Communications Daily, September 16, 2003

RIAA Pres. Cary Sherman and Verizon Gen. Counsel William Barr will square off on content protection before a Senate hearing for the 2nd time in 2 weeks Wed. Both will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee in a hearing on digital rights management (DRM) solutions and the privacy implications of RIAA's lawsuits against file sharers. Last week both appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing on peer-to-peer services. Other witnesses include MPAA Pres. Jack Valenti, SBC Gen. Counsel James Ellis, EMI Group Exec. Vp John Rose, Philips Consumer Electronics N. America CEO Lawrence Blanford, Consumers Union Legislative Counsel Christopher Murray, Princeton U. Prof. Edward Felton and Center for Democracy & Technology Assoc. Dir. Alan Davidson. In the 107th Congress then-Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings (D-S.C.) introduced a bill that would have mandated a DRM solution if a private-sector solution couldn't be found. A report on DRM released Mon. said the private sector, including the content, consumer electronics and ISP industries, had been reaching agreement on DRM solutions without govt. help. "Digital Rights Management: A Balanced Scorecard of Stakeholder Views" by the New Millennium Research Council said based on that progress a Hollings-style bill was unnecessary, but also said "drafting a bill less strict than the Hollings bill that recognizes the DRM developed by the software and technology factions may align them with the content industry".

InternetNews.Com, September 16, 2003

Report Claims Private DRM Answers Possible By Roy Mark

Digital rights management (DRM) efforts by the private sector are much more well-received by the software, technology, Internet service provider, and consumer factions than efforts being made in the courts or in Congress, according to a report released Tuesday by the New Millennium Research Council (NMRC).

Entitled Digital Rights Management: A Balanced Scorecard Of Stakeholder Views, the report provides background on key stakeholders, central issues they are grappling with, and their proposed solutions to a range of disagreements. It also provides an overview of the players and the issues, essential reading for reporters, policy wonks, and the general public.

"The NMRC publishes this report at a critical point in the DRM debate, as legal ramifications for piracy become more prominent in the media and Congress considers significant changes to intellectual property rights and copyright law," said s Allen Hepner, an advisory board member of the NMRC.

Other key findings of the report include:

* The software, technology, ISP, "honest" user, school, and content factions agree on the installation of some level of DRM in all technology devices.

* The software, technology, ISP, user, and content factions agree on the development of pay-per-use models as an alternative to illegal file-sharing sites.

* The content faction, schools, software, and tech factions agree on the installation of bandwidth management technology as a way to limit on-campus piracy.

"This report emerges in light of challenges made to current copyright protection law, provoked by controversy over intellectual property rights and privacy issues," Hepner said. "In order to ensure that copyright policy is balanced so that all of those interested benefit, the NMRC hopes to open up lines of communication between interested parties based on the common ground identified in this report."

National Journal's Technology Daily, September 16, 2003

The private sector is having more luck in finding support for anti-piracy technology from the software, technology and Internet industries and from consumer factions than it is from members of Congress or the courts, according to a new report.

The New Millennium Research Council (NMRC) on Tuesday released the study, which also found that market-driven solutions to managing digital rights currently are more prevalent than judicial or legal actions aimed at implementing anti-piracy technologies. Allen Hepner, an advisory board member of the NMRC, said the report comes "as legal ramifications for piracy become more prominent in the media and Congress considers significant changes to intellectual property rights and copyright law.

In other news, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) on Tuesday unveiled a study depicting the state of digital piracy at colleges and universities.