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Microsoft Confirms That Windows Media Centers Use The Broadcast Flag
from the reasons-not-to-buy dept
While NBC Universal still won't say if it set the flags on certain shows recently that would prevent them from being recorded, Microsoft has confirmed that Windows Media Centers do abide by the "broadcast flag." You may recall that the broadcast flag was widely debated for a few years, as the entertainment industry tried to legally force consumer electronics makers to include technology that wouldn't allow certain content to be recorded (at the content producers' discretion). Eventually, the courts wouldn't let the FCC mandate the broadcast flag, and Congress hasn't been willing to put it into any serious legislation. However, apparently Microsoft decided to implement it anyway. Nice of them to implement a "feature" that customers don't want. Update: It took them a week, but folks at NBC Universal are finally claiming that it was an accident that they set the broadcast flag triggers on shows last week. It's not clear why it took them a week to get back to News.com's Greg Sandoval on this.
