BILL WOULD GIVE PRIVATE SECTOR YEAR TO SET DIGITAL COPY STANDARDS

Introduction late Thurs. of long-expected but controversial legislation that would require copyright, consumer electronics (CE) and information technology (IT) industries to craft standards for digital rights protection - - or have govt. do it for them -- brought cheers from content owners. Proposed “Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act of 2002” (S-2048) was filed by Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings (D-S.C.) and co-sponsored by Sens. Stevens (R-Alaska), Inouye (D-Hawaii), Breaux (D-La.), Nelson (D-Fla.) and Feinstein (D-Cal.). S-2048 would require industries to develop copyright protection standards, technologies and encoding rules within one year, Hollings said. Technologies would be incorporated in all digital media devices. Content delivered over Internet and in broadcast signals would include instructions to consumers about their ability to copy content and would bar illegal transmission of material. Devices such as TV, cable boxes and PCs would have to be manufactured to recognize and respond to those instructions. Rules to be developed would have to preserve fair-use rights for educational and research purposes and legitimate consumer copying, Hollings said. If private sector failed to come up with standards and rules, S- 2048 would require FCC to implement technologically feasible solutions in consultation with same industries.