Author makes a good point about DRM controlling how we consume content and not about fighting piracy. Kind of reminds me of the "war on drugs".

'Accidentally' turning on a broadcasting flag like this would be a quick-and-dirty way of flushing out the (commercial) DVR solutions which don't obey it.

A quick-and-dirty way of identifying solutions that don't obey it, perhaps. However, according to Wikipedia, the broadcast flag hasn't been made a legal requirement yet, so the "flushing out" may run the other way: consumers migrating from flag-compliant solutions to non-compliant ones. The content companies are running the risk of consumer activism by "testing the water" in this manner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_flag

and this is why I use MythTV -- even with its warts.