DRM News

The entertainment industry has sent a series of proposals to the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at the request of the Coordinator. The reason for that request was to get some ideas of the industry’s viewpoint on intellectual property policing as work begins on forming the Joint Strategic Plan for IP enforcement.

Some of the ‘highlights’ of the industry submissions (thanks to the EFF for putting these up) include :

There are several technologies and methods that can be used by network administrators and providers…these include [consumer] tools for managing copyright infringement from the home (based on tools used to protect consumers from viruses and malware).

Oh boy! We all know how well installed content management DRM programs tend to run! And, is this software going to be determining what is and isn’t allowed on someone’s system? Is it HAL 9000? It would have to be to be able to make those determinations…and I don’t really want my home PC to start plotting to kill me.

Network administrators and providers should be encouraged to implement those solutions that are available and reasonable to address infringement on their networks. [This suggestion is preceded by a list of filtering methods, like protocol filtering, fingerprint-based filtering, bandwidth throttling, etc.]

So, how widespread is this going to be? Hey, we think someone on your block is pirating something, so we’ll just hammer the bandwidth of every last one of you to try to impede that. Who is making the determination that any infringement is even occurring? Does that person have some sort of hotline to every ISP in the country, shaping bandwidth by simply picking up the phone?

Customs authorities should be encouraged to do more to educate the traveling public and entrants into the United States about these issues. In particular, points of entry into the United States are underused venues for educating the public about the threat to our economy (and to public safety) posed by counterfeit and pirate products. Customs forms should be amended to require the disclosure of pirate or counterfeit items being brought into the United States.

Customs officers aren’t busy enough dealing with real issues, so we’d like to deputize them as our own personal propagandists. Wonderful. Another agency spewing ridiculously inflated ‘costs of piracy’ figures based on the wishes and dreams of studio executives. And how stringent would these new forms be…if I visit a buddy in Australia and copy some music from his collection to my iPod, am I then going to have to declare those songs? Also, can I get a buddy in a warm locale who can fly me over…and maybe buy me an iPod?

The government should develop a process to identify those online sites that are most significantly engaged in conducting or facilitating the theft of intellectual property. Among other uses, this identification would be valuable in the interagency process that culminates in the annual Special 301 report, listing countries that fail to provide adequate and effective protection to U.S. intellectual property rights holders. Special 301 could provide a focus on those countries where companies engaged in systematic online theft of U.S. copyrighted materials are registered or operated, or where their sites are hosted. Targeting such companies and websites in the Special 301 report would put the countries involved on notice that dealing with such hotbeds of copyright theft will be an important topic of bilateral engagement with the U.S. in the year to come. (As noted above, while many of these sites are located outside the U.S., their ability to distribute pirate content in the U.S. depends on U.S.-based ISP communications facilities and services and U.S.-based server farms operated commercially by U.S.-based companies.)

Oh wonderful. Either change your laws to conform to what we want, or maybe we’ll start doing more things like…I dunno…cutting off trade? Obviously, it’s already occurring, but let’s ramp it up to a massive level. Go along with what these companies want, or they’ll have the government exert enough pressure to take you down, one way or another.

The planned release of a blockbuster motion picture should be acknowledged as an event that attracts the focused efforts of copyright thieves, who will seek to obtain and distribute pre-release versions and/or to undermine legitimate release by unauthorized distribution through other channels. Enforcement agencies (notably within DOJ and DHS) should plan a similarly focused preventive and responsive strategy. An interagency task force should work with industry to coordinate and make advance plans to try to interdict these most damaging forms of copyright theft, and to react swiftly with enforcement actions where necessary.

Hey, why not?! We’re already taking over Customs…let’s take over the entire Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, too! Sure, that second one was amalgamated to help prevent things like terrorist attacks, but dammit this sort of theft is practically the same thing, right? It’s certainly funding it…according to the industry’s own funded study (and why would that be anything but balanced?). So, just so we’re clear here…massive federal agencies will be working at the beck and call of Hollywood, but I’m willing to bet that Hollywood isn’t going to be paying for their time.

There really aren’t adequate words to describe this ridiculous plan. From software that will magically self determine what you are and aren’t allowed to do on your computer, to nearly every wing of the Federal government serving the whims of the MPAA, this couldn’t possibly be more slanted, biased and over the top. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see an addendum added where NASA is contracted out by the RIAA to use shuttles with massive telescopes to watch individual PC users and catch them in the act of illegally downloading music.

And the entertainment moguls wonder why nobody likes them…