48 hours to kill the broadcast flag -- yes, again...

[unixronin]

Yes, as reported by mazianni, it's been resurrected from the dead (for the right price, I'm sure).  The MPAA is trying to get it slipped into a Senate appropriations bill as an amendment, but the EFF has a campaign to stop them.  Go ping your Senator -- the broadcast flag is bad news for everyone except the TV studios.

After all, you don't want to be told you can't skip commercials, right...?  Right.  Remember, this is backed by people who think that not watching a commercial should be a crime.

---

Edit/Footnote:  The EFF page above will tell you if your Senator is a member of the Appropriations Committee, and automatically forward your comments to your correct Senator.

Comments

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

People can look up their Senator's contact info here:
http://www.senate.gov/

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Also, the EFF page will automatically direct your comment to your correct Senator.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

umm, what is the exact bill for?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I don't know what bill they're trying to get it attached to. The broadcast flag thing they're trying to get passed allows them to "tag" sections of broadcast content as "may not be skipped" (commercials, say) or "may not be recorded" (everything else, probably).

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

should just ban television altogether. it rots yer brain.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

abolish televison completely!

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

We don't actually have a TV ourselves right now anyway.

(Well, OK, technically we do own a 12-year-old Pioneer 46" projection TV, but it's still in North Carolina because there was no room for it on the truck. In any case, we've promised it to cymrullewes' mother because the front screen won't survive much more abuse from small children without requiring replacement again, and replacement screens for it are no longer available.)

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

no loss, i threw mine out in '95

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

So you haven't seen Junkyard Wars or Good Eats? That's sort of sad.

I miss the Discovery Channels, BBCAmerica, and Food TV.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

noe, and i don't miss the idiot box one bit! discovery channel was pretty good.

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

According to an article on slashdot (http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/22/147259&tid=103&tid=219), this was just a rumor.