Lawmakers Tuning In to New Media Issues

Rep. Howard L. Berman has a daughter who’s a big fan of downloading music online, but the Mission Hills Democrat is sponsoring a bill that might block file-swapping.

Then there’s Rep. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R.-La.), who was so mesmerized by the crystalline images of a high-definition TV Super Bowl broadcast that he’s pushing the nation to adopt digital television, a costly transition that would require millions of Americans to replace their TV sets.

And Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) made a fan of Walt Disney Co. by introducing a bill requiring anti-piracy devices in new technology, but he’s the entertainment industry’s staunchest foe in blocking big media mergers.

As Hollywood starts to take center stage again in Washington, lawmakers--for different reasons--are promoting legislation that would have a significant effect on consumers’ everyday activities, including buying TVs, taping favorite programs and downloading songs. Unlike past congressional efforts that centered on complaints about sex and violence in movies and songs, the current battles concern more arcane topics, such as analog versus digital TV or copyright infringement.

Although entertainment issues can lead to more headlines and fatter campaign chests, messing with Americans’ television sets or restricting how they use their computers is fraught with political risk.

Tauzin, who as a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has tackled Enron Corp. and energy reform, is facing one of his biggest gambles in an effort to push the nation toward digital TV. After criticism two weeks ago about the potential cost to consumers, the lawmaker distanced himself somewhat from a proposal, written by his staff, that would have required consumers to buy expensive digital TVs or obtain converter boxes to keep their current sets working after Dec. 31, 2006.

“There’s no more dangerous place in America than getting between an American consumer and his television set,” Tauzin said.

When Berman returned home this summer to find out what constituents were thinking, he was surprised to learn that outrage over his file-sharing bill was as strong, and sometimes stronger, than concerns about a possible invasion of Iraq.

“I knew this would be a controversial idea and I liked that,” Berman said. “But I’ve been surprised at how the bill has been mischaracterized.”

Lure of a Challenge

Despite the risks, politicians find entertainment-related issues hard to resist, in part because they strike a chord with voters.

“The risk is there can be repercussions if your name is attached to a plan that has gone awry,” said Andy Spahn, who was an aide to former Sens. Gary Hart of Colorado and Alan Cranston of California and now handles political affairs for DreamWorks SKG. “But if you demonstrate leadership and effectiveness, it’s something you can campaign on.”

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) has established himself as a dependable ally of technology companies and their customers. But he faces fierce opposition from a wide array of entertainment and publishing companies for his proposed Digital Media Consumer Rights Act, which would strengthen consumer rights to make copies of songs and movies.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) is one of the architects of a 1998 law intended to make the Internet safe for copyright holders and new digital distribution businesses. The law has helped record companies in their fight against piracy, but Hatch isn’t in the labels’ corner now. For two years he has prodded them to embrace the Internet and treat artists better by avoiding exploitative contracts and irregular accounting for royalties. And he’s losing patience.

Lawmakers probably won’t pass any laws related to entertainment or media until next year. But behind-the-scenes work, lobbying and bill-drafting are underway.

Tauzin said he realized the potential for digital television while attending a Super Bowl game as a guest of Disney. During important plays, he would watch a 50-inch high-definition TV set in the luxury box rather than watch the live action.

“The picture was so much better,” said Tauzin, a self-described TV addict who now has his own digital set.

Tauzin is preparing to introduce a bill that would speed the rollout of digital TV, a technology that promises richly detailed pictures, CD-quality sound and dozens of extra channels. He adopted the digital TV cause when it became clear that the major TV industries would miss the 2006 digital conversion date that was set in a 1996 law he helped write.

Getting TVs to move at “computer speed” is vital for the nation, Tauzin said, and will help spur the rollout of high-speed Internet access.

“Television has to migrate to digital,” Tauzin said.

The transition to digital TV has prompted a lobbying melee among cable operators, broadcasters, set manufacturers and Hollywood studios. But such squabbling can be a boon to a Capitol Hill deal maker because it may generate heavy campaign contributions from all sides, said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington. Tauzin has received about $62,000 in contributions in the current election cycle, from 2000 to 2002, from entertainment and cable companies, and $2,000 from consumer electronics makers, the center said.

Technology Battle

Berman is trying to tackle another problem that has vexed Congress: file sharing. The recording industry says it is losing billions through the illegal online trading of copyrighted music files, but the file-swapping networks have attracted millions of young people.

His Peer-to-Peer Piracy Prevention Act would give entertainment companies more leeway to block copyrighted materials on file-sharing networks, letting them jam users’ computers electronically and mount other technical counterattacks. Berman said he was attracted by the idea of allowing entertainment companies and file-sharing networks to duke it out with new kinds of technology.

But Berman’s bill also may “sanction a Wild, Wild West” in which record companies and file-sharing networks unleash ever-evolving technology in which innocent consumers get hurt, warned Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a public interest group opposed to the bill.

She noted that Warner Bros., producer of the movie “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” increasingly relies on automated software that searches the hard drives of network users for pirated versions of the hit movie. The studio recently demanded that an Internet service provider terminate a child’s account after the software program mistook the child’s “Harry Potter” book report for a pirated copy of the movie.

Berman and some of his bill’s co-sponsors say they have been astounded by the avalanche of criticism they have received since introducing the bill. He’s been spending lots of time defending the legislation and attempting to explain to young people the harm of illegal file-sharing, including to his 22-year-old daughter.

“We talk about it, but I’m not sure I’ve stopped her from doing it,” Berman said.

He says his staff came up with the idea for the bill, not industry groups. Still, the legislation has enhanced his standing with industry players. Berman is frequently among the top recipients of campaign contributions from Hollywood. In the current election cycle, Berman has collected $192,000 from TV, music and other media companies and their employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Another bill coveted by the entertainment industry is Hollings’ proposed Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act, which would require computer and consumer electronics manufacturers to install government-approved anti-piracy technology in digital audio and video devices. The bill is a response to demands by Hollywood studios for more protection from free swapping of films and TV programs over the Internet.

The populist Hollings is a surprising emissary for the entertainment industry on the anti-piracy front, given his battles with media conglomerates on another issue they care deeply about: relaxation of media ownership rules. Concerned that media companies are growing too large and powerful, Hollings is threatening to block the Federal Communications Commission, which his Senate Commerce Committee oversees, if the FCC moves too aggressively to lift ownership limits.

Diametrically opposed to Hollings’ anti-piracy legislation, Boucher has become the technology industry’s point man on fair use--the provision of copyright law that gives people some freedom to make copies of books, music and movies for personal use. Boucher on Thursday introduced a bill to ensure that copyright owners can’t use the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act to roll back the fair-use rights of consumers, libraries and others who buy media in digital formats.

“The fair-use debate ... is the next most important issue that we have to address,” Boucher said. “Fair use is fundamental to the vibrant exercise of our democracy, because the right to speak relies upon the right to use a broad array of information.”

The 1998 law makes it a crime for anyone to pick an electronic lock that controls access to a digital book, song, game or video, even if the person paid for, say, a DVD copy of “Shrek” and wanted to take a copy of the film on a trip. This anti-circumvention provision, Boucher said, has alarmed libraries, universities, telecommunications companies and electronics manufacturers, all of whom worry about the public’s ability to use copyrighted material.

“Most of these [technology] companies would tell you that the single most important thing that we need to do today is achieve the broad deployment into homes and businesses of [high-speed Internet] architectures,” he said. And consumers won’t demand these broadband connections, Boucher said, unless they can enjoy downloadable music, movies and other material freely in their homes, cars and other places.

Songwriter’s Crusade

In the post-Napster era, Hatch is the only member of Congress with multiple CDs of songs for sale online. A 26-year veteran of the Senate and a leader on copyright issues, Hatch said he started writing inspirational songs in 1995, partly because he wanted to learn more about the inner workings of the music industry.

Not long after penning his first tunes, Hatch helped push through Congress two bills designed to turn the Internet into a profitable new distribution pipeline for the record labels and other entertainment companies. The first, in 1996, created a “digital performance right” that entitled labels and artists to collect royalties from Internet radio stations. The second, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, gave copyright owners a host of tools to combat piracy as an incentive for them to embrace the Net.

But those bills haven’t borne the fruit he expected, Hatch said, despite his campaign for the record labels to “take advantage of the Internet for the benefit of artists and fans.” One sore point is the fate of Napster, the pioneering and now bankrupt online file-sharing service. After being introduced to Napster in 1999, Hatch unsuccessfully pressed the labels to strike licensing deals that would transform the popular service into a legitimate business before file-sharing piracy became a global problem. Although some legitimate online music sites run by record companies are slowly gaining momentum, Hatch said, “I am disappointed that we haven’t gone faster in this area.”

Recently, Hatch has urged the labels to make out-of-print recordings available online and has circulated a measure that would compel the labels to give online music distributors access to those recordings, a move Hatch thinks would help artists and consumers by reviving sales of out-of-print recordings.

The Judiciary Committee hasn’t been as active on music issues since Democrats took control of the Senate and the panel.

Still, Hatch said, he hopes to have more hearings next year and possibly move some legislation.

“We’ve got to find some way that puts incentives to the creative side of this endeavor,” he said.

Sanders reported from Washington, Healey from Los Angeles.