http://news.com.com/2100-1023-945923.html
Could Hollywood hack your PC?
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
July 23, 2002, 4:45 PM PT
update WASHINGTON--Congress is about to consider an entertainment
industry proposal that would authorize copyright holders to disable PCs
used for illicit file trading.
A draft bill seen by CNET News.com marks the boldest political effort to
date by record labels and movie studios to disrupt peer-to-peer networks
that they view as an increasingly dire threat to their bottom line.
Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Howard Coble, R-N.C., the measure
would permit copyright holders to perform nearly unchecked electronic
hacking if they have a "reasonable basis" to believe that piracy is
taking place. Berman and Coble plan to introduce the 10-page bill this
week.
The legislation would immunize groups such as the Motion Picture
Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America
from all state and federal laws if they disable, block or otherwise
impair a "publicly accessible peer-to-peer network."
Anyone whose computer was damaged in the process must receive the
permission of the U.S. attorney general before filing a lawsuit, and a
suit could be filed only if the actual monetary loss was more than $250.
According to the draft, the attorney general must be given complete
details about the "specific technologies the copyright holder intends to
use to impair" the normal operation of the peer-to-peer network. Those
details would remain secret and would not be divulged to the public.
The draft bill doesn't specify what techniques, such as viruses, worms,
denial-of-service attacks, or domain name hijacking, would be
permissible. It does say that a copyright-hacker should not delete files,
but it limits the right of anyone subject to an intrusion to sue if files
are accidentally erased.
Because Congress only has about five work weeks left before it is
scheduled to adjourn for the year, the outlook for the draft bill is
uncertain.
But because its sponsors include top Republican and Democratic committee
chairmen, it could receive a warm welcome in the House of Representatives
at a hearing tentatively scheduled for this fall. Coble is the chairman
of the House subcommittee on intellectual property, and Berman is the top
Democrat on the panel.
Berman wrote in an opinion article this month that "currently, copyright
owners are unable to use some useful technological tools to deal with P2P
piracy because they face potential, if unintended, liability under a
variety of state and federal laws."
"It's a good bill," Gene Smith, a spokeswoman for Berman, said on Monday.
"It's always hard to defend theft and piracy--this bill just puts into
the hands of the copyright owners technologies that are already being
used by the pirates."
Smith said the purpose of the draft bill was to "fight fire with fire,
fight technology with technology."
Jessica Litman, a professor at Wayne State University who specializes in
copyright law, said the draft bill improperly encourages "vigilante
justice."
"I think it's wildly overreaching," Litman said. "Copyright owners are in
essence asking Congress to say that peer-to-peer file trading is such a
scorch, is so bad, that stopping it is more important than enforcing any
other laws that federal or state governments may have passed on computer
security, privacy, fraud and so forth."
Litman said that even if a copyright holder accidentally deleted a home
video titled "Snow White," the owner of that PC could be out of luck.
"Unless I can show economic harm, I can't even be compensated," Litman
said. "Even if I want to be compensated, I have to jump through
procedural hoops."
The film and music industries already are developing tools to use against
rogue file swapping, though they've remained mum on the details. The RIAA
says its members have the right to use any "lawful and appropriate
self-help measure."
Fritz Attaway, the MPAA's senior vice president for government relations,
endorsed Berman's approach on Monday, stressing that law-abiding Internet
users should not be concerned.
"No one in the motion picture industry has any interest in invading your
computer or doing anything malicious with your files," Attaway said. "The
idea is to make unauthorized file sharing sufficiently inconvenient or at
least unsuccessful."
The MPAA and RIAA did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation condemned the draft bill as a sop to
Hollywood and the recording industry.
Digital lockdown?
"This is part of a greater strategy that's being implemented by the
entertainment industry to lock up and control digital information in
general," said Robin Gross, an EFF staff attorney. "The rights that we've
enjoyed in the analog space are now being taken away from us because
we're entering a digital realm"
Gross said she was concerned by the broad grant of immunity to copyright
holders who become computer intruders. "When they screw up, they don't
want you to be able to get some sort of retribution from them," she said.
Other sponsors listed on the draft bill include key legislators such as
Reps. John Conyers of Michigan, the top Democrat on the full Judiciary
committee, Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the chairman of a crime subcommittee,
and Robert Wexler, D-Fla. Currently there is no companion legislation in
the Senate.
The next step for the draft bill is the House Judiciary subcommittee on
intellectual property. A representative for Coble said earlier this month
to expect a hearing starting in September, when Congress returns from its
August recess.
Berman announced plans for the legislation during a speech to a
Washington trade association last month. He represents California's San
Fernando Valley, adjacent to Los Angeles and Hollywood's cluster of
entertainment companies.
Coble and Berman have jointly written a second draft bill that could
sharply limit Americans' rights relating to copying music, taping TV
shows, or transferring files through the Internet. But they have said
they do not necessarily endorse the plan's details.
