Three of the most powerful industries in the United States - music, movies, and software - this week are urging Congress to move quickly to ratify two international treaties that would update copyright laws for the digital age. But they have competition for congressional ears: info-tech companies, especially Internet service providers, which say the treaties are incomplete.
"We're not just providing music the whole world wants to listen to, we're providing music the whole world wants to steal," said Hilary Rosen, president and chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America, which supports the treaty as written. "Ratification of these treaties would bring other countries up to par with US copyright standards."
The World Intellectual Property Organization treaties, signed by 96 nations in Geneva in December, would change US law to protect the technology on which copyrighted material is transmitted, namely the Internet. The treaties would also force countries that allow a free flow of pirated music, videos, and software to bring their policies up to par with those in the United States - prohibiting, for instance, duplication and resale of copyrighted materials.
Ratification opponents say the treaties fail to protect those who unwittingly transmit pirated materials over networks. The shorthand term for that unwitting group: ISPs.
"We would prefer an honest-to-goodness recognition on the part of everybody that we are not liable for pirated packets running across our networks," said Glen Harrah Cady, public policy spokesman for Netcom, which is part of the Ad Hoc Copyright Committee - a group that includes Prodigy, Netscape, Bell South, AT&T, and MCI.
But industry powerhouses that are lobbying Congress to ratify the treaties this fall say these concerns should be addressed through other legislation and that the treaties are meant as a framework.
"It is metaphysically untidy that Congress could hesitate in ratifying this treaty," said Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America and longtime lobbyist for stronger copyright laws. "It must not be held hostage to those opposing it."
Although the treaties were agreed upon nearly a year ago, the administration did not send them to Congress until July. The pacts don't take effect until at least 30 countries approve them - and all eyes are on the United States to do so first. The House will hold ratification hearings this week.
"It's a matter of getting people moving on legislation that isn't always front-burner," said John Sturm, chief of the Newspaper Association of America, which supports the treaties' ratification, especially as more and more newspapers go online.
Some members of Congress are already planning to address concerns of ISPs and other industries wary of the current treaties. Electronics manufacturers, for instance, fear the treaties would ban the use of duplicating machines such as videocassette recorders. Senator John Ashcroft (R-Missouri) last week introduced a bill that he says would close some of these issues not addressed in the WIPO treaties.
And although ISPs support such legislation, they say protection of those transmitting the content should not be overlooked in the actual treaties.
"This is not a fringe issue to those of us who could be sued," Netcom's Cady said.
