Dan Gillmor on Technology: Monday January 13,2003: Cartel's copy right control loosening]

[David Farber <farber () tmail com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Lynn <lynn () ecgincc com>
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: [Fwd: Dan Gillmor on Technology: Monday January 13,2003: 
Cartel's copy right control loosening]
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 22:18:38 -0500



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Dan Gillmor on Technology: Monday January 13,2003: Cartel's
copy right control loosening
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 15:49:10 -0500
From: Dispatch Editor Silicon Valley <dispatch-svc () KNIGHTRIDDER COM>
Reply-To: dispatch-feedback-svc () KNIGHTRIDDER COM
To: DISP_SVC_GILLMOR_TEXT () DISPATCHES REALCITIES COM

__________________________

S I L I C O N V A L L E Y . C O M
http://www.siliconvalley.com/

DAN GILLMOR ON TECHNOLOGY
Monday January 6, 2003
E-mail Dan at dgillmor () sjmercury com
_____________________________

Cartel's copyright control loosening


LAS VEGAS - For several days last week, the
 cavernous convention halls here became battlefields
 in the copyright wars. On balance, the entertainment
 cartel didn't seem to be doing very well.

Some of the gadgets on display at the annual Consumer
 Electronics Show were surely the kinds of things that make
 the Hollywood studios and their music-industry allies cringe
 -- increasingly capable digital devices that, yes, can be tools
 for copyright infringement as well as legitimate uses. There
 are more hard-disk music and video recording and playback
 devices all the time, for example, and the disk capacities
 are doubling about every year.

The gear I saw here paid lip service to the cartel's wish for
 absolute control over how copyrighted material may be
 used. So far, hard-disk music players can be connected
 to personal computers but not to each other, thereby
 requiring an intermediate step for anyone who wants
 to easily share files with someone else using the same
 kind of device.

Still, it was evident that -- technologically speaking, at
 any rate -- tomorrow is not on the side of the copyright
 control freaks. Information doesn't want to be free, but
 customers definitely want it to.

This show and the consumer-technology world it showcases
 are only one front, however. In the legal arena, we've also
 had some notable progress recently.

Last week, a court in Norway acquitted teenager Jon
 Johansen on digital piracy charges. Johansen had
 written DeCSS, the software that let people view DVD
 movies on devices not authorized for DVD playback.
 The judge in the case, Irene Sogn, boiled down the issue
 nicely by observing the absurdity of convicting someone
 of breaking into his own property.

Of course, Hollywood doesn't see a DVD as your property,
 except in the narrowest sense. The physical disk is yours,
 but you have only such rights to view or otherwise use what's
 on the disk as Hollywood is willing to grant -- in this case,
 extremely limited ones.

Another sign of progress has been the slowly evolving
 stance of the music industry. Labels, recognizing the
 futility of what they've been doing, are making more and
 more music available online, even though the Internet
 services are deeply flawed.

They haven't given up their wish for control, naturally. The
 record companies are trying a variety of new technological
 traps designed to keep us from making personal copies
 (which, yes, can be shared). Customers are not happy
 with this idea at all, and no one disputes that technological
 anti-copying measures eventually will be broken.

The movie industry's hard line hasn't changed at all, even
 though it has put online a movie-download service that seems
 designed to alienate potential customers with its restrictions
 and lackluster quality. The studios, with the general support of
 the music people, are still openly angling for laws that would
 severely restrict technology and, in some cases, would allow
 copyright owners to hack networks where they suspected
 infringement was taking place.

A notable aspect of this year's consumer-electronics show
 was the attention these issues are drawing. In previous years,
 copyright has been a topic of discussion. Now it's in the forefront
 of people's attention -- and it's about time.

One of the few legislative heroes in this war, Rep. Rick Boucher,
 D-Va., told me two years ago that Congress had failed badly
 with the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That law, purportedly
 designed to draw an appropriate balance between copyright owners
 and the public interest, instead tilted overwhelmingly against the
public.

In another sign of progress, Boucher has been gaining congressional
 allies. Last week he and a colleague introduced a bill aimed at
 protecting our ``fair use'' rights in the digital age -- the rights,
among
 others, to make personal copies of what we've bought and to quote
 from copyrighted material.

Even more encouraging, he and other members who aren't owned
 outright by the cartel are hearing from a potentially influential
lobby:
 the technology industry. At long last, tech companies are speaking
 up against the threat not just to their customers' rights but to 
their
 own ability to innovate and sell products.

The entertainment people are hardly discouraged. They have far more
 clout than any other parties in this war, and they've used it adeptly
 through the years. They will keep launching lawyers at anything
 that worries them, and they will reach into their deep pockets for
 years to come in order to protect their threatened but still 
enormously
 lucrative business model.

But unless they can literally take control of technological progress,
 thwarting anything that remotely disturbs them no matter what the
 cost to the economy and our culture, they can't stop the tide.

Maybe it's the new year. But for the first time in a while, I'm 
starting
 to feel more optimistic. On at least this issue, the public interest
might,
 just might, be making a comeback.

-----
Dan Gillmor's column appears each Sunday, Wednesday and
 Saturday. Visit Dan's online column, eJournal at
http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/
-----

FURTHER READING

 * Good Morning Silicon Valley

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/

 * Scott Herhold's Stocks.comment

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/scott_her
hold/

 * Mike Cassidy's SV Dispatches

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/mike_cass
idy/

 * Mike Langberg's Tech Test Drive

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/mike_lang
berg/

 * Matt Marshall's Term Sheet

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/matt_mars
hall/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Advertising: If you are interested in advertising in our newsletters,
call
Shawn Oliver at 408-938-6018 or send email to soliver () knightridder com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_____________________________

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
.........................
This is a free e-mail Dispatch published by SiliconValley.com.

Subscribe to Dispatches or edit your selections at any time by 
visiting
our
Email Dispatches page:

http://www.siliconvalley.com/edc/servlet/edcSubscriber?action=Q_REDIRECT&NEX
T=EDIT_DISPATCH

To unsubscribe from this mailing, send an email to
listserv () dispatches realcities com with "Unsubscribe
DISP_SVC_GILLMOR_TEXT"
in the body field.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) 2002,  SiliconValley.com.

>  K N I G H T  R I D D E R > Information for Life
-- Dave

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To unsubscribe or update your address, click
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/