Calif. Lawmaker Calls For P2P Vigilantism (Democrat!)

Siliconvalley.internet.com ^ | 062602 | Staff

[SamBees]

siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/1377581

Back to Article

Calif. Lawmaker Calls For P2P Vigilantism
June 26, 2002

Fed up with illegal file sharing over peer-to-peer networks like Morpheus and KaZaA, U.S. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills, CA) is putting the final touches on a bill he says should help curb copyright infringement.

Berman's proposed legislation calls for a myriad of measures including stronger digital rights management laws, lawsuits by copyright owners, and prosecutions against the most gregarious infringers. Additionally he calls for "technological self-help measures" including redirection, decoys, spoofing and file blocking.

"I am a strong believer in the beneficial potential of P2P networks but most people currently use them for unbridled copyright piracy," Berman said in a statement issued Tuesday. "Billions of P2P downloads every month constitute copyright infringements for which creators and owners receive no compensation. P2P piracy must be cleaned up. The question is how."

Currently, Berman is looking for co-sponsors of the bill before he formally introduces it to congress in a week or two. The California Democrat, who represents parts of Hollywood, sits on the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. Subcommittee chair U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) reportedly is supportive of the bill and said he likes the proposal.

Use of such self-help measures is nothing new. Satellite and cable companies periodically employ electronic countermeasures to thwart the theft of their signals and programming. However, Berman said when such measures are used to thwart P2P piracy, they may be illegal. Their use may run afoul of certain common law doctrines and state and federal statutes, including the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

"In other words," said Berman, "while P2P technology is free to innovate new and more efficient methods of distribution that further exacerbate the piracy problem, copyright owners are not equally free to craft technological responses. This is not fair and I believe Congress should free copyright creators to develop and deploy technological tools to address P2P piracy. We could do this by providing copyright owners with a safe harbor from liability for using such tools."

While Napster-like companies have levied no formal protests at this point, the bill has caught the attention of Franklin, Tenn.-based StreamCast Networks, which complains that Berman is basically calling for vigilantism over P2P networks.

"We appreciate recognition by Congressman Berman regarding the benefits of P2P networks, like the Morpheus User Network. But, StreamCast does not condone the hacking into consumers' computers," said StreamCast CEO Steve Griffin. "Interdiction, decoys, redirection, file-blocking and spoofing are not self-help tools, they are subversive tactics to attack the very person that media companies are trying to market to, the consumer. There must be a balance between what is beneficial for all parties and we believe that the recommendation for these 'technological self-help measures' is asking for a declaration of cyber warfare on the consumer."

StreamCast said it would hope instead that content holders, content creators, technology companies and consumers could come together and find a solution.

"Obviously, legislation must be narrowly crafted, with strict bounds on acceptable behavior by the copyright owner," Berman cautioned. "A copyright owner should not be allowed to damage the property of a P2P file trader or any intermediaries, including ISPs. Or, for example, I wouldn't want to let a particularly incensed copyright owner introduce a virus that would disable the computer from which copyrighted works are made available to a decentralized, P2P network."

The proposed bill comes on the heels of other copyright protection legislation such as the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act proposed by Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (D-S.C.)

The bill - strongly supported by the music and movie industry but criticized by hardware industry associations and consumer advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation - requires that all new hardware and software products include copy protection that limits the number of times a consumer may play digital music and video.

The legislation likely would halt practices like converting a CD to the MP3 format for use in a user's portable player, and burning a backup copy of a purchased CD.

Berman expressed his hope that the Judiciary Committee would promptly schedule a mark-up of his legislation and held out the possibility that it could pass in the time remaining in the current 107th Congress.

Copyright 2002 INT Media Group, Incorporated All Rights Reserved.
Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, & Permissions, Privacy Policy.

[SamBees]

You knew the day would come when the Net would be nothing more than a new playground for control freaks in government. That day has arrived.