HRRC Calls Attention To MPAA Policy Flip-Flop; Tells ASCAP/BMI To Look To Congress For DMCA Exceptions

Opposes NMPA Music Scrambling Mandate

17-Mar-04

Opposing various anti-consumer petitions in the FCCs ìplug-and-playî rulemaking, the Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC) urged the Commission to reject the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) effort to push for a regulatory mandate regarding ìselectable output controlî in a filing submitted March 10, 2004 to the FCC. In the filing, HRRC argued such a regime would hurt consumers and disenfranchise millions of early adopters who have acquired high-definition television (HDTV) monitors and re-corders.HRRC argued that the studios were asking for ability to turn off electronically, on a whim and without warning, the connections that supply HDTV signals from ìset-top boxesî and other home tuners to HDTV receivers and digital video recorders (DVRs). This would limit or destroy law-abiding consumers' ability to record, or even view, HDTV. HRRC Chairman Gary Shapiro noted, ìBarely two years ago a senior studio executive assured Senator Conrad Burns in a Senate hearing that his studio and other content companies had ëexplicitly abandoned this proposal many years ago.í We have provided the FCC with an MP3 file containing the full two minute exchange at the hearing. ìNo one disputes that MPAA and its member companies have the right to change their mind, but they should at least level with the American public, the FCC, and Congress about what they now want and why.îIn its filing, HRRC also criticized music publishers BMI and ASCAP for petitioning the Commission for permission to engage in circumvention conduct outlawed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). ìSix years after the DMCAís enactment, we certainly appreciate the belated recognition of some in the content community that there ought to be ëfair useí defenses to conduct that would violate the DMCA,î Shapiro said. ìSince the FCC cannot nullify an act of Congress, their arguments would be better presented to Congress when it takes up legislation that would permit consumers to engage in fair use activities without fear of prosecution under the DMCA.î ìWe trust Congress will give appropriate consideration to their request for the ability to circumvent encryption and other technical measures to advance their business objectives. However, since the purpose of the ASCAP/BMI petition seems to be to allow these rights organizations to monitor in-home consumer practices, we, along with American consumers, would expect it to be opposed.î Finally, HRRC criticized a National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) proposal made in both the ìplug-and-playî and ìbroadcast flagî proceedings to engraft an FCC mandate to scramble digital audio outputs, apparently in ways that could not be read by any existing consumer device. Shapiro said this reflects ìa callous disregard for the consuming public.îFor additional information on the HRRC, please visit www.hrrc.org. 

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