must be manufactured to include the broadcast flag.
展开▼
