[Home]
June 11, 2002

[News]
Disagreement over extent of agreement

A Bloomberg piece (is it on the web anywhere?) reports MPAA emphasizing that there were "only 14 dissenters out of about 70 organizations". Jack Valenti has said repeatedly that there was "substantial agreement" on the broadcast flag -- including broad support for government action to ban products which don't conform to the Compliance and Robustness Rules.

By contrast, dissenters (like EFF) have painted a very different picture. Some reporters have been left scratching their heads, wondering whether there is or isn't a consensus. An article from Variety is a good example of the contrasting perspectives:

"I didn't say there was unanimity, but this shows you can get all these groups together in good-faith discussions," Valenti said. "I think it's fair to say that there is broad, multi-industry consensus on the core aspects of a technology called a broadcast flag."

Critics are harsher in their assessments, however. "There is no consensus on any significant point," Philips senior researcher Michael Epstein said.

Posted by Seth Schoen at 06:07 PM