The Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") on August 8, 2002 issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking related to digital broadcast copy protection. Digital copy protection attempts to prevent the unauthorized copying and redistribution of digital media. The FCC said that the lack of such digital copy protection may be impeding the transition to digital television and now seeks comments on whether it should intercede and mandate the use of a copy protection mechanism for digital broadcast television.
Private Industry Proposal of A "Broadcast Flag"
The Broadcast Protection Discussion Subgroup of the Copy Protection Technical Working Group, consisting of more than 70 representatives of the consumer electronics, information technology, motion picture, cable and broadcast industries, came to a consensus on the use of a "broadcast flag" standard for digital broadcast copy protection. This standard would mark digital broadcast programming to limit the copying of such programming aired
