According to Billbord Radio Monitor, Mike Ferguson (R-NJ-7th), has introduced a bill, the "Audio Broadcast Flag Licensing Act of 2005," that would require makers of HD and satellite receiving hardware to recognize and honor a broadcast flag (standard TBD, apparently). Cory Doctorow on Boingboing says the bill was introduced March 1 and is numbered H.R. 4861, but it hasn't shown up on Thomas yet.) [Update: Here it is. It was introduced on March 2.]
Also according to BB, the bill would require the BF implementation to allow "customary uses." Not sure what that might mean in the context of digital radio, which hasn't been around long enough to develop customary uses. With analog radio, the customary uses are that listeners can record to their hearts' content. For the BF rule to mean anything, it probably doesn't mean that.
[Update: The bill would grant the FCC authority to license devices for satellite and HD radio reception, with special conditions, including that "such licenses shall include prohibitions against unauthorized copying and redistribution of transmitted content through the use of a broadcast flag or similar technology, in a manner generally consistent with the purposes of other applicable law ...." Limitations on the licensing/regulating authority state that they should not make obsolete any existing receivers, and "shall not be inconsistent with the customary use of broadcast content by consumers to the extent such use is consistent with the purposes of this act and other applicable law." Still, it's hard to say what this "customary use" exception means. Customary uses consistent with "other applicable law" would seem to include things like copying for purposes of timeshifting (and perhaps "device-shifting" as well), but since "this act" includes a provision calling for the broadcast flag to "prohibit[] ... unauthorized copying..." perhaps copying for time-shifting purposes would not be allowed as a "customary use."
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