[Fwd: RE: Please Stand Against the New Copyright Bill]

[Colin McGregor]

On 8/23/08, Scott Elcomb <psema4-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On 8/23/08, D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh-pmF8o41NoarQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> | From: John Myshrall <jmyshrall-6duGhz7i8susTnJN9+BGXg at public.gmane.org>
>> | From:   Khan, Wajid - M.P. <Khan.W-o8LxKXBI9Raw5LPnMra/2Q at public.gmane.org>
>> | Specifically, it includes measures that would:
>> | *     expressly allow you to record TV shows for later viewing
>>
>> Not true for anything protected by DRM.  Thus all Rogers digital cable
>> broadcasts are excluded already.  I don't know about other cable
>> operators or satellite operators.  But this is likely to only get
>> worse.  For one thing, analogue will go away soon.
>
> IIRC, stations may continue to support analogue transmissions if they
> wish.  (I hope.)  Haven't heard much about it in quite a while though.

No... As of February 17, 2009 ALL full power analog TV stations in the
USA MUST shut down. After February 17, 2008 if you want to watch over
the air TV broadcasts from the US you must have a TV with an ATSC
(digital tuner) or you must have an ATSC digital to NTSC analog
converter box...

In Canada the analog shutdown date is August 31, 2011...

Now the cable TV companies can continue to offer analog service for
more-or-less as long as they want (keeping in mind that because of the
ability to fit more channels in a given amount of bandwidth, they
cable companies will want to move to digital ASAP... sigh...).

My one toe in the digital ATSC waters is a pcHDTV-5500 TV tuner card
for my MythTV box. The pcHDTV-5500 card can be configured to accept
ATSC or QAM digital broadcasts. This means that I can use my MythTV
box as the biggest, ugliest converter box going :-) .

Returning to the question of the new copyright law, the pcHDTV-5500 TV
tuner card is a problem. The software for the card is all open source
and at present ignores the "broadcast flag", This would be a problem
with the any circumvention provisions of the bill... Of the top of my
head I don't know of a way for me to run Linux and stay with in the
letter of this new law...

>> | As with any bill, there will be ample opportunity for stakeholder input
>> and
>> | public discussion.
>>
>> The whitepaper consultation was perhaps a decade ago.  Those comments
>> were mostly ignored.  Then came C-60 which died on the order paper
>> when the Liberal government fell.  There was no public discussion
>> prior to C-61, as far as I recollect.  There were private discussions
>> with certain (evil) stakeholders.
>
> I don't recall hearing about public discussions for C-61 either.  When
> I spoke with Stephane Dion on Wednesday during the bloggers reception,
> I asked him (paraphrasing): If there is a fall election and the
> Liberals come to power, what would he do about C-61.  His response was
> to start over from scratch and include public discussion.  He asked
> for my business card and offered to call me as "a witness" in future
> committees.
>
> During the townhall proper, another fellow asked about C-61 and
> received much the same answer and offer.  I'll blog my take on the
> townhall in a day or two - when I get some time.
>
> --
>   Scott Elcomb
>   http://www.psema4.com/
>   http://www.google.com/reader/shared/14892828400785741937


Colin McGregor
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