In one of the stupidest FCC decisions of late, voting 5-0 to include a "flag" in future digital broadcasts is one of the worst ideas I've heard. This "flag" would then prevent tvs, vcrs, dvds, or anything else that receives a digital stream from somehow transmitting the broadcast on the internet. While I realize the extreme fear of everything being pirated on the internet, this "flag" scheme makes no sense. The second it's released, you're going to have some sort of box that you can plug in to whatever vcr, dvd player, or anything else that complies with the "flag" scheme that deletes the flag. Since it's just one bit of data, either on or off, it will be extremely simple to crack and extremely simple to turn off. While it might prevent your grandparents from copying digital television streams or dvds and posting them on the internet, there's no way to stop the community as a whole. Remember CSS? It didn't do much to prevent the cracking of DVD encryption.

URL: PCWorld.com - FCC Endorses Built-In Copy Controls