[wplug] V-TV Day!

[Bill Moran]

Patrick Wagstrom <pwagstro at andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:

> Hey Everyone!
> 
> I just thought I'd let everyone know that the broadcast flag was struck
> down today.  This means you'll be able to continue to buy devices that
> let you exercise your fair use rights over HDTV after July 1.  It also
> means that you don't need to stock up on HDTV tuner cards for MythTV
> boxes before that July 1 date.
> 
> The court decision:
> 
> http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200505/04-1037b.pdf
> 
> Background on broadcast flag (not neutral):
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_flag
> 
> So yeah, it means if you missed out on the HDTV tuner order, you may
> still be in luck.

The big win here is that this law would have effectively made it illegal 
to develop Open Source software for those devices.  That would have set a
dangerous precedent.

-- 
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com