CCIA statement on BPDG final report.
Will Rodger
wrodger at pobox.com
Sun Jun 2 14:18:13 EDT 2002
All --
We sent this to the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group Friday. The BPDG,
of course, is the Hollywood-backed process to, somehow, keep the studios'
movies from being pirated over the Internet. Some say it's just the ticket
to avoid things the recently-introduced CBDTPA. A report from the
discussion group is expected Monday.
Some participants have told members of Rep. Upton's subcommittee that we
will see a private-sector agreement to protect such content in the
immediate future.
We doubt the future is so near.
--------------------------------------------
CCIA Statement on the BPDG co-chairs final report
The Computer & Communications Industry Association has been monitoring the
BPDG process for several months. During that time we have been keenly aware
of the difficulties of creating a digital rights management system that
could protect high-definition content while at the same time protecting
fair use for consumers and future innovators alike.
The co-chairs report purports to do so, but falls far short, in part
because of the open-ended veto power it has given content owners over
technologies that could be used to infringe their copyrights. Philips
Electronics, among others, has already outlined the conflict that has
resulted from this arrangement.
Such difficulties are a real concern: Intellectual property, after all, is
a cornerstone of our industry and something without which we and our
members would have no business at all.
But intellectual property in the United States is and always has been a
balance between owner and consumer of that property. Part of that balance
includes building technology and business models that account for the
interests of other industries and consumer themselves. History tells us
that juke box owners, piano-roll makers, broadcast music and cable TV
didn't just bring new media to consumers, but changed the way established
media did business, often with the help of the legal system.
We see no such evolution in the BPDG. Instead of a process that embraces
new technology, we see one that attempts to keep it at bay.
Worse, we fear the BPDG approach to intellectual property will ultimately
bring all of IP into ill repute. Maximalist approaches that treat consumers
not as partners but as parties from which to extract only profits will
breed contempt for law as surely as Prohibition ever did, and thereby
encourage the piracy this effort is supposed to prevent.
The BPDG approach has been marred by repeated and credible claims of
back-room dealing by a small number of parties who have excluded most
participants from real decision making. Such closed-door talks raise not
only issues of fairness and copyright, but competition law as well.
Over the years, CCIA has participated in numerous standards-setting bodies.
Each has included numerous affected participants, all of whom worked
towards making systems more interoperable, not less. We call on all BPDG
participants to include more companies, more consumer advocates, and to
write strict sunshine rules so that all parties are included all negotiations.
We also call on participants to look to the market first -- and the
government last to protect the legitimate interests of all stakeholders.
Will Rodger
Director Public Policy
CCIA
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo at wasabisystems.com
More information about the cryptography
mailing list