[iwar] [fc:Bad.Legislation.Could.Sabotage.the.Digital.Age]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-07-23 07:24:46
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2002 07:24:46 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Bad.Legislation.Could.Sabotage.the.Digital.Age]
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Bad Legislation Could Sabotage the Digital Age

     By ANDREW S. GROVE
     Wall Street Journal

     Last month, Sen.  Fritz Hollings (D., S.C.) introduced a bill that
is a bigger threat to America's information tech- nologies industry than
the recession or any external chal- lenge yet encountered in its
history.  Misleadingly called the "Consumer Broadband and Digital
Television Promotion Act," the bill was stimulated by the entertainment
industry in order to protect its copyrighted content from the en-
croachment of digital technology; in fact, some wags refer to it as the
"Disney bill."

     If enacted, the legislation would make it illegal for American
electronics and software producers to sell a "digital media device"
unless the device "includes and utilizes standard security technologies
that adhere to the security system standards" as defined by the Federal
Commu- nications Commission.  Further, if the industry fails to arrive
at these "standard security technologies" within one year, the FCC will
force a standard upon it. 

     Advancing technology has always presented challenges to the
established order of the entertainment industry.  The music and motion
picture industries, for example, resisted the appearance of audio and
video tape-recording and, later, DVDs.  And yet the entertainment
industry has shown a remark- able ability to turn these threats into
highly lucrative new businesses when they ultimately accepted the
inevitable march of technology. 

     Today's technology is bringing great benefits through
digitalization of music and video.  Digital content is far more
flexible, diverse and of better quality and higher fidelity than
material prepared by older, analog means.  The explosion in digital
devices enables millions of people to enjoy music and movies when they
want, where they want, and in whatever order they desire.  How can such
a beneficial technology create problems?

     The challenge is that digital content can be copied without loss of
fidelity, stored in hundreds of millions of home computers, and readily
distributed on electronic net- works, including the Internet.  The very
ease with which digital content can be faithfully copied and quickly
dis- tributed makes the entertainment companies, which have a
proprietary right to such content, want to build moats around the
castles containing their crown jewels.  As digital technology has
spread, there has been an exponential in- crease in the search for more
stringent content protection methods and more robust technologies to
deepen and widen the moat. 

     Several issues arise, however.  First, is unbreachable digital
content protection even technologically possible? Six years of effort
between members of the technology and the content industries have
resulted in specific shields but no comprehensive defense system.  For
instance, technology has been generated and deployed that protects the
content of DVD movies from being copied.  This technology is embedded in
the movies at the time the DVD is created and is now con- tained with
every disc that is sold to the consumer. 

     But how do you protect against the copying and trans- mission of
music and videos that are already in people's hands and are moving
around the Internet, without such content-protection software being
embedded in them in the first place? In other words, what do you do
about the horse that has already left the barn?

     In their horror over the spread of such content, some members of
the entertainment industry now propose that the computer industry should
police every digital message, looking for secret marks or comparing
every piece of music and video to a database of all copyrighted material
in existence, then block transmission if a match is found.  The
infrastructure required to perform this task boggles the mind.  The
costs would be staggering.  Legal questions abound.  Imagine the post
office being required to open every envel- ope to inspect it for
contraband. 

     The second question is, assuming effective protection schemes are
possible, who should implement them? Is it the responsibility of the
technology industry to protect other industries from the challenges that
a new technology can bring? Were the manufacturers of printing presses
forced to protect the monks? Was the PC industry forced to protect the
mainframe computer industry? Why is this case any different?

     But the third and biggest question is, should such protection be
done at all by anyone? There is an alterna- tive, although the
entertainment industry has been reluctant to pursue it with any degree
of conviction.  That is, to embrace what the technology offers and
provide legitimate content to their consumers with even greater ease of
use than the illegitimate alternatives that they are fighting. 

     In other words, instead of devoting all that incredible energy to
widening the moat, build broad bridges across it.  Let consumers enjoy
music and video when and where they want.  Enrich these products with
extra features, extra information, interactivity, automatic connections
to central databases -- all the on-tap possibilities of digital media. 
Charge a fair sum for providing this convenience and these features, and
reap the benefits of an exploding consumer base. 

     Would this work? History suggests that it would.  Reve- nues from
VHS video sales, for example, now exceed box- office revenues.  DVDs
(which, remember, are a digital medi- um) were introduced just a few
short years ago and already generate revenues in the billions of
dollars.  Sure, embrac- ing digital technology this way has its risks,
but they are nowhere near the risks presented by the legislation
current- ly before Congress. 

     A generation of people in their most impressionable years is being
trained that all digital content is free, copyrighted or not.  Stifling
digital media through overregu- lation will only drive them toward
piracy.  If the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act
becomes law, they may never open their wallets again. 

<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1018217374325804160,00.html?mod=opinion%5">http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1018217374325804160,00.html?mod=opinion%5>
Fmain%5Fcommentaries

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