FITUG e.V.
Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft
FITUG e.V.Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft |
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------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 16:49:26 -0500 From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: politech@politechbot.com Subject: FC: Tech CEOs oppose SSSCA, tell Hollywood to try "market solutions" Send reply to: declan@well.com
Politech archive on Sen. Hollings' SSSCA: http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=sssca
Witness list for Thursday's hearing: http://www.politechbot.com/docs/hollings.sssca.hearing.022602.html
Draft text of the SSSCA: http://www.politechbot.com/docs/hollings.090701.html
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http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50716,00.html
High-Tech: U.S. Out of Hollywood By Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)
11:49 a.m. Feb. 27, 2002 PST WASHINGTON -- America's largest and most powerful tech firms have agreed on one point: Keep Congress far away from digital content standards.
In a 600-word letter sent to movie studios on Wednesday afternoon, the chief executives of IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Intel and five other corporations said they were eager to work with Hollywood to find "technically feasible, cost effective solutions" for protecting entertainment delivered in digital form.
The letter ostensibly went to the chief executives of Walt Disney, AOL Time Warner, MGM, Sony Pictures and so on -- but the real audience was Senate Commerce chairman Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina), who is convening a hearing Thursday morning on whether the U.S. government should require that copy protection be embedded in nearly all PCs and consumer electronic devices.
Hollings has drafted, but has not introduced, legislation called the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA). A draft of the SSSCA obtained by Wired News prohibits creating, selling or distributing "any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified security technologies."
[...]
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http://www.politechbot.com/docs/sssca.opponents.letter.022702.html
February 27, 2002
Michael Eisner Sumner Redstone Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Chairman & Chief Executive Offi cer The Walt Disney Company Viacom 500 South Buena Vista Street 1515 Broadway Burbank, CA 91521 New York, NY 10036
Jean-Marie Messier Gerald M. Levin Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Chief Executive Officer Vivendi Universal AOL Time Warner 375 Park Avenue 75 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10152-0192 New York, NY 10019
Alex Yemenidjian John Calley Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Chairman & Chief Executive Offi cer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. Sony Pictures Entertainment 2500 Broadway Street 10202 W. Washington Boulevard Santa Monica, CA 90404 Culver City, CA 90232
K. Rupert Murdoch Chairman & Chief Executive Officer News Corporation 1211 Avenue of Americas, 3rd Floor New York, NY 10036
Dear Sirs:
We write to you to urge inter-industry cooperation to ensure that digital content can be distributed to consumers efficiently through a variety of means. Each of our companies is in the business of developing the hardware and software that will make e-commerce thrive. Constant access to information, through comprehensive broadband deployment and availability, we expect will in time be widely available. It is clear that your companies' entertainment products will form an important part of a thriving on-line economy. Digital television is also an important development, and we expect it will soon become widely available.
Business models are only beginning to be developed for supplying consumers' on-demand entertainment. We recognize the critical importance of effective anti-piracy tools in this changing market environment, and that the absence of such tools may affect the development of new product offerings. To address this concern, our companies have worked diligently, voluntarily and cooperatively with producers of entertainment content, as well as consumer electronics companies, to develop systems that will foster the legitimate distribution of digital content. The Copy Protection Technology Working Group (CPTWG) and the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) have been highly productive fora for developing consensus among the many disparate businesses that must work together to build a robust infrastructure for the secure dissemination of digital content. We have found these voluntary multi-industry standards setting efforts to be optimally effective in reaching workable market solutions.
For instance, these voluntary groups have successfully formed consensus on key technologies, making it possible to distribute movies in protected environments such as in DVD format, and developing effective technologies for protecting content distributed over cable and satellite. An inter-industry group is now working diligently within CPTWG to develop a consensus on a means to limit the unlawful redistribution of digital content delivered through unprotected over-the-air broadcast channels. This task force (the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group, or BPDG) is working to identify the workable technical and business solutions.
The information technology industry is committed to doing its part in the shared multi-industry development and deployment of effective solutions for the protection of digital content through a variety of distribution channels and an array of settings. We understand this will be an ongoing undertaking, requiring responses as distribution methods and technology evolve and progress. Our goal is to work with you in a consensus-based and cooperative fashion. We urge you to work with us to find technically feasible, cost effective solutions.
We look forward to a fruitful collaboration to achieve our common goal of providing consumers with new and exciting digital entertainment products.
Sincerely,
Michael D. Capellas Chairman and CEO Compaq Computer Corporation
Michael S. Dell Chairman of the Board and CEO Dell
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Chairman of the Board and CEO IBM Corporation
Craig Barrett Chief Executive Officer Intel Corporation
Steve Bennett President and CEO Intuit Inc.
Steven A. Ballmer CEO Microsoft Corporation
Christopher B. Galvin Chairman of the Board and CEO Motorola
John S. Chen Chairman, CEO and President Sybase, Inc.
Lawrence A. Weinbach Chairman of the Board and CEO Unisys Corporation
Cc: Jack Valenti
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