Distance Educators: Oppose putting locks on your use of broadcast media! (Corrections)

["Jack Boeve" <JBoeve@xxxxxxxx>]

[Please excuse the resending of this message. We did not want the broken
URLs to interfere with your ability to take action on this pressing
issue.]


November 14, 2006

Greetings:

As a stakeholder in Distance Education, the Center for Intellectual
Property at University of Maryland University College and Public
Knowledge, a national public advocacy organization, call your attention
to an issue that could severely impede the delivery of education online.

Legislation currently pending in Congress may be addressed in the very
near future when the "lame duck" session opens on November 13. This
legislation, if passed, would require all future digital television
(HDTV) tuners to include digital rights management technologies or
"flags" that would prevent digital TV sets, personal computers, or other
devices from sending flagged content to other devices or to the
Internet. Clearly, the "broadcast flag" could greatly hinder the use of
digital television broadcasts in digital distance education.

Please TAKE ACTION TODAY by doing two things:

1. Become further informed by visiting the following sites to learn
more:

* DE & Broadcast Flag Summit Webcast Archive
     <http://tinyurl.com/yjh4zd>
* Broadcast Flag and DE Resource Page (Center for Intellectual Property)
     <http://www.umuc.edu/cip/BFlag_DE.shtml>
* Broadcast Flag, Policy Blog (Public Knowledge)
     <http://www.publicknowledge.org/articles/51>


2. Contact your elected officials immediately to express your concern
over this legislation.

* Model Letter to Your Elected Official
     <http://www.publicknowledge.org/doc/bflag-distedu-letter.doc>
* Send a Letter Electronically to Your Elected Official
     <http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/708/act>

Thank you.

Center for Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College
3501 University Boulevard East
Adelphi, MD 20783

Public Knowledge
1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 650
Washington, DC 20009