September 10, 2003

Digital Freedom Update

Jody Leavell files this report from today's Tennessee legislative hearing on legislation that will limit your digital freedoms. Here it is:

The Cable Industry and BellSouth lobbyists were attending prominently. Some of them are:

Curtis Person, III (son of Senator Person)
Tony Thompson (MPAA lobbyist)
Stacy Briggs (representative for Cable Industry Association)
Anne Carr (lobbyist for cable industry)
Jim Spears (lobbyist for BellSouth)
Barry Counts (lobbyist for Sprint)

The Tennessee Digital Freedom Network had three members present with Scott Kozicki speaking.

David Mills was representing Vanderbilt University.

Senator Person chaired the initial organization of the committee which selected Senator Trail as the official Chairperson and Senator Odom as the Vice-Chair. The Senate Rules were adopted to govern all proceedings.

A review of what the bill was about and what the conflicts were was discussed. Senator Trail recalled that he felt like he needed a translator when listening to all those college kids who opposed the bill. Stacy Briggs was asked to reiterate the goals of the Cable Industry. Scott Kozicki was asked to present the objections of consumers represented through TNDF. Senator Trail asked that Scott and Stacy prepare a list of those things they couldn't work out in the last session to avoid covering ground they already agreed upon. Some mention was made among the committee that the original form of the bill should be thrown out and everyone start from scratch. Representative Briley commented that the style of the original bill was intended to keep up with the evolving technology so they don't have to amend it every two or three years. Some mention of a schedule for this fall was made but not formally decided upon. The next meeting I believe was scheduled. The meeting was adjourned and the various players set about discussing ideas off the record. The state's legal counsel was present and spent several minutes speaking with Anne Carr and Tony Thompson.

From what I heard the Cable industry is still the lead proponent of the same legislation introduced this past session commonly referred to as the "Telecommunications Theft of Service Bill". But BellSouth, Sprint, and the MPAA were sitting in their camp. The legislators still do not see that it is about more then preventing cable service theft. Stacy Briggs presented nothing new, which indicates the industry hasn't changed its mind on the issue at all. I do remember Senator Trail commenting several times about the similarity to what they want and what the record companies are doing[suing] to young kids they accuse of theft of music. TNDF will get together to list the issues they will not budge on, including(most likely) that the wording of the bill not contain any of the original language. It is definitely time to get organized again to oppose the industries attempt to legalize anti-competitive business practices and usurp basic civil rights.

Now my two cents worth: The legislators need to be made aware of the larger debate surrounding new communications technology and the regulatory framework they operate in. They need to see how consumers rights must be placed first in the discussion, ahead of the industries need to protect itself. As long as monopolies are granted to the industry they will have to live with the quid-pro-quo of the regulatory world. What the state legislators do today may conflict with what the federal regulators do in the future, which is uncertain right now. It is a short stretch to link the industry attempts in the Super DMCA laws to their attempts to have the FCC grant them rights to dominate local media markets. We all know what a hot potato that has become. The overall threat to freedom from such strategic moves is real and the people are quickly catching on.