Riaa Attempt To Grab Control Of Digital Radio

[GhostShip]

Uh oh another monopoly creating event in the offing folks :shock:

http://www.godwinslaw.org/weblog/archive/2005/09/09/riaas-big-push-to-copy-protect-digital-radio

Never mind that digital audio broadcasting is not significantly greater in quality than regular, analog radio. Never mind that its music quality is vastly less than than that of audio CDs. In spite of these inconvenient facts, the RIAA is hoping that the transition to "digital audio broadcasting" will provide enough confusion and panic that they can persuade Congress or the FCC to impose some kind of copy-protection scheme or regulation on digital radio broadcast.
Immediately below is the text of the joint resolution by RIAA and other groups, asking Congress to copy-protect radio (which has never been copy-protected before). Following that is RIAA's "one-pager" outlining for Congress the reasons RIAA offers for Congress to authorize the  FCC to put in place a copy-protection scheme for radio. (Note the use of the term "HD Radio" -- implying that there's something "high-definition" about digital audio broadcasting, even though everyone who knows anything about digital audio broadcast content knows it's of much lower quality than that of audio CDs.)

I read the page on the site folks and it was pure garbage, I wonder who they think they are
After all that blustering folks way down the page comes this weak rememberance of your traditional rights

What we are NOT trying to do
The recording industry is not seeking to (1) stop or delay the rollout of HD Radio; (2) prevent consumers from listening to radio as they do today; (3) prevent time-shifting

Thats exactly what they do want to do, there is no way both the radio listeners and the industry can settle the middle ground here, either they control all music 100% worldwide and all forms of distribution or we the public allow them a monopoly in certain fields , they have no right to make demands like this to congress in the sneaky way they do without the publicity hype that goes with all of their other announcements

I especially like the "let the FCC have time" to do this and that etc, we could see how impartial they are :roll:  after the broadcast flag was declared illegal that they sponsored though congress for the monopoly industries, talk about "paid for" democracy.

[GhostShip]

As usual the public pronouncements of these folks dont match up with their actions

http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=909

Lobbyists are trying to persuade lawmakers in the United States to pass a bill that not only resurrects the high definition broadcast flag, but also puts a broadcasting flag on digital radio.  
Many remember the broadcast flags for high definition TV
At the time, consumer groups warned that the flag is incompatible with fair use time-shifting, or recording and mixing TV excerpts.
On May 6 2005, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the broadcast flag, unanimously ruling that the FCC lacks the authority to regulate what happens inside TVs and computers once they have received a broadcast signal.

One would think that the movie business’ experience would be enough evidence to suggest that broadcast flags should never be, but not to the recording industry. The recording industry is now trying to persuade lawmakers to make the broadcast flag and the digital radio flags legal in the United States.

You have to hand it to these music/movie Cartel parasites, they know how to play dirty, extorting money from you to watch tv is on the cards next it seems  :roll:

[GhostShip]

PS: lucky they have a few "Sponsored" friends to help them huh ?

http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-5842143.html

But now one non-profit advocacy group is breaking ranks with its usual allies and handing Congress a road map to reinstating the broadcast flag. The idea is to reduce piracy of digital TV by prohibiting the manufacture of computer and video hardware that doesn't sport copy protection technology.

The Center for Democracy and Technology on Tuesday published its "recommendations" for Congress. Instead of telling politicians that such a law would be unwise and that it would necessarily infringe on Americans' fair use rights, CDT merely offers some guidelines for what the first President Bush might have called a kindler, gentler broadcast flag.

Its a pity that this same entity takes money from the very folks who would benefit from this legislation

A now-deleted Web page, saved in February 2003 by Archive.org, shows that Time Warner, Disney, and Vivendi (an owner of NBC Universal) have been supporters. Though for the record, a CDT spokesman said Tuesday that only Time Warner (that is, AOL) currently is providing cash.

Bought and paid for opinions it seems... :roll: