S.2575 comments

[Barry Margolin]

In article <2656 at rsch.wisc.edu> dan at caseus.WISC.EDU (Daniel M. Frank) writes:
>   By the way, there is some fascinating language forbidding interception
>of signals "transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential
>parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of
>preserving the privacy of such communication".  Hmmm.  To my knowledge,
>the owners of patents on such techniques (clearly they mean video
>scrambling here) have, by filing such patents, made such modulation
>techniques accessible to the public; they have not "withheld" them.

The quote you provided doesn't say anything about the techniques, it
says parameters.  Thus, if a signal has been encrypted, the "essential
parameters" refers to the decryption key, which is normally withheld
from the public, even though the encryption device has been patented.

On the other hand, maybe they aren't talking about patented scrambling
techniques, but are saying that broadcasters must use proprietary
scrambling devices in order to be protected.
-- 
    Barry Margolin
    ARPA: barmar at MIT-Multics
    UUCP: ..!genrad!mit-eddie!barmar