The FCC should not “too quickly concede to idealized industry...
The FCC should not “too quickly concede to idealized industry agreements” in the basic-tier encryption proceeding, Stephen Schultze, associate director of Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy, wrote the commission (http://xrl.us/bngn8x). The letter came in response to a letter…
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from Comcast’s counsel disclosing an agreement between the cable operator and Boxee over how to deliver encrypted basic-tier signals to third-party devices that rely on ClearQAM tuners (CD July 11 p7). The FCC should be especially wary of such agreements when “those agreements are short on detail and when they echo failed MOUs of the past,” Schultze wrote. “The compromise approach would allow MVPDs to encrypt all channels before they enter the home in order to prevent signal theft, but would also require them to offer consumers true interoperability with third-party devices by leaving the set-top box outputs unencrypted,” he said. “Such an approach is easily implementable compared to the endless technical proceedings and difficult waivers of the past 15 years."