Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) will likely hold hearings on a bill to increase protection of CDs and DVDs from piracy. His bill—the Security System Standards and Certfication Act (SSSCA)—proposes to go beyond the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits the creation and use of tools that circumvent digital rights management technologies. Instead, the SSSCA proposes forcing computer manufacturers to build copyright protection measures directly into computers, Palm Pilots and MP3 players. Drafts of the legislation make it a civil offense to make or sell digital technologies that do not contain these “certified security technologies.” The bill would also impose criminal penalties on those who alter existing security technologies or disable copy protection mechanisms.
This new type of protection would be achieved through digital “watermarks” on all digital media, which its proponents suggest is more effective than current encryption methods. For example, each DVD would have a digital watermark identifying it as an authorized, copyrighted copy. Devices and software designed according to the industry’s proposed new standard would look for the watermark and would limit whether, and how often, a copy of that DVD could be made. In addition, digital devices would be required to not play content without valid watermarks. This would prevent people from circumventing the technology by removing the watermarks.
This legislation is strongly supported by Hollywood content providers. The industry feels that failing to build copy protection into the digital environment, in a worst-case scenario, will lead to their industry’s destruction. One particular area of great concern for them is digital television. Unlike DVDs, digital broadcasts must be delivered unencrypted because of FCC rules. The prospect of high-quality, unencrypted content delivered digitally scares Hollywood, as this content can just be copied and shared for free over the Internet.
On the other side of the debate are the software and technology companies who are generally opposed to this type of government-mandated restriction. They want to give their customers more features and power, not less. In addition, corporations like IBM and Microsoft are developing their own ways of protecting copyrights using encryption. Any government mandate relying on watermarks would force them to lose the market they were hoping to take advantage of. With these two powerful forces from Hollywood and Silicon Valley at odds over the Hollings bill, the future seems to be a continuation of the status quo and less protection for content providers.
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