IP: Using tax dollars to combat piracy

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah () shipwright com>
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 10:02:54 -0400
To: Digital Bearer Settlement List <dbs () philodox com>,
cryptography () wasabisystems com
Subject: Using tax dollars to combat piracy

http://news.com.com/2102-1023-891521.html





Using tax dollars to combat piracy
By Gwendolyn Mariano
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
April 24, 2002, 4:25 PM PT
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-891521.html
The Recording Industry Association of America is calling for additional
federal funding to combat the ongoing wave of piracy, saying that the
number of arrests and convictions for copyright crimes has skyrocketed over
the course of a year.

In a congressional hearing Tuesday before a subcommittee of the House
Appropriations Committee, the RIAA requested additional funds for federal
anti-piracy law enforcement efforts and is pushing for a renewed agenda on
protecting intellectual property. The RIAA, which did not request a
specific amount, said the additional funds are needed for investigations
and cases.

Specifically, the RIAA is requesting the funds be used to create additional
squads or units for a program called Computer Hacking and Intellectual
Property, which is part of the Justice Department's initiative to fight
cybercrime. Although the RIAA applauded the creation of CHIP, it said it is
concerned that CHIP's main focus will be on computer hacking and not on
intellectual property. The RIAA requested in its testimony that these CHIP
units make intellectual property a top priority.

"Piracy is not a private offense," Hilary Rosen, president of the RIAA,
said in a statement. "It hurts everyone by diminishing the incentive to
invest in the creation of music. It should not, therefore, be viewed as a
crime only against authors, performers, composers, musicians, record
companies, distributors, wholesalers and retailers, but against each of us."

The hearing comes against a backdrop of frustration over the ongoing
problem of piracy within the music industry. The RIAA said the number of
arrests and indictments for music piracy are up 113 percent from 2000 to
2001; meanwhile, guilty pleas and convictions were up 203 percent and sight
seizures up 170 percent for that same period. The RIAA added that 2.8
million unauthorized CD-R (CD-recordable) discs were seized in 2001,
compared to 1.6 million in 2000.

The RIAA also emphasized in the hearing that piracy levels have hurt the
record industry financially. The RIAA said the sale of pirated recordings
exceeds $4.2 billion worldwide, not including losses due to online piracy.
The RIAA added that the music industry loses more than $1 billion per year
from the illegal activities conducted in the world's four leading pirate
marketplaces--Brazil, China, Russia and Mexico.

Piracy schemes go well beyond the record industry, permeating the software
and film industry as well. Last week, in one of the most notable recent
copyright-infringement actions, federal authorities arrested 27 people who
were allegedly involved in a piracy ring involving Microsoft software.

In addition, the Motion Picture Association of America said it helped the
New York police department shut down an alleged unlicensed DVD-copying
operation based out of a Bronx apartment. U.S. law enforcement officials
called the raid the first bust of its kind targeting DVD counterfeiting in
the country. Moreover, a few weeks ago, a California resident pleaded
guilty to copyright-infringement charges, involving more than 4,500
bootlegged videotapes.

Jack Valenti, president of the MPAA, also testified in Tuesday's hearing,
calling on Congress to support enforcement of anti-piracy efforts. Valenti
said that while the MPAA member companies are going forward with online
video-on-demand initiatives, despite the low penetration of broadband
access and the absence of a proven market, Congress should "send a clear
message of deterrence that theft is theft, whether conducted online or off."

"If you can't protect what you own, you don't own anything," Valenti said
in a statement.

The MPAA estimates that the film industry loses about $3 billion to
non-Internet piracy per year. Much of that has come in the form of
illegally copied videos, DVDs and video discs in Asia.


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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah () ibuc com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'


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