Just Say No to a Telecom Bill

Danny O’Brien of EFF gives us another reason we should just say no to a new telecom bill:

the broadcast flags, both video and audio, have been wandering the halls of Congress, looking to smuggle themselves into law, like tramps looking for an empty boxcar. For nearly a year, neither the MPAA and RIAA have been able to find them a ride. The MPAA failed to introduce the broadcast flag language into an appropriations bill, or the reconciliation bill, nor could they sneak it into last year’s urgent digital television transition bills. The RIAA’s audio flag has been rebuffed at every turn.

But early this week, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) introduced a long awaited 125-page draft reform of the Communications Act to the Senate Commerce Committee last week, and both flags found their lift. With telecom reform likely, it’s critical that you take action now to stop these dangerous proposals from coming along for the ride.

The flags are stuck in a crowded carriage with a handful of other controversial causes: net neutrality, universal service, municipal broadband. The bill is already a product of much behind-the-scenes wrangling, and there will be jostling and bargaining before a vote takes place. Though supposedly bi-partisan, Senator Inouye gave it the most unenthusiastic endorsement a sponsor could give.

Many members of Congress still don’t understand the danger to innovation and fair use posed by these government technology mandates. Experts agree that neither flag mandate will prevent continued leakage of music and TV onto the Internet, but it will give FCC bureaucrats, acting in the interests of the entertainment industry, the power to meddle in what you do with bits in your own home.

Whatever your views on DRM more generally, I think it’s clearly bad policy for Congress to mandate the use of a particular DRM technology or to give the FCC the power to set DRM standards. There are a handful of good things Congress could do with a new telecom bill, but as the sausage-making process grinds on, it’s becoming more and more clear that the best we can hope for is for Congress to leave well enough alone.

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