It's sad how much we've been reduced to fighting rear-guard actions in the Copyright Wars. The Cartel blitzkreig has overrun Paris and we're now left desperately trying to buy some time to Dunkirk what we can.

Witness the latest motion by the CDT (Center for Democracy and Technology) in defense of TiVo's approval under the broadcast flag doctrine. Rather than pointing out that the Cartel's opposition to TiVo's 'SmartRight' system is a perfect example of the imbecility of the broadcast flag doctrine, CDT is reduced to calling the broadcast flag a "reasonable balance" and attempting to defend an implementation of it. Sad sad.

Here's the quick rundown: the FCC issued a broadcast flag directive under while all broadcast content is required to contain a tag identifying it as such and devices that record broadcast (you know, that stuff that gets beamed for free into your home?) are required to block people from recording and sharing it (you know, that activity that SCOTUS legalized in Betamax).

TiVo implemented a version of this (which I noted back in August under the heading "is it closed enough?") called SmartRight. This lets people set up sharing networks of TiVo devices in advance and send material around to a few friends, regardless of the broadcast flag. The Cartel (and major league sports) got their knickers in a twist because the system doesn't have geographical limitations in it, thus potentially allowing someone to share a recorded show into an area where it was blacked out. Quel Horreur! The FCC approved SmartRight and now the Cartel are appealing that approval.

The Cartel favors so-called proximity limitations, such as restricting sharing to within a house or dorm. CDT argues that this is simply an attempt to protect an outdated business model. This is true, but it's framing the debate in loser's terms. Sadly, that's the only language left available to us. We've lost the ability to identify idiocy as such and are left to argue about such key issues as whether we'd like our prison jumpsuits in orange or yellow.

http://www.cdt.org/headlines/headline.php?hid=189