ALAWON v11n0014 (March 1, 2002) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/alawon/alawon-v11n0014.txt ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 11, Number 14 March 1, 2002 In This Issue: U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Holds hearing on digital content protection On Feb. 28, 2002, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a packed hearing to discuss the problem of preventing piracy of digital works. The Committee called together representatives of the content, IT, and consumer electronics sectors, key players in researching ways to protect digital content. The hearing panelists included Michael Eisner, the Walt Disney Company; Leslie Vadasz, Intel Corp.; Peter Chernin, News Corporation; Andreas Bechtolsheim, Cisco Systems; James Meyer, Thomson Multimedia; Robert Perry, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc and Jack Valenti, The Motion Picture Association of America. The Committee Chairman, Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC), said the committee was trying to explore its role in helping "the private sector in solving copyright protection problems that are stalling both broadband adoption and the digital television transition." The committee and panel members agreed that piracy must be stopped. However, Mr. Eisner made a point that was emphasized during the hearings by both Senator Hollings and other committee members, and panelists regarding the limitations of piracy prevention. "Disney and other content owners are not seeking to stop home taping or eliminate "fair use." We are not here because we want to hinder libraries and college professors in using portions of creative works for scholarly research. ...We are confident that the government can act to facilitate the needed technology standards without endangering home taping or fair use." Mr. Vadasz and Mr. Perry, representing the consumer electronics industry, cautioned the committee about accepting the view of content providers like Disney and other publishers, who they see as trying to move to a pay-per-view world. Mr. Perry agreed with concerns about piracy but added that he was equally concerned about the content community's need for absolute control over the use of their products. Companies like Intel have balked at the possibility of having their technology design decisions shaped by the needs of the movie industry. The Senate committee members appeared receptive to Disney's arguments and spent less time exploring other underlying threats to copyright that piracy prevention poses. The hearings appeared to be an attempt to provoke private sector companies to resolve their longstanding differences in developing mutually satisfactory solutions to the piracy problem. Several senators expressed concerns that Congress would need to step in and regulate the problem if the companies involved could not resolve their current impasse. Senator Hollings is looking to the private sector to develop a technological solution to the piracy problems. He will then introduce legislation that will require all consumer devices to comply with the standards and solutions developed by the content, IT and consumer electronics industries. Copies of the hearing testimony are available at For further background on copyright go to