The farce behind 'Digital Freedom'

THE FARCE BEHIND 'DIGITAL FREEDOM'
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Cary Sherman, RIAA]
[Commmentary] Last month, the Consumer Electronics Association and other groups announced a "Digital Freedom" campaign that latches onto the concept of fair use--supposedly to benefit consumers. Seems like a worthwhile effort. But in truth, it's merely a return to an increasingly used playbook, an extremist interpretation of fair use to frighten and mislead consumers and policymakers. The "Digital Freedom" proponents have consistently staked their case out of the mainstream. CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro's comment that unauthorized downloading is neither "illegal nor immoral" is illustrative of the extremist position of that group, especially given the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion otherwise in its 2005 Grokster ruling. Fair use is, fundamentally, a balancing of interests. All interests. Fairness requires us to look in all directions and to hear from all sides. The thousands of people who work in our industry--from songwriters, to musicians, to artists, to producers, to engineers, to promoters, to label employees--deserve that consideration. The "Digital Freedom" campaign claims that the entertainment industry's goal is to "outlaw new digital technology and devices." This kind of knowingly false and incendiary rhetoric is designed to distort the issue and thwart solutions by demonizing us. The fact is, we are not only music fans, but technology fans, too. We celebrate advances in technology and recognize the importance of finding new ways to deliver content. Instead of redefining fair use to promote a short-term free-for-all, let's embrace the existing concept to allow for long-term growth of technology, while valuing and protecting the content it carries. That benefits us all.
http://news.com.com/The+farce+behind+Digital+Freedom/2010-1025_3-6134620...