Craig wrote: > Add Bob Wright of NBC to the looooong list of entrenched media moguls > who want their friends in Congress to protect their dying business > model. Gary Shapiro couldn't have spun this more negatively - come to thinks of it perhaps he actually did! Since changing your place of employment to a CEA advertising supported business, you have significantly changed your perspective regarding broadcasting. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Birkmaier" <craig@xxxxxxxxx> To: "OpenDTV Mail List" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 10:44 AM Subject: [opendtv] Wright Issues Call To Copyright Action > Add Bob Wright of NBC to the looooong list of entrenched media moguls > who want their friends in Congress to protect their dying business > model. Today Wright called on Congress to help the media moguls in > their fight for copyright protection, saying that the Copyright > Clause (of the Constitution) is under "enormous pressure and requires > our vigilant attention." > > I've got to agree with him. But the question is, where is the > enormous pressure coming from? > > The big media conglomerates have been behind the gutting of the > intent of the Copyright clause of the constitution, with 11 changes > in the past century alone. > > Talk about the pot calling the kettle black... > > Regards > Craig > > > > Wright Issues Call To Copyright Action > > By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/28/2004 11:42:00 AM > > Add Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution to the freedoms NBC > Universal Chairman Robert Wright is intent on defending. > > In Washington to accept a First Amendment award from the Media > Institute, Wright, the dean of network chiefs, sent a message to > legislators, regulators and whoever else was listening that his > company is ready to lead the fight for copyright protection, saying > the Copyright Clause is under "enormous pressure and requires our > vigilant attention." > > Pointing to a recording industry "decimated by illegal downloads," he > said unrestricted digital copying threatened a $1.25 trillion > business--television, movies, publishing and software--"whose capital > is composed almost entirely of intellectual property," as well as the > sectors that support those industries or depend on them. > > Together, they comprise 12% of the nation's GNP and 11 million jobs, > he said. "I don't think the government gets it," he said. But Wright > wasn't done tallying up the cost. > > "Add in the intellectual property components of other commercial > activity [the kinds his parent, GE, is involved in]...say, > pharmaceuticals, engineering, semiconductors, microtechnologies, and > its entirely likely that more than 20% of our national economy could > be traced to intellectual property of some sort. This is a very big > piece of the national pie to have at risk." > > Wright also said it was a "terrible mistake" to assume that > intellectual property violations were a price or the necessary > byproduct of the transition to digital. > > Wright said that technology, not legislation, is the best solution to > intellectual property theft, but he also said that government needed > to create "new rules of the road for the digital world...that > encourage technological progress yet at the same time uphold the > values that make commerce possible." > > His suggestions: > > 1. Support a house Judiciary Committee package of antipiracy bills > "currently in limbo". > > 2. Find some compromise in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the > so-called induce legislation targeted at peer-to-peer file sharing. > > 3. Support Attorney General John Ashcroft's proposed intellectual > property protection recommendations. > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: > > - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at > FreeLists.org > > - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word > unsubscribe in the subject line. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.