Computer & Electronics Industry Letter to Hollywood

Seeking Private-Sector Copy-Prevention "Solution" in Lieu of SSSCA (Feb. 27, 2002)

February 27, 2002

Dear Sirs:

We write to you to urge inter-industry cooperation to ensure that digital content can be distributed to consumers efficiently through a variety of means. Each of our companies is in the business of developing the hardware and software that will make e-commerce thrive. Constant access to information, through comprehensive broadband deployment and availability, we expect will in time be widely available. It is clear that your companies' entertainment products will form an important part of a thriving on-line economy. Digital television is also an important development, and we expect it will soon become widely available.

Business models are only beginning to be developed for supplying consumers' on-demand entertainment. We recognize the critical importance of effective anti-piracy tools in this changing market environment, and that the absence of such tools may affect the development of new product offerings. To address this concern, our companies have worked diligently, voluntarily and cooperatively with producers of entertainment content, as well as consumer electronics companies, to develop systems that will foster the legitimate distribution of digital content. The Copy Protection Technology Working Group (CPTWG) and the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) have been highly productive fora for developing consensus among the many disparate businesses that must work together to build a robust infrastructure for the secure dissemination of digital content. We have found these voluntary multi-industry standards setting efforts to be optimally effective in reaching workable market solutions.

For instance, these voluntary groups have successfully formed consensus on key technologies, making it possible to distribute movies in protected environments such as in DVD format, and developing effective technologies for protecting content distributed over cable and satellite. An inter-industry group is now working diligently within CPTWG to develop a consensus on a means to limit the unlawful redistribution of digital content delivered through unprotected over-the-air broadcast channels. This task force (the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group, or BPDG) is working to identify the workable technical and business solutions.

The information technology industry is committed to doing its part in the shared multi-industry development and deployment of effective solutions for the protection of digital content through a variety of distribution channels and an array of settings. We understand this will be an ongoing undertaking, requiring responses as distribution methods and technology evolve and progress. Our goal is to work with you in a consensus-based and cooperative fashion. We urge you to work with us to find technically feasible, cost effective solutions.

We look forward to a fruitful collaboration to achieve our common goal of providing consumers with new and exciting digital entertainment products.

Sincerely,

Michael D. Capellas
Chairman and CEO
Compaq Computer Corporation

Michael S. Dell
Chairman of the Board and CEO
Dell

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Chairman of the Board and CEO
IBM Corporation

Craig Barrett
Chief Executive Officer
Intel Corporation

Steve Bennett
President and CEO
Intuit Inc.

Steven A. Ballmer
CEO
Microsoft Corporation

Christopher B. Galvin
Chairman of the Board and CEO
Motorola

John S. Chen
Chairman, CEO and President
Sybase, Inc.

Lawrence A. Weinbach
Chairman of the Board and CEO
Unisys Corporation

Cc: Jack Valenti

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