Fergie's Tech Blog

New MPAA, RIAA Buzz Phrase: 'Customary Historic Use'

Via p2pnet.net.

Fair use, meet your successor, 'customary historic use,' says Ars Technica's Hannibal, picking up on EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Deep Links warnings centering on RIAA and MPAA attempts to, "freeze the progress of consumer electronics technology and then start turning back the clock on all of us".

Customary historic use seems innocuous enough and it shows up in broadcast flag draft legislation sponsored by senator Gordon Smith (right), "that contains provisions which appear to limit digital broadcast media reception devices to 'customary historic use of broadcast content by consumers to the extent such use is consistent with applicable law and that prevents redistribution of copyrighted content over digital networks'," says Hannibal.

But innocuous it isn't.

Under it, any device, "whether it's an attached device or the receiver itself" which, "does anything heretofore unheard of with the digital content that it receives," is illegal," declares Ars Technica.

"And if it does anything 'customary' that could also possibly lead to unauthorized redistribution, then it's also illegal. So all the bases are covered!"

posted by Fergie @ 1/22/2006 11:03:00 AM