January 25, 2006
Broadcast Flag in HD Radio?
The recording industry wants to control whether digital music played over public airwaves can be recorded: The RIAA wants a broadcast flag, which are digital rights controls embedded into the music streamed over HD Radio. (They want the same for all broadcast media.) With the broadcast flag, the owner of the content can control how it's used, including whether it could be recorded at all and how long it may be retained.
The rules that the RIAA wants for HD Radio broadcasts are fairly onerous, including requiring only blocks of time be recorded.
If legislation that the RIAA wants passed is put into place, then all existing and in-process HD Radio receivers would no longer work. Both the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Electronics Association are opposed in varying degrees to this form of broadcast flag. The NAB apparently supports a TV broadcast flag.