This was floating around the other day – Plugging the Analog Hole – a fairly chilling piece on attempts of the entertainment industry to convince lawmakers to clamp down on ALL analog-digital converters. Sound innocuous?
If ADCs are constrained from performing analog-to-digital conversion of all watermarked copyrighted works, you might end up with a cellphone that switches itself off when you get within range of the copyrighted music on your stereo; a camcorder that refuses to store your child’s first steps because he is taking them within eyeshot of a television playing a copyrighted cartoon; a camera that won’t snap your holiday moments if they take place against the copyrighted backdrop of a chain store such as Starbucks, which forbids on-premises photography because its fixtures are proprietary works.
Stay tuned.
The FCC is still accepting comments in the nex few days. Speak out using the web form located at http://www.cdt.org/action/copyright/ and fight for your digistal rights.