Senator Hollings Continues to Attack Fair Use and Free Speech

"Chairman Fritz" Proposes State Controlled Digital Media

Battle Lines are Drawn Between Technology and Media Companies

An unparalleled assault on fair use and free speech continues in Washington, D.C. as media companies continue to lobby Congress to introduce more and more restrictive Copyright Laws that would curtail the traditional rights of consumers and citizens. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (D-SC) introduced legislation March 21 that would require the consumer electronics and information technology industries to build standardized copyright protection technologies into computers, software and many other digital products.

Leading the attack on what they see as theft of their creative works are Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, News Corp's Peter Chernin, and Jack Valenti, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of American

Senator Hollings' proposed Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA) will require every new digital technology to go through a punishing 12-month review process where Hollywood's representatives will dictate, at lawyerpoint, what features must and must *not* be included.

The proposed legislation raised to a new level the danger involved with on-going efforts to protect intellectual property on the Net. Although there is scant evidence that copying of copyrighted materials affects either artisrs income of theft of digital media, the major Hollywood companies and their representatives look to close every possible loophole. They treat every customer as a thief.

Sen. Hollings' bill proposes to legislatively mandate a scheme under which all technologies that might be used to play, copy, retrieve or transmit digital content -- whether on the Net or off it -- must be built so as to prevent illegal copying.

The "Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act" (S. 2048), is co-sponsored by Sens. Stevens (R-AK), Inouye (D-HI), Breaux (D-LA), Nelson (D-FL) and Feinstein (D-CA). Under its central provisions:

• Makers of computers and consumer electronic devices, consumer groups and copyright owners would be encouraged to reach agreement on copyright protection standards and encoding rules.

• If the private sector failed to agree on standards within one year, the Federal Communications Commission would be required to develop them.

• All "digital media devices" -- TVs, audio and video players, and PCs, as well as many other devices -- would have to be manufactured to recognize and respond to those standards.

• The rules to be developed would have to preserve fair-use rights, including for educational and research purposes and legitimate consumer copying.

Makers of computers and consumer electronic devices as well as some major software companies are opposed to government mandates. These companies are willing to develop digital-rights management (DRM) technologies that can be used to limit or prevent unauthorized copying, and to license those technologies to Hollywood, but they oppose any standard that would require them to redesign all their products to check whether the files that are being read, copied or transmitted are copyrighted works. They see it as a form of government licensing and they worry about how the standards will limit future innovation.

An often unheard side of the debate is the consumer perspective:will such DRM technologies permit ordinary use that most consumers believe is proper, such as copying CDs onto a laptop, making a favorite songs CD for the car, or using a snippet of copyrighted content in a home video?

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is taking a much more cautious approach. While several Senators expressed concern about Internet piracy, especially the scope of piracy over broadband services, Chairman Leahy raised questions about the technical difficulties of implementing the kind of solution that Hollywood wants.

the WIZARD, fkap agrees that copyrighted material should be protected against piracy online. Creators, writers, musicians and film makers and artists deserve compensation for their work. However this legislation would most certainly give Hollywood undeserved windfall profits while completely eliminating consumer's traditional rights to use legally purchased materials. In addition this legislation would affect the free flow of information on the Internet. In reality, this legislation would actually end up diminishing the power of the Internet as a forum for ideas and creativity.

Sen. Leahy made clear at his committee's hearing that there is significant disagreement among legislators as to whether it's yet even appropriate for Congress to be considering mandating a copyright security standard, and the Senator further promised that no legislation of the sort that Sen. Hollings had circulated will emerge from Congress this year.

The Judiciary Committee staff has set up a new webpage designed to keep interested parties, including individual citizens, informed about developments on the copyright/technology-policy front. In an important step for digital democracy, the webpage also solicits citizens' direct feedback.

the WIZARD, fkap urges all Internet users to visit Sen. Leahy's site and express their views on this issue, which may do much to define the future shape and functions of the Internet.

The Leahy webpage can be found at http://judiciary.senate.gov/special/feature.cfm.