May 20, 2005

Appeals Court Overturns Rule Intended to Prevent Digital-Television Piracy

By SCOTT CARLSON

A federal appeals court has struck down a Federal Communications Commission rule that would have required computer and television manufacturers to add components to prevent the recording, copying, and distribution of digital television programs over the Internet. Consumer advocates, copyright scholars, and librarians had argued before the court that the technology would have harmed scholarship, teaching, and special collections that incorporate television programming.

The case centered