Engadget reports that some Canadian cable providers, particularly Rogers and Shaw, are activating the broadcast flag onto a questionable amount of content. The site says that "users who are trying to record said programming via their own Windows Vista Media Center setup are receiving all sorts of errors and messages informing them that the material (even on basic cable) they are trying to record is laced with 'restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content.'"
Engadget Reports Cable Co’s Actively Using Broadcast Flag
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IMO, That’s what consumers get when they purchase from a company who makes money from locking you in. MS has more than enough money and clout to lobby against DRM (or use their famed monopoly powers to battle it), but they chose to integrate anti-customer DRM very deeply in their products, esp. in Vista. What does that tell you?
Peter Gutmann\s cost analysis
And if I may say, Peter Gutmann\’s cost analysis of DRM that was mentionned in the Engadget comments should be read by every legislator in this country who wants to implement anti-circumvention legislation (that would gut competition and force higher prices).
Unnerving.