Draconian copyright law proposed Financial Times July 28, 2002 4:57pm by Declan McCullagh 07/29/2002 http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20020728670.2_9a67001c9c8ff09b

E-vigilantes Copyright owners would be able to hack legally into peer-to-peer networks under the provisions of a Bill introduced in the US House of Representatives last week.

The measure would rewrite US federal law dramatically to permit almost unchecked electronic disruptions if a copyright holder had a 'reasonable basis' to believe that piracy was occurring.

The Bill, sponsored by Howard Berman (Democrat) and Howard Coble, (Republican), would immunise groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from all state and federal laws if they disabled, block or impaired a 'publicly accessible peer-to-peer file-trading network'.

'The bill my colleagues and I introduce today will free the marketplace to develop technologies that thwart P2P piracy without impairing P2P networks themselves,' Berman said. 'It will . . . [allow] copyright owners, in certain limited circumstances, to use technological tools to thwart P2P piracy without fear of liability.' Berman did not say what techniques he anticipated that content owners would use.

He said, however, that 'removing the unintended legal constraints on technologies that may help deal with the problem is an important part of the solution'.

Even before the Bill was introduced, legal scholars and technology trade associations began to criticise it.

'The Bill is a nightmare,' said Mark Lemley, who teaches intellectual-property law at the University of California at Berkeley.

'I am amazed that after September 11 members of Congress are willing to sacrifice our nation's computer security . . . to give Hollywood yet another tool in its already formidable arsenal against piracy.' Lemley predicted that the practical effect would be to eliminate peer-to-peer networking.

'If content owners can shut down a network with impunity they may stop some piracy but they will also stop any hope of using this important new technology for legitimate means,' he said.

Because Congress has only about five working weeks before adjourning for the year, the Bill's outlook is uncertain. However, its sponsors include top Republican and Democratic committee chairmen so it's likely to receive a warm welcome in the House at a hearing scheduled tentatively for the autumn sitting. Coble is the chairman of the House subcommittee on intellectual property, and Berman is the top Democrat on the panel.

Hilary Rosen, CEO of the RIAA, said, 'We applaud Congressman Berman for introducing bipartisan legislation that takes an innovative approach to combating the serious problem of Internet piracy.

'The current landscape for online music is dangerously one-sided, the peer-to-peer pirates enjoying an unfair advantage. It makes sense to clarify existing laws to ensure that copyright owners . . . are at least able to defend their works from mass piracy.' Will Rodger, the director of public policy of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), said his group would oppose the Bill strenuously. Its members include AOL Time Warner, Sun Microsystems and Oracle.

'If I have one illegal MP3 on my computer, Hollywood gets $50 of free damage,' Rodger said, referring to a part of the still-unnamed bill that says an electronic intrusion may not cause 'economic loss of more than $50 per impairment to the property of the affected file trader'.

'Extending that logic further,' he said, 'if I have 50 infringing MP3s on my computer, Hollywood is free to trash it entirely. This is vigilante justice for the 21st century.' The 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 erased accidentally.

Other critics have pointed out that because the proposal applies to any copyright holder, news organisations, photographers and even the Church of Scientology would be granted new hacking authority.

According to the Bill, the US Attorney-General must be given full details of the 'specific technologies the copyright holder intends to use to impair' the normal operation of the peer-to-peer network. Those details would never be divulged to the public.

The film and music industries are developing tools already to use against rogue file-swapping but have kept mum on the details. The RIAA says its members have the right to use any 'lawful and appropriate self-help measure'.

Fritz Attaway an MPAA senior vice-president, endorsed Berman's approach, 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,' he said. 'The idea is to make unauthorised file-sharing sufficiently inconvenient or at least unsuccessful.' CNET News.com For more on this or other IT stories, go to www.news.com

Copyright 2002. All Rights Reserved.

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