The broadcast flag “debate” never ceases to amaze me. It’s a debate about technology, but in forum after forum the participants are all lawyers. And it takes place in a weird reality distortion field where certain technological non sequiturs pass for unchallenged truth.
One of these is that the broadcast flag is a technical “standard.” Even opponents of the flag have taken to using this term. As I have written before, there is a difference between standards and regulation, and the broadcast flag is clearly regulation.
For future reference, here is a handy chart you can use to distinguish standards from non-standards.
| STANDARD | NOT A STANDARD |
| written by engineers | written by lawyers |
| voluntary | mandatory |
| enables interoperation | prevents interoperation |
| backed by technologists | opposed by technologists |
Simple, isn’t it?
UPDATE (March 7, 8:00 AM): On further reflection (brought on by the comments of readers, including Karl-Friedrich Lenz) I changed the table above. Originally the right-hand column said “regulation” but I now realize that goes too far.
