[mythtv-users] Not quite OT, but close. A letter to congress.

[Michael Cook]

Eric Ladner <eric.ladner at gmail.com> writes:

> The FCC passed regulations stating that cable boxes should have a
> functional FireWire port to allow consumers to record cable TV
> programs.  That is not a viable policy at this point because
> there's no statement in the regulation that says the transmitted
> programs be unencrypted, only that the FireWire port be active.
> If the port is active and they are transmitting encrypted signals,
> it renders the port useless.

FWIW, I would expect a lawyer could argue successfully that if the
programs are encrypted, then the port is not functional.  If you
can't view the content coming from the port, how could that be
considered functional?