Pending legislation to ban home recording of radio?

[trane_fanatic]

http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/audio-b...home-recording/

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It may be a while since we've heard anything new from Congress about the Broadcast Flag's radio counterpart, the Audio Flag, but rest assured, your elected representatives haven't stopped thinking about it. And the latest incarnation of the law,the Audio Broadcast Flag Licensing Act of 2006, H.R. 4861, is a bill you might want to actually give a perusal. Turns out that, when it comes to digital radio, the bill basically takes away any "fair use" rights you might have assumed you had, and lets the record industry decide what you can and can't do with your radio. Want to record a radio show so you can listen to it later? Sorry, not unless the record industry says you can. Want to tape a couple of songs, so you can listen to them again before deciding whether to buy them? Forget about it. In fact, the law as written would require manufacturers to get FCC approval if they wanted to includ recording functions in their digital radios. Of course, this is still just a bill, yes, it's only a bill, which means there's time to make some changes. And, as we've seen, there are at least some Senators who have doubts about giving the record industry even more control over what we can and can't listen to. Maybe teaching them all how to use an iPod isn't such a bad idea after all.

[trane_fanatic]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060303-6310.html

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New radio Broadcast Flag legislation seeks to control innovation, eliminate fair use

3/3/2006 11:40:14 AM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher

The radio broadcast flag is gaining momentum. House Representative Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.) is introducing legislation that would establish a broadcast flag for audio and also change the way in which the music industry licenses radio itself. The Audio Broadcast Flag Licensing Act of 2006, H.R. 4861, is quite a shocker. Or maybe not, depending on what brand of cynicism you like with your afternoon tea.

The bill would require all manufacturers of electronics to get approval from the FCC for any device that would enable the recording of digital radio. That approval would essentially be contingent on whether or not the device obeys DRM limitations on its capabilities. Those limitations take a page from the latest attack on fair use: the notion of "customary historic use." The idea is simple: lock down what was one permitted as a thing of the past, and make it clear that past "fair uses" of content have no bearing on future use. In short, they seek to short circuit the way law works in the United States, and to simply trash historical precedent.

Case in point: the bill in question seeks to stop not "illegal" uses, but "unauthorized" uses. The problem with this is that the two are not synonymous. Fair Use can be described as a collection of uses for which explicit authorization is not required by definition. That the entire point: you shouldn't require authorization to do things like copy part of a book, make a backup of your CDs, record a tune off of the radio, or anything else. Hence Fair Use, hence our legally defined rights to time shift and record audio. This bill not only wants to stop what is clearly illegal (say, recording and redistributing for a profit), but it also seeks to stop anything that's not authorized. And do you expect the music industry to authorize anything for free? Of course not. These are the same people who are now trying to argue that ripping CDs is not authorized, either.

The RIAA's position is simple on the surface. The ability to record digital radio, they claim, would result in stifling the industry's creativity, because the money would dry up. As we have reported before, they fear that digital radio could essentially "turn radio into download services" (without the cost) if a recording free-for-all is allowed. Of course, people can already record off of the radio, and music still sells. They maintain that with the quality that digital will bring, manufacturers will rush to produce products aimed at creating high quality music collections from radio broadcasts, and consumers will eat it up. It certainly is a possibility.

The RIAA is famous for not facing the music, so it would be superfluous to point out that their problems also stem from music being too expensive and not particularly compelling. For now, it looks like they're banking on Rep. Ferguson leading the charge in the House. For the moment, I doubt that this legislation has legs. One major challenge it faces will come from the broadcasters themselves. Many of them have already invested in equipment for digital radio, and have told members of Congress that it would be too costly to go back and add support for DRM and encryption.

They're not sure it's really necessary, either. Dan Halyburton, a senior VP at Susquehanna Radio, told a Senate committee that the threat remains to be demonstrated. Mr. Halyburton is correct, but let's not be coy here: the RIAA and MPAA have spilled Valdeez-like quantities of ink over threats that have yet to be realized to this day.

[Claude]

This concerns digital radio only of course. Is digital radio succesfull in the US?

In Europe, DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) has been introduced 10 years ago but it's a market failure. The penetration is just a few percent. Only subsidized public radio stations are broadcasting in DAB, and there aren't many DAB tuners available.

For example, this is the DAB coverage in France (the yellow spots):

Unlike with TV (HDTV), not many radio listeners are willing to upgrade to a new technology, as radio is mostly used for background music and news.

[JSngry]

FM radio took forever to catch on too, at least in America. but it finally did. Wonder if digital Radio will follow the same path?

[alocispepraluger102]

FM radio took forever to catch on too, at least in America. but it finally did. Wonder if digital Radio will follow the same path?

hope it wont include broadcast stations over the web.

cant live without my laz lake and NUR libraries.