The Broadcast Flag (http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/HDTV/) is a way to cripple digital TV recorders and prevent you from recording shows for later viewing. If the Broadcast Flag takes effect, HDTV receivers will simply refuse to record copyrighted shows (in other words, nearly everything on TV). It has already been struck down by the US Court of Appeals, so now the MPAA will try to change the rules by shoving the Broadcast Flag as an amendment to a massive appropriations bill.

SIGN the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF.org) petition that urges your senator to vote AGAINST the Broadcast Flag.
https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?pa ... lay&id=145

CALL YOUR SENATORS:
ALABAMA Senator Richard Shelby (202) 224-5744
ALASKA Senator Ted Stevens (202) 224-3004
CALIFORNIA Dianne Feinstein (202) 224-3841
COLORADO Wayne Allard (202) 224-5941
HAWAII Senator Daniel Inouye (202) 224-3934
IDAHO Larry Craig (202) 224-2752
ILLINOIS Richard J. Durbin (202) 224-2152
IOWA Senator Tom Harkin (202) 224-3254
KANSAS Senator Sam Brownback (202) 224-6521
KENTUCKY Senator Mitch McConnell (202) 224-2541
LOUISIANA Mary L. Landrieu (202) 224-5824
MARYLAND Senator Barbara Mikulski (202) 224-4654
MONTANA Conrad Burns (202) 224-2644
MISSISSIPPI Thad Cochran (202) 224-5054
MISSOURI Senator Christopher Bond (202) 224-5721
NEVADA Harry Reid (202) 224-3542
NEW HAMPSHIRE Senator Judd Gregg (202) 224-3324
NEW MEXICO Senator Pete Domenici (202) 224-6621
NORTH DAKOTA Senator Byron Dorgan (202) 224-2551
OHIO Mike DeWine (202) 224-2315
PENNSYLVANIA Arlen Specter (202) 224-4254
SOUTH DAKOTA Tim Johnson (202) 224-5842
TEXAS Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (202) 224-5922
UTAH Robert F. Bennett (202) 224-5444
VERMONT Senator Patrick Leahy (202) 224-4242
WASHINGTON Senator Patty Murray (202) 224-2621
WEST VIRGINIA Robert C. Byrd (202) 224-3954
WISCONSIN Senator Herb Kohl (202) 224-5653

A TYPICAL CALL:
"Hello, Senator _________'s office"
"Hi, I'm a constituent. I'm registering my OPPOSITION to
the broadcast flag amendment being introduced in the
Senate Commerce Justice and Science Appropriations
subcommittee mark-up on Tuesday, and in full committee on
Thursday."
"The Broadcast Flag cripples any device capable of
receiving over-the-air digital broadcasts. It give
Hollywood movie studios a permanent veto over how members
of the American public use our televisions. It forces
American innovators to beg the FCC for permission before
adding new features to TV. "
"This is an important issue which will affect all
Americans, and should not be inserted at the last moment,
with almost no debate."
"Please oppose the broadcast flag amendment. My name and
address are ___________________."
"Thank you for your time."
And thank you for reading this,
The activists at the EFF.

you can let the panic subside. looks like we thwarted the MPAA yet again, but you know they are not done.

http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/0 ... 03&tid=219

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Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

If you go to www.leoville.com and listen to Twit Podcast (I think 9) they have a discussion about this. Even though the broadcast flag is or will be a dead issue, once all tv transmissions have switched to digital (just digital in general) they may find a way to still do this even without the broadcast flag. Even Canada is starting to cave into the mpaa mumbo jumbo. Guess it helps that so many movies are made in Canada nowadays. MPAA has almost limitless deep pockets especially when it comes to "contributing" to a politicians... and that has way more effect on them than all of our letter writing and emails..

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ASUS A7N266 Micro-ATX Motherboard
Athlon 2200 processor
512K Kingston PC2100 Memory
MicroAtx Case
2 PVR250's w/remote
eVGA e-GeForce mx4000 (64 Ram with Tv/Out (Svideo))
Lite-on DVD cd-rw combo
120 GB Western Digital

Funny, I was thinking of moving to Canada... The really funny thing is that the MPAA gets it's money from the consumer and thier are attempting to screw the consumer at every turn.

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cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!