Court says FCC's 'broadcast flag' is toast

[dishrich]

In a stunning victory for television buffs and hardware makers, a federal appeals court has tossed out government rules that would have outlawed many digital TV receivers and tuner cards starting July 1.

http://news.com.com/Court+yanks+down+FCCs+broadcast+flag/2100-1030_3-5697719.html

(sorry, got it from a friend - fixed link)

 

[Barney]

Link doesn't work....

 

[cdru]

Working link. That's what you get for copy/pasting a link from a forum that autolinks urls.

It's important to note that the courts didn't strike down the concept of the flag, they just struck down the fact that it was the FCC that made the rule. The courts found that the FCC overstepped it's power by making the rule. The FCC argued that since Congress didn't explicitly state that they couldn't, they felt they could. Now the studios will need to break out the checkbooks and buy off a significant number of Congress critters, not just 3 FCC members.

In related news, my 4 year-old tried to use the same argument but it didn't work for him either.