Several House and Senate committees this week plan to examine, and in some cases approve, legislation addressing copyrighted material online. A House subcommittee plans a hearing on a bill promoting fair use rights, 16 months after its introduction. Separately, bills designed to increase law enforcement protection of copyrights are scheduled to be approved in the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
Several House and Senate committees this week plan to examine, and in some cases approve, legislation addressing copyrighted material online. A House subcommittee plans a hearing on a bill promoting fair use rights, 16 months after its introduction. Separately, bills designed to increase law enforcement protection of copyrights are scheduled to be approved in the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
While bills designed to crack down on P2P appear to be on a fast track to passage, Sen. Coleman (R-Minn.) said Mon., “in the end things tend to go slowly legislatively, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.” Speaking to the Future of Music Coalition summit, Coleman faulted 2 bills, HR-4077 by House Judiciary Courts, Internet & Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.) and S-2237 by Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat Leahy (Vt.) and Chmn. Hatch (R-Utah). HR-4077, which reduces the criminal threshold for file sharers offering large amounts of files, is a misuse of the FBI, Coleman said, which is “overworked” on antiterrorism efforts. HR-4077, which permits the Dept. of Justice to pursue civil cases against file sharers, would appear more humane, Coleman said, but “there’s got to be a better way” to target P2P file sharing. Coleman’s statements echoed that of Marty Lafferty, a P2P industry lobbyist (see separate item, this issue). “P2P is here to stay,” Coleman said, and the recording industry, as well as ISPs and hardware and software makers, are going to have to work with P2P providers on a solution. The only reservation he had about P2P is that the software providers profit from running monitoring software on user’s PCs, what some in Congress have called spyware; the P2P industry rejects that label. Coleman said he isn’t the only member of Congress concerned about this, and said P2P providers should be wary: “Congress will get involved with things that come into your home.” Last week, House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) vowed that his committee would move legislation targeting spyware, including that provided by P2P networks. Coleman last year held a high-profile hearing in the Senate Governmental Affairs Investigations Subcommittee at which he blasted RIAA for its suits against file sharers. Still, Mon. he said one benefit of the suits is that they did “raise the consciousness of what is right and what is wrong.”
The House Telecom Subcommittee approved legislation to reauthorize the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) Wed. The bill included: (1) a one-dish requirement for local analog broadcast stations. (2) a restriction against DBS providers offering grade B area subscribers both local- to-local and distance network signals. (3) a provision that will let DBS operators offer “significantly viewed” out-of- market broadcast stations. The subcommittee markup also showed that Rep. Deal (R-Ga.) will likely push in the full committee markup an amendment to require “a la carte” pricing by cable and satellite providers.
The House Telecom Subcommittee approved legislation Wed. to reauthorize the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA). The bill included a one-dish requirement for local analog broadcast stations; a restriction against DBS providers from offering grade B area subscribers both local-to-local and distance network signals; and a provision that will let DBS operators offer “significantly viewed” out-of-market broadcast stations. The subcommittee markup also showed that Rep. Deal (R- Ga.) will likely push in the full committee markup an amendment to require “a la carte” pricing by cable and satellite providers.
In an effort to show his administration is serious about broadband deployment, President Bush signed an executive memorandum Mon. aimed at streamlining access to federal land. The executive memorandum will put into effect recommendations of a federal right-of-way working group coordinated by NTIA. In a speech, Bush listed several ways he’s promoting broadband deployment in working toward his stated goal of universal access by 2007, but Senate Democrats took issue with his claims.
Cablevision promoted Tom Rutledge to new position of COO; John Bickham, ex-Time Warner Cable, succeeds him as pres.-cable & communications… SEC promoted Peter Bresnan to assoc. dir.-Div. of Enforcement… Tricia Paoletta, ex-USTR and House Commerce Committee, becomes partner at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis… ABC promoted Alan Nesbitt to senior vp-ABC owned stations… Marilyn Jones returns to her post as staff attorney at the FCC Wireline Bureau after a year with the U.S. Navy in Iraq… Raju Pulugurtha, ex-Intelsat, named New Skies dir.-South Asia sales… Consultant Kathie Zentgraf joins Bennet & Bennet as in-house wireless consultant… New at Satellite Bcstg. & Communications Assn.: Jason Scism, ex- FCC and House Commerce Committee, as dir.-govt. relations; Camille Osborne, ex-Public Strategies, as dir.- communications… Michael Connors resigns as senior vp- managing dir., Motion Picture Assn… Commerce Dept. Chief Privacy Officer Elizabeth Prostic moves to Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal as managing dir. of its policy, security and Internet enforcement groups.
The 3rd installment of the China-U.S. Telecom Summit will take place before Supercomm in Chicago, TIA announced Fri. The summit, June 17-19 at McCormick Place, is sponsored by NTIA and the Commerce Dept.’s International Trade Administration (ITA) in partnership with TIA. “The summit provides U.S. officials and company executives a unique opportunity to engage in dialogue on communications development in China, the world’s largest and fastest growing market,” TIA said. The event will be lead by Commerce Secy. Donald Evans and China’s Ministry of Information Industry Minister Wang Xudong. Summit participants will also be invited to attend Supercomm. Industry representatives are invited to a public organizational briefing on Thurs. at 10:30 a.m. at the City Club of Washington, Franklin Square, 1300 I St. Acting NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher and TIA Pres. Matthew Flanigan are to speak. RSVP Ashley Heineman at 703- 907-7734, aheineman@tiaonline.org.
The FCC unanimously adopted an order Thurs. on radio frequency ID (RFID) systems that it said would bolster homeland security and make commercial shipping operations more efficient. The order increased the maximum signal level allowed for RFID systems at 433 MHz for commercial shipping containers, to allow improved operations. While several commissioners noted privacy concerns have been raised about RFID tags, they said the order is narrowly drawn, limiting rule changes to commercial and industrial areas.
President Bush sent a nomination to the Senate for Benjamin Wu to succeed Bruce Mehlman as Commerce Dept. asst. secy.-technology, one day after announcing his intention to do so (CD April 9 p12)… Mo. Gov. Bob Holden (D) appointed state buildings & grounds dir. Lin Appling to the Mo. PSC, succeeding Comr. Kelvin Simmons who accepted another appointment… Ian Jefferson, ex-Nynex and DIVA, joins Entone Technologies as sales vp… Barry Diller, IAC/InterActiveCorp. CEO, speaks at National Press Club lunch May 21.