[Infowarrior] - Senators aim to restrict Net, satellite radio recording

[Richard Forno]

Senators aim to restrict Net, satellite radio recording

By Anne Broache
http://news.com.com/Senators+aim+to+restrict+Net%2C+satellite+radio+recordin
g/2100-1028_3-6149915.html

Story last modified Fri Jan 12 10:55:40 PST 2007

Satellite and Internet radio services must restrict listeners' ability to
record and play back individual songs, under new legislation introduced this
week in the U.S. Senate.

The rules are embedded in a copyright bill called the "Platform Equality and
Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act," or Perform Act, which was
reintroduced Thursday by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Lindsey
Graham (R-S.C.), Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). They
have pitched the proposal, which first emerged in an earlier version last
spring, as a means to level the playing field among "radio-like services"
available via cable, satellite and the Internet.

By their description, that means requiring all such services to pay "fair
market value" for the use of copyright music libraries. The bill's sponsors
argue the existing regime must change because it applies different royalty
rates, depending on what medium transmits the music.

But the measure goes further, taking aim at portable satellite radio
devices, such as XM Satellite Radio's Inno player, that allow consumers to
store copies of songs originally played on-air. The proposal says that all
audio services--Webcasters included--would be obligated to implement
"reasonably available and economically reasonable" copy-protection
technology aimed at preventing "music theft" and restricting automatic
recording.

"New radio services are allowing users to do more than simply listen to
music," Feinstein said in a statement. "What was once a passive listening
experience has turned into a forum where users can record, manipulate,
collect and create personalized music libraries."

The Recording Industry Association of America applauded the effort and urged
Congress to make enacting the law a top priority this year. The lobbying
group sued XM last year over a music-storing device offered by the service,
arguing that it should have to pay licensing fees akin to what Apple pays to
run its iTunes download service.

"We love satellite radio," RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol said in a statement. "But
this is simply no way to do business. It's in everyone's best interest to
ensure a marketplace where fair competition can thrive."

In what the bill's sponsors describe as an attempt to avoid "harming"
songwriters and performers, the Perform Act makes distinctions about what
sort of recordings listeners would be allowed to make, according to a copy
of the bill obtained by CNET News.com.

Radio listeners would be permitted to set their devices to automatically
record full radio programs on certain channels at certain times. But
allowing users to program their devices to automatically find and record
specific sound recordings, artists or albums--say, only all Michael Jackson
tracks played on the service--would be prohibited. So-called "manual"
recording would be allowed, as long as it's done "in a manner that is not an
infringement of copyright."

In addition, the services would have to employ technological protection
measures that prevent people from "separating component segments of the
copyrighted material" contained in broadcasts. And they would be required to
restrict users' "redistribution, retransmission or other exporting" of all
or part of copyright music to other devices--unless the destination device
is part of a secure in-home network that also limits the scope of automated
recordings.

It is unclear how the proposed requirements would affect software recorders.
A Mac OS X utility called StreamRipperX, for instance, permits songs from
Internet radio stations to be saved as unprotected MP3 files. If future
versions of such software tried to circumvent the digital rights management
(DRM) technology used in encrypted broadcasts, they would almost certainly
violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Digital rights advocacy groups vowed to fight the proposal. A similar bill
of the same name introduced last spring encountered considerable resistance
from such groups and individual Webcasters, even spawning an opposition Web
site.

Opponents argue the proposed rules would stymie users' ability to record
music off of the radio. And by forcing Webcasters to blanket their content
with DRM schemes, they would essentially erase the possibility of editing
broadcasts for personal use and would potentially make the shows
interoperable with fewer portable players.

Under current law, Webcasters must pay royalties to record companies and may
not assist their users in recording their Webcasts, but they do not have to
employ DRM. Most streaming radio stations, including those operated through
Live365, ShoutCast and Apple's iTunes, use an open MP3-streaming format.

The proposal "remains a fundamental assault on consumers' reasonable rights
and expectations about home recording and fair use in any modern context,"
said Robert Schwartz, general counsel to the Home Recording Rights
Coalition.

Gigi Sohn, president of advocacy group Public Knowledge, said she
sympathized with calls for streamlined music licensing but blasted the bill
as "a direct attack on the satellite music industry and on nascent
terrestrial digital radio." She said the bill attempts wrongly to equate
download services like iTunes with radio services.

"This bill looks to the past rather than to the future," she said in a
statement, "by limiting the ability of consumers to use material to which
they have subscribed and by limiting future innovations in electronics."

CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh contributed to this report.