FCC HDTV comment period closing (whine now or forever regret it)

> FCC is going to make a decision this month on MANDATING a "broadcast flag" in HDTV broadcasts as well as FORCING consumer electronics manufacturers to include copy protection circuitry in ALL video related CE devices or they will not run in full HD resolution. This is BAD. Read up on it if you wish and you can still add your comments to the FCC right here.

Here's the reasonably short comment I sent to them using the form:

Mandating this HDTV copy protection system from the Federal Government is a bad idea for the consumers the FCC is mandated to serve.

1. NO copy protection is ever 100% secure for more than a VERY brief time. When this hardware-based protection is broken by criminals, what will consumers have to do? Buy ANOTHER piece of hardware with updated copy protection? Send their TV tuner in for a firmware update? This is not a practical idea.

2. Why should consumers have to bear the cost of copy protection that will ultimately be ineffective? What about all the people that already bought HDTV who now have to spend MORE to get full broadcast quality on HDTV if this system is approved? Make the industry pushing for these ill-conceived provisions reimburse the working-class people their decision will affect (early adopters of HDTV whose system will be obsoleted) for the cost of these hardware upgrades!

3. Analog broadcasts can still be recorded forever, and this hole will never be effectively plugged.

4. Consumers right to record broadcasts has been firmly established in the Betamax case. This is a stealth attempt by the industry to regulate what can and cannot be recorded, and is unappreciated.

5. How will this affect the emerging market for TiVo and similar devices. If a program is marked as "unrecordable" or "untransferrable", it would directly affect the functionality of these emerging devices that are the future of television viewing.

6. The costs of a "fully secure" system (HDTV, Tuner, DVD, etc) will be so prohibitive that people simply will not buy, further slowing the HDTV rollout and mass-acceptance. Consumers want choice, flexibility, and convenience. This system takes that away under the guise of "protecting" the content providers. It is NOT in the best interests of anyone but the content providers and is actually anti-consumer, taking away rights that have been established for more than 25 years.

7. Stronger enforcement of existing anti-piracy laws will do far more than anything the broadcast flag can do in the real world. Unfortunately, that shifts the burden of cost to the content providers and law-enforcement, who are more vocal about budget constraints than a largely unaware consumer population. However, if this is enacted, that consumer population will vote with their wallets and stall HDTV acceptance progress...again.
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This legeslation is soooo wrong-headed. I don't think comments will change the FCC at this point, but I'm not going to do nothing and wish I had tried after it's too late.

I feel a bit stabbed in the back.. I just paid 3200 bucks for a HDTV and now it wont be worth crap.. I guess thats why Mitsubishi offered that promise of upgrade ability to be compatable with future HDTV signals.. Personally I think I am done with all of it..

Matt