] The US broadcast regulator has been told by appeal judges
] it has "crossed the line" with an anti-piracy tag which
] stops programmes being copied.
]
] The "broadcast flag" is a small bit of data attached to
] US digital broadcasts. It tells devices that receive
] digital signals the level of copy protection.
]
] From 1 July, any device that cannot read the flag will be
] illegal to make.
]
] But the panel of appeal judges said the Federal
] Communications Commission (FCC) should not dictate how
] devices work.
]
] "You crossed the line," Judge Harry Edwards told a FCC
] lawyer during arguments before a three-judge panel of the
] US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
]
] "Selling televisions is not what the FCC is in the
] business of."

At least some judges get it. First of all the FCC shouldn't make mandates that solely benefit the MPAA. They are an agent of the government, and their decisions should be made solely on its benefit to the American people. Giving NBC the power to decide whether I am allowed to record "Law & Order" is not in my interest.

] They are also concerned that the rule would mean the FCC
] has the right to say how TVs, computers, and other
] devices capable of receiving digital signals, are built
] and used.

... Hmmm I could see that if the court favors the FCC, the FCC will basically have the power to regular how devices receive any digital content boardcast over the air. Such as Video and Audio streams traveling to my PC over wireless networking.

] The entertainment industry is concerned about technology
] that facilitates piracy
] It could also mean, they say, next-generation TVs and
] other receiver technologies are more expensive.

Take your lobbyists and their bullshit fear-mongering and go home. Just because most of SE Asia is pirating "24" doesn't mean that my TV needs to be more expensive. A kid sewing my Nikes isn't buying from you anyway, so don't tell me you lost billions last year.

I'd be very interested in a more detailed breakdown of their "piracy" stats. I want to see how many movies/TV shows are downloaded by *Americans* a year. I want to see the revenue numbers for movies and TV shows for the last 5 years. I want to see *exactly* how revenue matched predictions. I want to know revenue loss. And no, each download of a show of "24" does not translate to $29.99 DVD that now will not be sold. And I want a mathematical proof showing that US equipment needs to be more expensive to offset your "losses" due to US piracy.

] The UK digital terrestrial platform, Freeview, and other
] receivers do not employ a copy protection technology.

I love the UK. Even if they are rather socialist and have cameras everywhere. They don't let bloated businesses that fail to evolve their business plan fuck their citizens.