IP: 2 on California's Sen. Feinstein cozies up to SSSCA, anti-copying laws

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51072,00.html

   Cal Senator: Hollywood Over Tech
   By Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
   
   2:00 a.m. March 15, 2002 PST
   WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein may come from Northern California,
   but she's siding with Hollywood instead of Silicon Valley.
   
   Feinstein suggested on Thursday that Congress might need to intervene
   in what has become a highly visible tussle between content owners
   worried about online piracy and tech firms that fear intrusive new
   regulations. And since the two-term senator chairs a technology
   subcommittee, she's in a position to turn her views into law.
   
   At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Feinstein held up a burned CD
   with a pirated version of the movie Shrek that she said an aide had
   downloaded from a peer-to-peer network. "This is Napster times 10,
   because no one can shut these services down," Feinstein warned.
   "Widespread movie piracy is just around the corner."

   [...]

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 11:56:37 +1100
From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochrane () theage fairfax com au>
Reply-To: ncochrane () theage fairfax com au
Organization: The Age newspaper
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: California's Sen. Feinstein cozies up to SSSCA,
anti-copying laws

Hi Declan

I don't have too much sympathy for Hollywood.

Back in 1996, while writing a story on digital distribution of music, I
called all the major US-based record labels in Australia and asked them
about MP3. None of them had heard of it. When I suggested it could kill
their businesses, they scoffed at me. With a lot of heat, some accused me
of fear mongering and being ill-informed.

Two years ago, I got a similar response from some film distributors when I
asked about DivX;) Seems these guys, despite being vertically and
horizontally integrated, just don't learn the lessons from other divisions.

The knee-jerk reaction of "Content Co.'s" after the horse has taken off
down the laneway, is to build a steel wall where the gate once stood. Only,
the old wooden fence is as ricketty as it ever was.

The SSSCA is a bad law. But bad laws seem to be the order of the day in the
US at the moment. The rest of the world wouldn't likely care, except the US
uses its economic and political might to export bad laws on to the rest of
us.

Movie boss lets fly at PC pirates
http://www.theage.com.au/1014704999792.html

All Hollywood has to do is embrace the technology and do a better job than
the crackers and hackers. Give the people what they want and the problem
becomes an asset. But the myopia of people whose business is creative
vision is renowned.

Maybe someone should make a movie about it?

I'm reminded of a scene in the 1993 movie written by Ebbe Roe Smith and
starring Michael Douglas, Falling Down. Douglas' character, William
Foster/D-Fens, walks into a fast food outlet. He is told that because the
breakfast menu stopped a few minutes earlier, he can't have his order. He
asks if the server remembers when the customer was always right?

"That's not our motto," the server tells him through gritted teeth, and
then loops the request to order from the lunch menu as if the previous
conversation never happened.

Seems the content industries are stuck in a loop, and they are demanding we
pay. And if we don't, they have no scruples about bending representative
democracy and our elected public servants to service their shareholders.


FYI from Tuesday 15 August 2000

Mayhem at the movies
Michael Saunders' popular website, Global DiVX, is a small but important
cog in a worldwide movement that threatens the movie industry's economic
base.
http://it.mycareer.com.au/communications/20000815/A2904-2000Aug14.html

Smile, you're on ;-) camera
DIVX ;-) is a rough and ready amalgam of two technologies - the MPEG4 video
CODEC hacked from a beta version of Microsoft's Windows Media Player (WMP)
and MP3 for the stereo sound track.
http://it.mycareer.com.au/communications/20000815/A64645-2000Aug11.html

See change in the video store
HOLLYWOOD and its dependents have a narrow window of opportunity to avoid a
rerun of the MP3 traumas that have beset the music recording industry. They
can either embrace new technologies like DivX ;) or be swallowed by them.
http://it.mycareer.com.au/columns/broadway/20000815/A64646-2000Aug11.html

DivX;) Video
http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=1637


---

Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 19:48:55 -0800
To: declan () well com
From: "A.Lizard" <alizard () ecis com>
Subject: Re: FC: California's Sen. Feinstein cozies up to SSSCA,
   anti-copying laws

At 10:36 AM 3/15/02 -0500, you wrote:
> Politech SSSCA archive:
> http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=sssca
>
> ---
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51072,00.html
>
>    Cal Senator: Hollywood Over Tech
>    By Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
>
>    2:00 a.m. March 15, 2002 PST
>    WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein may come from Northern California,
>    but she's siding with Hollywood instead of Silicon Valley.

Here's why:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00007364&cycle=2002
campaign contributions - industry totals

4       TV/Movies/Music                 $214,638
8       Computer Equipment & Services   $103,016

While incompetence might also play a role in this, I assume the money is
the main factor in deciding Feinstein's actions. I'd say that the
entertainment content sector is getting good value for money.

A.Lizard

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