--- Eagle Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 12:13:16 -0500 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > From: Eagle Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: The Future Meets The Past In The Napster Case > > The Future Meets The Past In The Napster Case > > August 23, 2000 by: Phyllis Schlafly > > "This is a culture war, between the powers that were and that will > be." Is he > talking about abortion? Gay rights? Hollywood violence? Illegitimacy? > No, the > culture war is about ownership and regulation of the internet, > according to > John Perry Barlow, Grateful Dead lyricist and cyber rights activist. > > Barlow may be right. The influence of the internet may be overflowing > into our > culture as well as our politics. > > The current flashpoint of controversy about the internet is a case > now in the > Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (RIAA v. Napster) where the five giant > music > companies are fighting a website called Napster for facilitating > online music. > The music cartel wants to stop listening to music on the internet. > > Most music CDs are stamped with a warning that unauthorized > duplication is > prohibited by law, but this is not true. It's the same claim > Hollywood made > when trying to stop individuals from taping TV shows with VCRs, but > the > Supreme Court in 1984 ruled that unauthorized copying for the purpose > of > time-shifting is legitimate "fair use." > > Furthermore, Congress specifically legalized the noncommercial > consumer > copying of digital music in the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act. The > music > cartel lobbied for this bill because its main purpose was to allow > the > cartel to > control and impose a mandatory royalty on Digital Audio Tape (DAT). > > The political power of the music cartel in Washington was also > demonstrated > last year when it sneaked a law through Congress making music a "work > for > hire," i.e., the property of the recording companies rather than the > musicians. > Without any hearings or debate, this provision was buried in an > unrelated bill > as a "technical correction" and signed by President Clinton. > > Musicians were outraged that the law no longer considered them > authors of > their own music, and Sheryl Crow and other artists testified at a > post-passage > hearing of the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Subcommittee > chairman Howard Coble (R-NC) was unsympathetic, grumbling that he > hoped > rock star Don Henley (of Eagles fame) "gets carpal tunnel syndrome" > from > counting his money. > > The recording cartel backed down and agreed to the repeal of this > law. The > music cartel usually gets what it wants: in recent years it has > gotten > Congress to pass a copyright term extension, draconian criminal > penalties on > small incidents of copyright infringement, and a law to criminalize > "circumvention" of the wishes of a copyright owner. > > For years the music cartel was coercing retailers to sell CDs at the > Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP), a violation of antitrust > law. > The FTC stopped this price-fixing scheme and 28 states are now suing > for > hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. > > The music cartel desperately wants to shut down Napster and similar > web > sites that facilitate the noncommercial sharing of music. The big > five labels > are frightened that online music may upset their out-of-date business > practices. > > The U.S. Constitution allows Congress to enact copyright protections > for > authors "to promote the progress of science and useful arts," not to > protect > the special interests of Hollywood or music executives. Copyright > holders > have certain temporary rights but so, under fair-use applications, do > consumers, and that's what the music cartel and other powerful > interests are > trying to eliminate through internet regulation. > > The internet is a medium for peer-to-peer communication. The phone > company doesn't regulate who we call or what we say on the phone, and > the > music industry should not be regulating internet connections. > > Nor should anyone be regulating information on how to use products in > a > manner that has been traditionally and legally considered fair use. > Unfortunately, the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was > intended, by Hollywood and others who lobbied for it, to give > copyright owners > a measure of control they never had before. > > A 16-year-old Norwegian kid figured out a code that allows people to > view > legitimately purchased DVD movies on Linux computers, even though > Hollywood rigged these movies to be playable only on Windows > computers > and other machines. Now Hollywood is suing everyone who spreads the > word > about the DVD code, including a magazine called "2600" and one guy > who > put the code on a T-shirt. > > Despite scare stories, new technologies have nearly always expanded > markets and created new opportunities for profits. Hollywood fought > VCRs in > Congress and all the way to the Supreme Court, and lost every battle > in spite > of doom and gloom predictions about how VCRs would ruin the industry. > > It turned out that videotaped movies became a financial bonanza for > Hollywood. We can also tape music over radio, but radio did not ruin > the > music market. > > I have shelves of CDs I never listen to, but I'd buy a lot more if I > could > conveniently and easily find the music I really like. But the music > cartel has > blocked the online sale of the music it controls, and sites such as > emusic.com have only fringe music. > > Even though new technologies tend to disrupt current business models, > legislative or judicial attempts to protect economically inefficient > distribution > channels are misguided. > > Phyllis Schlafly column > 8-23-00 > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > JOIN OUR MESSAGE BOARD! > What do you think about Napster? > http://eagleforum.org/cgi_bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Read this column online: > http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2000/aug00/00-08-23.shtml > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Phyllis Schlafly Live may be heard every Saturday from 11:00 a.m. > to 12:00 noon (CST) on the USA Radio Network > http://www.usaradio.com/ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Eagle Forum * PO Box 618 * Alton, IL 62002 > Phone: 618-462-5415 * Fax: 618-462-8909 > http://www.eagleforum.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > ============================================ > EAGLE FORUM > PO Box 618 > Alton, IL 62002 > Phone: 618-462-5415 > Fax: 618-462-8909 > > Are you on our E-mail list? > Just send us an e-mail message with > SUBSCRIBE in the subject line! > Tell a friend about us! > > > URL: http://www.eagleforum.org > E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ============================================ > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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