Lawmakers Debate Internet Copyright Bill

Hollywood studios and software developers squared off against Internet traditionalists Wednesday as a congressional panel began debate on a bill aimed at updating copyright laws to protect music recordings, software, movies and other creative works from piracy on the Internet.

The hearings, before the House Judiciary subcommittee on courts and intellectual property, came amid a fierce debate over how best to protect intellectual property in an age in which music recordings, photographs, software, books and other works can easily be copied and stored in computer code and distributed to millions of people with a few keyboard strokes.

Supporters of a measure, introduced in November by subcommittee chairman Carlos Moorhead (R-Glendale) and Reps. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.) and Howard Coble (R-N.C.), say new copyright laws are needed to extend protection to computer online services. Current copyright laws help generate more than $50 billion a year for the U.S. music and film industries alone.

The bill would impose financial liability on commercial online service providers for any infringement of copyrights by subscribers who post-copyrighted books or pictures without permission.

The bill would narrow the definition of “fair use” of copyrighted works to mostly “educational purposes.” Finally, it would require the industry to develop an electronic means of tracking reproduction and licensing of creative works.

Opponents of the legislation, among them Internet user groups and librarians, say the bill would curtail their ability to learn and freely communicate with others. They say the bill would cripple use of a worldwide computer network that now connects about 30 million people around the globe. “The legislation is overkill . . . and will create a technological police state on the Internet,” said Jamie Love, director of the Consumer Project on Technology, a Washington-based Internet advocacy group.