Eisner Trots Out ‘Dinosaur’ in Capitol Plea

Why were members of Congress watching the movie “Dinosaur” in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday?

Walt Disney Co. chief Michael Eisner arranged the screening to graphically make a point about the dangers of cyber-piracy.

Speaking to the Congressional Internet Caucus, Eisner urged lawmakers to consider legislation that would require computer makers and Internet service providers to install technology preventing users from downloading copyrighted material.

“Just as our society is beginning to address other security threats posed by the Internet, we must address the security of copyrights,” he said. “Theft is theft, whether it is enabled by a handgun or a computer keyboard.”

“Dinosaur,” he noted, took more than four years to produce, required new technology and sent film crews to locations such as Australia, Jordan “and even so far as the Los Angeles County Arboretum in exotic Arcadia.” It involved crunching 45 million megabytes of data, enough to fill 70,000 CD-ROMs, he said.

Yet if the material got into the wrong hands, it could be compressed onto a single DVD in a matter of minutes and instantaneously put on the Internet while the film was still in theaters, he said. He added that pirated videotapes of “Dinosaur” are already turning up on the streets of Malaysia.

Although no specific legislation is in the works, several lawmakers in the audience pledged to study the issue.

But Eisner did not escape criticism during his stop on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) called it hypocritical for the entertainment industry to seek congressional help to protect its profits when it has so often portrayed corporate executives in films as money-grubbing bad guys.

“Businessmen and Republicans are portrayed as the enemy constantly, and here we have a billionaire who’s trying to make sure that ordinary people don’t take away more of his profit,” Rohrabacher said after Eisner’s speech.

Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs), however, said her GOP colleague “forgets about a little thing called the First Amendment.”

Eisner told lawmakers that “intellectual-property rights are really no different from ordinary property rights. If you own something, you expect the government to respect your right to keep it from being stolen.”

“This is a crisis issue for us,” he added. “But I think it’s also a crisis issue for our whole economy.”

Noting that foreign sales from movies and other copyright-related industries are now greater than those of virtually every other--including autos and agriculture--he said, “At a time of burgeoning trade deficits, we must act to assure the security of one of America’s few positive trade assets.”

Studios, broadcasters and record companies need to develop technologies that stay one step ahead of the hackers, Eisner said. Such technology could offer a solution to other cyberspace concerns, such as credit card security and children’s Web surfing, he said.

Asked if computer companies and Internet service providers would voluntarily install such technology, Eisner responded: “Would the car companies have put in seat belts voluntarily? I think not.”

Eisner said computer users must be educated about the “legal and moral implications of downloading copyrighted material off the Internet.”

“As long as intellectual-property rights are adequately protected, then I firmly expect that the pirates will be defeated and the entertainment industry will not go the way of the dinosaur,” he said.