Sen. Ernest Hollings (D.-S.C.) dropped the hammer on Hollywood and Silicon Valley Thursday by introducing legislation that gives the two quarreling parties one year to develop standards to prevent online piracy or have Congress impose a standard, a prospect that neither party relishes.
The entertainment industry estimates it loses $3 billion a year to piracy and has been reluctant to embrace broadband advocates’ vision of the Internet as a distribution model for digital content. The music industry and film studios want the technology industry to build copy protection into all new electronic devices. Computer and other digital device makers counter that recording features are necessary to make their products marketable.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that broadband is available in 75 percent of all U.S. zip codes but only 10 percent of Americans have signed up for the service. Hollings believes the reason for that is a lack of content and claims his bill,
While Hollywood and Silicon Valley have made progress in private talks to set standards for digital television, the two industries are engaged in a contentious fight over online piracy. Last month, in a hearing before Hollings’ Commerce and Science Committee, representatives of several media giants, including Disney’s Michael Eisner, accused the computer industry and, in particular, Intel, of profiting from online piracy.
Intel Executive Vice President Leslie Vadasz countered that the media companies are seeking to “neuter” computers and turn them into “expensive DVD players.” He supports a combination of technological and legal solutions, arguing that an all-purpose copy protection scheme could “trample on fair use expectations” of electronics buyers.
Hollings’ bill says it would preserve traditional “fair use” rights by allowing consumers to make copies for personal use. Just how that would work, however, is not addressed in the legislation.
“Given the pace of private talks so far, the private sector needs a nudge,” Hollings said Thursday. “The government can provide that nudge.”
Eisner on Thursday issued a statement that said, “The bill provides the needed discipline of a deadline for the conclusion of industry negotiations.”
The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) called the introduction of the bill “a blow to innovation and consumer choice.”
“This is an anti-consumer, anti-progress bill pure and simple. As we move into the 21st Century, movie chieftains want to gallop back toward the 19th. On the eve of the Academy Awards ceremony, where Hollywood honors itself in a lavish show, the entertainment lobby in Washington has crafted this misdirected legislation that would introduce new, onerous government mandates on the IT sector and consumers requiring a single one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of digital piracy,” said Harris Miller, president of the Arlington, Va.-based trade group.
Miller added, “Instead of realizing that the movie industry and the IT industry have common goals — to offer consumers exciting content in as many different formats and delivery vehicles as they wish, while preventing illegal use of that content — Hollywood has decided that the interests of consumers are outweighed by its desire to stop a few bad actors from content pirating.”
