Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 16:40:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RIAA, MPAA, and Control of the Internet
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: lauren@xxxxxxxxxx
Dave,
It may be useful to back up for a minute and look at these issues
a bit more broadly.
Let's start with a pair of basic premises (with which all may not agree).
First, when individuals make publicly available copies of music, movies, and
the like in manners that exceed their legitimate fair use rights, they may
be committing a crime (note however, that defining the scope of fair use
rights remains a highly contentious exercise).
Second, the folks at the RIAA, MPAA, and other organizations who have been
asserting escalating demands on ISPs, Internet users, and Congress
are not stupid, nor evil. They are, in the main, simply terrified.
They see their business models of long standing gradually turning to vapor
under pressure from the ever greater capabilities of the Net and
particularly broadband connections, not to mention encryption (more on this
latter point in a minute). Like many who came before them, threatened by
printing presses, copying machines, phonographs, and telephones, they are
attempting to shape and retard the new technologies in a manner that best
meets *their* perceived interests. This is utterly natural and
expected human behavior.
It was entirely predictable that P2P networks would be attacked as
"useless for legitimate purposes," and that "third-rail" issues like
pornography would be dragged into the arguments. This is standard
operating procedure in the political realm, and make no mistake,
this is at least as much a political battle as a technological one.
In general, any systems that dilute centralized control over Internet
users' communications will be seen as dangerous by those entities
(in both the commercial and governmental realms) who want to monitor
and control the speech and activities of users.
Nor have we seen the full extent of the "weaponry" that will be brought
to bear by either side. "Copyright flags," proposals to hobble
A/D (Analog to Digital) converters, and a range of other efforts
to try "nail down" the Internet will be flowing forth. At some point,
we can expect to see the reemergence of broad-based attacks on the use
of encryption, since crypto and related techniques can render moot
many of the proposed controls.
Yet the outcome of this particular struggle is probably preordained,
so long as we resist attempts to implement draconian measures that would
reduce the Internet to an impotent toy. Entertainment industry groups
and ordinary Internet users all have legitimate rights and concerns.
But regardless of whose side you find the most appealing, the fundamental
nature of these technologies suggests that heavy-handed controls cannot
be implemented without essentially destroying the basic usefulness
of the Net. That's one golden-egg laying goose we should avoid
slaughtering at all costs.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@xxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org
Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet
Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy