Due to the popular demand of wireless transmitters that are used for iPods and such, OFCOM has decided that they will make exemptions for some of these devices to allow them to be sold legally in the UK. For some time now these devices that are used to transmit the signal from your iPod to an FM station on your radio that was not in use, was illegal to be bought due to their nature of overriding the FM transmissions of actual stations.
As of December 8, these transmitters will be legal to be bought in the UK. Though they have been available for some time online, they have not been allowed to be sold in stores. As another concession to user popularity, OFCOM has also decided that there will no longer be a license needed to use Citizen’s Band radio. Not all wireless transmitters will be approved by OFCOM. Those that are approved will have a little CE mark on them, showing that they are approved for sale in the EU.
I guess this shows that if a product is popular enough, it can change laws. Call me optimistic, but if enough politicians in the US knew how to use a video iPod, I bet the DMCA would go out the window :D. Cause if not, they would be breaking the law every time they put their fav movie onto their iPod.
Next: HP unveils hd100, its first HD DVD-ROM drive
Previous: Microsoft's Zune: how the grip on consumers' freedom secretly tightens.
Not illegal to buy / sell currently, just illegal to use. Many high street stores currently sell these.
CE mark has nothing to do with OFCOM, that is a mark for safety, not standards to show legality.
These things have been for sale in Aldi for a few months, so thats another WRONG piece of information...
They been on sale in currys for ages also.
Its got nothing to do with popular demand as you call it, its to do with the law being obsolete and not needed, so your references to the DMCA are incorrect and not applicable.
They were never illegal because they could "over ride actual stations" as you so amateurishly call it, but for security reasons - interfereing with important radio signals being used by government. (policeplaneshospitalmilitary etc) I doubt they use the FM frequency range but in any case that was a long time ago when the law came in....
Another cdfreaks article torn apart for its bad writing and false info.
CE mark has nothing to do with OFCOM, that is a mark for safety, not standards to show legality.
These things have been for sale in Aldi for a few months, so thats another WRONG piece of information...
They been on sale in currys for ages also.
Its got nothing to do with popular demand as you call it, its to do with the law being obsolete and not needed, so your references to the DMCA are incorrect and not applicable.
They were never illegal because they could "over ride actual stations" as you so amateurishly call it, but for security reasons - interfereing with important radio signals being used by government. (policeplaneshospitalmilitary etc) I doubt they use the FM frequency range but in any case that was a long time ago when the law came in....
Another cdfreaks article torn apart for its bad writing and false info.
