At 10:48 AM 1/13/2004, Tim May wrote:
On Jan 13, 2004, at 8:41 AM, Steve Schear wrote:
This was from July, 2000. I believe it also came up in earlier discussions, including in a panel I was on with Michael Froomkin at a CFP in 1995.
I could assume this also applies to the the TCPS (if it is ever required) and FCC's new mandate that DTV video devices sold in the U.S. after December 31, 2004 include a 'cop' inside to enforce compliance with the broadcast flag.
In its purest form, I think not.
If Alice is told that she must place some device in something she owns, which was the example with Carnivore, then the Third applies (she has been told to "quarter troops," abstractly, in her home).
If, however, Bob is told that in order to build television sets or VCRs he must include various noise suppression devices, as he must, or closed-captioning features, as he must, or the V-chip (as I believe he must, though I never hear of it being talked about, as we all figured would be the case), or the Macrovision devices (as may be the case), then this is a matter of regulation of those devices. Whether Alice then _chooses_ to buy such devices with "troops already living in them," abstractly speaking, is her choice.
Now the manufacturer may have a claim, but government regulation of manufacturers has been going on for a very long time, and unless a manufacturer can claim that the devices must be in his own home or operated in his premises, he cannot make a very strong case that _he_ is the one being affected by the quartering.
It would seem that once GNURadio comes to fruition that many devices, including those the FCC would like to regulate, could be built from its generic, non-video, architecture. In that case, wouldn't FCC mandates applied to end-users (since end users will be the only ones who will configure the SW, FW and HW for an application the FCC would like to regulate, be a 3rd Amend. issue? steve