RE: [backstage] License to Kill Innovation: the Broadcast Flag for UK Digital TV?

[Christopher Woods]

Moreover, you just *know* that within months of any broadcast flag
implementation, the more creative technological tinkerers will have
subverted the flag entirely using commonplace/free equipment and software.
Like region coding, broadcast flags really are an exercise in stupidity and
corporate backslapping.
 
The Beeb should be pointing to what happened with the Broadcast Flag in the
States as the perfect case study! The US TV industry hasn't imploded as a
result of the Broadcast Flag requirement being dropped, and the world
continues to turn in a regular fashion. Why are rightsholders so scared of
fully engaging with technology? Metaphor of closing the stable door after
the horse has bolted and subsequently gone on to win the Grand National
comes to mind.
 
 
Further reading
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/06/dtv-era-no-broadcast