Sunday, February 12, 2006
Goodbye Time Shifting?
Congress is currently debating something called the Analog Hole Bill (HR 4569). This bill would require every TV set and other analog video device to follow the VEIL watermark. The VEIL watermark is something that would prevent a TV show broadcast over the air from being copied onto a tape for later viewing (for example). “Oh, they’re only trying to protect their content; they wouldn’t take away time shifting”, you say. Well, how do you know? You can’t-you can’t see what’s in the VEIL spec without paying $10,000 and signing a non disclosure agreement-which means that even if you do pay, you can’t tell others about it! What happened to free public debate about laws we will all have to live by? I encourage all of you to write your Congressmen and tell them you do not approve of laws mandating secret technology.
