[dvd-discuss] Editorial - "Government Shouldn't Legilate Technology"

["Michael A Rolenz" <Michael.A.Rolenz(at)aero.org>]

THere is an editorial in 13May2002  Integrated Communications Design 
magazine( www.icdmag.com) at

http://icd.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=Articles&Subsection=Display&ARTICLE_ID=142117&KEYWORD=cprm

Here's an edited version.

           Government shouldn't legislate technology
 I've been following the media coverage of the anti-piracy efforts
 taking place in the entertainment, technology, and government
 sectors. The entertainment industry, largely led by the Recording
 Industry Association of America (RIAA), is demanding tougher
 anti-piracy legislation. The RIAA is also working with technology
 companies to develop a ubiquitous standard to prevent content
 piracy.

<snip>

 For its part, the government's response has been primarily led by
 Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., who has proposed a bill that would
 force computer and consumer-electronics companies to include
 anti-piracy technology in every digital media device.
 While I applaud cooperative efforts by the entertainment
 industry and the technology industry, I become seriously
 concerned with this third ingredient-the government's
 involvement. Recognizing that anti-piracy software can be
 hacked, the Hollings bill would require anti-piracy alterations to
 be implemented at the hardware level. If made into law, this bill
 would lead to a situation where the government is telling chip
 designers how to design its chips. Bad idea.
 It's not the government's role to step in and attempt to save the
 struggling business model of content providers by mandating
 changes in the chip design processes of private businesses.

<snip>

 History repeats itself: Remember when the entertainment
 industry was screaming about videotaped movie rentals and how
 those rentals were going to kill Hollywood? Guess what? Once
 they changed their business plan, they discovered that they had
 yet another content-delivery system. So in addition to releasing
 sub-par, big-screen movies that make millions of dollars, the
 entertainment industry can also release some movies
 "straight-to-video." Technology provides a boon.

<snip>

 If the government uses this anti-piracy fiasco as an excuse to get
 into the chip design business, then what's to stop it from
 answering the calls from local citizens groups to censor content
 on the Internet by implementing censorship capability at the
 hardware level?
 Don't get me wrong, I believe in copyright protection. But I see
 this as a question of business models. The Internet is an
 excellent content-delivery system for the entertainment industry.
 It's also an excellent vehicle for thousands of individual artists
 who will never see a big-label contract. Therefore, the
 entertainment industry needs to be pushed to find a business
 model that will prove lucrative, instead of demanding that chip
 manufacturers respin their chips. Such a solution disempowers
 everyone.
 And people won't buy dumbed-down technology. There are
 already CD players on the market that won't play "home-made"
 CDs-even if the content on those CDs was created by the owner
 of the CD. Who wants to buy a CD player that won't play your
 own CD? That's a road to ruin for technology manufacturers.
 In our business, we all understand that success is based on our
 ability to develop equipment that will enable people to do more,
 not less. Let's stick to that mantra.

<snip>
 
Find this article at: 
http://icd.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=Articles&Subsection=Display&ARTICLE_ID=142117&KEYWORD=cprm