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July 01, 2004

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EFF calls on public to fight broadcast flag

EFF has announced the Digital Television liberation project, calling on the public to build and aquire as many non-broadcast-flag-compliant legacy devices as possible before the July 1, 2005, effective date of the broadcast flag regulation.

As part of this project, EFF will be teaching people to build their own personal video recorders (PVRs) with HD capability and no content-control restrictions. These devices will continue to work (and may lawfully be given away or sold) after the broadcast flag rule goes into effect next year. Unlike some contemporary commercial PVRs, they will not impose any technological restrictions on how you can use your recorded programming, and they will facilitate upgrades and enhancements. The initial focus of the PVR effort is on the impressive MythTV project, which already has DTV capability plus features that compare favorably with commercial PVRs. MythTV is a free software/open source project developed by Isaac Richards.

We hope that the widespread availability of this information -- and the necessary hardware -- will help all interested parties avoid becoming subject to the broadcast flag restrictions.

Posted by Seth Schoen at 05:09 PM