It was a warm and fuzzy occasion by Washington standards, but the deal reached between music and tech groups last week may only signal more turmoil in the coming months as old and new rifts surface.
Last week, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Business Software Alliance and the Computer Systems Policy Project agreed to jointly oppose digital copy-protection mandates from Congress, devise voluntary copy-protection schemes and educate consumers on piracy.
It was a strange triad, considering the mud slung between the music and tech camps in recent years over file sharing and peer-to-peer networks. The BSA and CSPP represent major players such as Microsoft, Intel and Dell.
"We're attempting to get away from the rhetoric and get back to principles," said Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA. "People have cast content and tech companies as adversaries rather than partners. But we have a lot more in common than we have differences."
Both sides lose quite a bit of control over their products if Congress enacts strict copy-protection mandates. Hardware makers would have to relinquish control over development and content companies would lose control over distribution.
"Policy making just requires these coalitions of convenience," said Gary Arlen of Arlen Communications in Bethesda, Maryland. "It's the most convoluted process because so much is riding on it. It's going to be ugly to watch."
The fact that movie and consumer electronics industry groups are not in on the new alliance is notable.
The Motion Picture Association of America supports legislation by Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) that would give content owners more latitude to restrict copying. The Consumer Electronics Association, meanwhile, supports a bill by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and John Doolittle (R-Calif.) that would make it easier for consumers to make digital copies of movies, music and other digital content.
According to the CEA, companies that make DVD players and personal video recorders have been scared to innovate because of confusing copyright provisions in current law.
"The manufacturers don't know whether some of the products they're introducing are legal or not," said CEA President Gary Shapiro.
Consumers are caught in the middle. Depending on whose rhetoric they believe, those who download and copy digital content are either fair-use champions or thieving pirates.
Of course, the music industry may now realize that cooperation is key if workable copy protections are ever going to thwart file sharing and peer-to-peer networks.
"It's going to take so much more time if they are acrimonious," said Bobby Rosenbloum, a music attorney at Greenberg Taurig in New York City. "The music industry is realizing that companies that are doing things legitimately are not its biggest problem.... The real enemy is the common enemy."
But it remains unclear whether the music and tech industries' newfound camaraderie will produce workable copy-protection measures. The industry's original effort -- known as the Secure Digital Music Initiative -- has been on ice since May 2001.
"SDMI is in hibernation," acknowledged Sherman. "But we've kept it as an entity in case lightning strikes."
Sherman blamed Napster and other file-sharing services that made it hard for the initiative to gain traction. Of course, unlike SDMI, the agreement announced last week doesn't try to restrict copy protection to just one scheme.
"With SDMI, they tried to do something from the top down, imposing on the marketplace," said Emery Simon, general counsel for the BSA. "The realization they came to is that that's replete with problems."
This time, Simon said, the goal is to create a "smorgasbord" of copy-protection schemes that work on a panoply of gadgets.
