FC: News Corp: CBDTPA already is spurring anti-piracy standards

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

A News Corp. lobbyist sent this to Politech but did not want any contact 
info attached. Here's what News Corp. had to say on Hollings' bill in 
September:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02499.html
Text of CBDTPA bill and background:
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/
Politech posts:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=cbdtpa

-Declan

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For Immediate Release                                                   

News Corporation Hails Positive Steps Towards Copyright Consensus

Applauds Introduction of Legislation, Intel  AOL-TW Agreement, and ATSC Vote
__________________

Los Angeles, CA, April 10, 2002 - News Corporation today hailed recent 
progress toward solving the digital piracy problem and urged all interested 
parties to build on the momentum.

News Corporation expressed hope that the introduction of the copyright 
legislation, "The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act 
of 2002", the passage of the ATSC standard and the positive steps taken by 
Intel and others in the information technology and consumer electronics 
industries will lead to a cross-industry consensus on copyright protection 
solutions.

Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation, 
said: "The hearings held in the Senate and the introduction of the Hollings 
legislation have already helped get the affected industries to work 
together to solve the digital piracy dilemma. We have seen a greater 
willingness from all sides to not only sit down and discuss the problem, 
but to take the necessary actions to solve it. That effort must be encouraged."

Last Tuesday the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) voted 
affirmatively on News Corporation's proposal to label DTV broadcasts with 
the "broadcast flag." This new voluntary standard is an important first 
step in enabling digital broadcasters to prevent unauthorized 
redistribution of their content on the Internet.  ATSC is an international, 
non-profit membership organization developing voluntary standards for all 
advanced television systems (http://atsc.org).

Mr. Chernin also applauded the recent Joint Statement of Principles 
agreement between AOL-TW and Intel on copyright protection.  "Intel's 
support of the Joint Statement took real leadership, courage and 
understanding of the problems we face in combating the theft of our content 
in the digital age," Mr. Chernin said.  "That agreement addresses the same 
issues as those outlined in my recent testimony to Congress.  They are 
issues that need to be solved in a collaborative manner.  News Corporation 
looks forward to working with Intel and others to solve the problem of 
digital piracy as quickly as possible."

The News Corporation Limited (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NCP, NCPDP; LSE: 
NEWCP) is one of the world's largest media companies with total assets as 
of December 31, 2001 of approximately US$47 billion and total annual 
revenues of approximately US$14 billion. News Corporation's diversified 
global operations in the United States, Canada, continental Europe, the 
United Kingdom, Australia, Latin America and the Pacific Basin include the 
production and distribution of motion pictures and television programming; 
television, satellite and cable broadcasting; the publication of 
newspapers, magazines and books; the production and distribution of 
promotional and advertising products and services; the development of 
digital broadcasting; the development of conditional access and subscriber 
management systems; and the creation and distribution of popular on-line 
programming.




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