Fair Use At Risk?
One of the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is that the US Copyright Office hold hearings every three years to ensure that the DMCA is operating properly. For one month prior to those hearings any interested party can submit comments calling for exceptions or revisions. The latest comment period began on January 4, 2006 and has resulted in some fascinating comments.
Fair Use Support
As tighter restrictions on the use of both audio and video digital content loom">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11393/">loom in the legislature, the Home">http://www.hrrc.org">Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC) and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) have teamed up to counter the ever-increasing demands from copyright holders. The HRRC, founded in 1981, is a leading advocacy group for consumers' rights to use home electronics products for private, non-commercial purposes.
Fate of Hales Loudspeakers Still Unknown
Many audiophiles—especially owners of Hales loudspeakers—have wondered whether or not the brand will be revived, in view of a recent">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10918/">recent announcement by Audio Video Research of Ann Arbor, Michigan that it has acquired the assets of Wadia Digital and plans to resume production and product development of the revered name. Wadia acquired Hales (two of whose products were still Stereophile "Recommended Components" as of October 2000) last year, just a few months before financial difficulties put Wadia into a nosedive from which it could not recover.
FBI Stamp of Audio Approval
While the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is working overtime to jail file traders, members of the US Congress are introducing bill">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11691/">bill after bill targeting with criminal prosecution the 60 million Americans engaged in Internet file sharing.
FCC Approves "IBOC" Digital Radio
Beginning early next year, digital satellite radio startups may have some competition from terrestrial broadcasters, thanks to an October 10 decision by the Federal">http://www.fcc.gov">Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
FCC Auctions More Bandwidth. Likely Use? LMDS
So far, 139 qualified bidders have signed on for the FCC's new auction. Almost all are hoping to jump into the Local Multipoint Distribution Service business.
FCC Cracks Down on "Microradio"
The Federal">http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission is fighting an epidemic called "microradio." The agency has closed 250 unlicensed stations in the past year, most of them low-powered urban pip-squeaks with less than 100W of power and broadcast radii of 10 miles or less. The typical microradio station offers an off-center perspective on local, national, and world events to a listenership of a few hundred people, and loses money in the process.
FCC Gives Green Light to Digital Radio
FM stereo, introduced in 1961, was the last great leap ahead in commercial radio. That was 38 years ago, an eternity in technological time. Digital audio broadcasting (DAB) techniques are capable of overcoming many of the limitations of analog broadcasting, including multipath distortion. Such systems are already in place in Europe and Canada, so why not in the United States?
FCC Gives Green Light to Low-Power FM Stations
The FM radio spectrum could soon get a lot more crowded, thanks to rules recently adopted by the Federal">http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission. New stations with broadcasting power of between 1W and 100W will be cropping up soon in communities all over the country, provided they don't interfere with existing stations, and provided they remain strictly noncommercial.
FCC Goes Slower on Radio Mergers
Prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, federal law limited broadcasters to ownership of only four radio stations in any one market, and a maximum of 40 nationwide. The act loosened regulations to allow ownership of as many as eight stations in a single market, and hundreds nationally.