FC: NYT oped on Hollywood's plan: "It'll help Silicon Valley grow up"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous Politech message:

"Hollywood wants to plug 'analog hole,' regulate A-D converters"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03578.html

Cypress CEO TJ Rodgers' do-not-normalize-relations view:
http://www.cato.org/cgi-bin/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=silvalley.html&cart_id=

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Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 11:51:14 -0400
To: declan () well com, politech () politechbot com
From: Marc Rotenberg <rotenberg () epic org>
Subject: Re: FC: Hollywood wants to plug "analog hole," regulate A-D converters

The rejoinder (and timely) . . .



http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/24/opinion/24TRIS.html

May 24, 2002

NOTES FROM SAN JOSE

Silicon Valley Grows Up

By CLAIRE TRISTRAM

 * * *

The same broken dialogue is now repeating itself between Silicon
Valley and Hollywood. Hollywood went to Congress to block any sale
of DVD's without legislatively mandated copy protection. It sued to
block the sale of MP3 players and digital VCR's because these
devices make it easy to make fast, durable, portable copies of music
or movies.

Silicon Valley responds - in that rational, superior way
technologists sometimes have - that of course digital technology
makes possible better reproductions that last longer than their
analog counterparts. Hollywood, valley executives say, doesn't
understand the upside potential and is stifling innovation. Besides,
these guys said the same thing about the VCR, and in 2001 consumers
spent more than twice as much on videos as they did at the box
office.

 * * *

Hollywood's latest bid for protection from digital theft is called
the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act,
sponsored by Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, chairman of the
Senate Commerce Committee. At its heart, the legislation aims to
force Silicon Valley and Hollywood to work together to come up with
a way to protect copyrighted digital material; if they don't, the
government will step in. Technologists see any "solution" as
impossible, or at least fleeting, since no software has yet been
written that can completely prevent piracy.

But simply stating "you just don't understand, Senator" - even if it
is a perfectly reasonable response - isn't going to work in this
latest battle, as Silicon Valley is learning. Hollywood does a far
better job than the valley of speaking in one voice on Capitol Hill.
Painfully, if not surprisingly, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, former mayor
of San Francisco, is a co-sponsor of the Hollings bill; Hollywood
has contributed roughly twice as much money to her as Silicon Valley
has.

 * * *

In some ways, this populist activism is curious for an industry that
has increasingly served the needs of business rather than those of
consumers. But maybe that's the best thing about this fight. It has
galvanized this place as nothing has for at least a couple of years.
It reminds the industry of its relevance. And maybe, just maybe, by
exposing its immaturity - after all, the technology industry can no
longer act like a brilliant but misunderstood child - this debate
will help Silicon Valley grow up.

Claire Tristram writes frequently about technology and business in
Silicon Valley.




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