Brownback Introduces Digital Rights Management Bill
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback today introduced legislation vital for American consumers and our nation's educational community in the 21st century digital media marketplace – the Consumers, Schools, and Libraries Digital Rights Management Act of 2003. A portion of his statement follows. For the full text, visit his web site: www.brownback.senate.gov
"This legislation responds directly to ongoing litigation between the Recording Industry Association of America and Internet service providers Verizon and SBC Communications. This litigation has opened wide all identifying information an ISP maintains on its subscribers, effectively requiring ISPs to make that information available to any party simply requesting the information. The legislation also creates certain minimal protections for consumers legally interacting with digital media products protected by new digital rights management technologies.
"It has been determined by a federal court in RIAA v.Verizon that a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act permits copyright owners to obtain an ISP subscriber's identifying information without any judicial supervision, or any due process for the subscriber. Today, right now, solely due to this court decision, all that is required for a person to obtain the name and address of an individual who can only be identified by their Internet Protocol address – their Internet phone number – is to claim to be a copyright owner, file a one page subpoena request with a clerk of the court, a declaration swearing that you truly believe an ISP's subscriber is pirating your copyright, the clerk will then send the request to the ISP, and the ISP has no choice but to divulge the identifying information of the subscriber – name, address, phone number – to the complaining party. There are no checks, no balances, and the alleged pirate has no opportunity to defend themselves. My colleagues, this issue is about privacy not piracy.
"The real harm here is that nothing in this quasi-subpoena process prevents someone other than a digital media owner – say a stalker, a pedophile, a telemarketer or even a spammer from using this quasi subpoena process to gain the identity of Internet subscribers, including our children. In fact, we cannot even limit this subpoena process to mainstream copyright owners. We have already witnessed the use of this subpoena by Titan Media, a hard core pornographer.
"The Consumers, Schools, and Libraries Digital Rights Management Awareness Act of 2003 requires the owners of digital media products to file an actual case in a court of law in order to obtain the identifying information of an ISP subscriber. This will provide immediate privacy protections to Internet subscribers by forcing their accusers to appear publicly in a court of law, where those with illicit intentions will not tread, and provides the accused with due process required to properly defend themselves.
"Digital rights management, otherwise known simply as DRM, refers to the growing body of technology – software and hardware – that controls access to and use of information, including the ability of individuals to distribute that information over the Internet. Over the past few years the large media companies have persistently sought out new laws and regulations that would mandate DRM in the marketplace, denying consumers and the educational community the use of media products as has been customarily and legally permitted.
"As a result, the Consumers, Schools, and Libraries Digital Rights Management Awareness Act of 2003 will preclude the FCC from mandating that consumer electronics, computer hardware, telecommunications networks, and any other technology that facilitates the use of digital media products, such as movies, music, or software, be built to respond to particular digital rights management technologies.
"The Act will ensure that anti-piracy policies for broadcast DTV will provide maximum protections for industry, but in a manner that relies on innovation, competition, and serving the interests of consumers to achieve that goal.
"First, the bill prohibits the Federal Communications Commission from moving forward with any new proceedings that impact the ways in which consumers may access or distribute digital media products, aside from the two previously mentioned proceedings. This will negate any future efforts by the major media companies to further expand the ways in which they can control how content may be legally used.
"Second, the bill sets ground rules for the FCC's broadcast flag proceeding. It permits the FCC, if it has such authority, to require consumer electronics companies to detect a Broadcast Flag and prohibit illegal Internet retransmission of digital broadcast programming to the public when it detects the flag. However, this proposal relies on a self-certification requirement, so consumer electronics and information technology companies can deploy competing and innovative DRMs that prohibit DTV piracy and not subject to the whims of industry gatekeepers. Like the Plug and Play agreement this proposal provides a meaningful role for the FCC, not industry stakeholders, to resolve any controversies that may arise with new technologies.
"In addition to addressing the threat of FCC tech mandates in the broadcast DTV space, this legislation also addresses other important concerns regarding the introduction of DRM into the marketplace, to prevent some of the experiences of consumers with this important technology to date.
"First, the bill provides one year for all stakeholders in the digital media marketplace to voluntarily devise a labeling regime for all DRM-enabled digital media products, including those made available solely online, so consumers will know what they are buying when they buy it.
"Second, the bill prohibits the use of DRM technologies to prevent consumers from reselling the used digital media products they no longer want, or from donating used digital media products to schools and libraries.
"Finally, the bill directs the Federal Trade Commission – our nation's premier consumer protection agency – to carefully monitor the introduction of DRM into the marketplace, reporting to Congress in incidents of consumer confusion and dissatisfaction, and suggesting measures that can ease the impact DRM has on law abiding consumers."
Sen. Brownback is a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, and is chairman of the Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space.
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