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Leslie Vadasz, Intel Exec. VP, Letter to Sen. HollingsRegarding SSSCA and Hollywood Attempts to Control TechnologyFebruary 28, 2002
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Dear Chairman Hollings and members of the Committee: I write to thank you for the opportunity to testify today before the committee on the important issues of content protection for digital media. After my appearance today, I received a number of questions from members of the press about a few key points and I wanted to convey to the members of the committee my answers to those questions to be included in the record of the hearing, with the Committee's permission. I believe this additional information will help the committee understand more fully the IT perspective. I reiterate that the CPTWG cross-industry working group has developed effective technology that is available today that can and will protect new digital, secured content from being pirated on the Internet. If it is protected "at the source" it will always be protected from the illegal activities of Internet pirates. Sony Pictures and AOL-Time/Warner have in fact licensed this technology. However, there was a point of confusion injected before the Committee by Mr. Eisner and Mr. Chernin, specifically: the securing of unprotected content from Internet piracy. It is important for the Committee to understand that content, once captured in "unprotected" form, can never be put back in the "bottle" and protected against copying on the Internet. This is because this unprotected media looks no different to digital devices than a home movie that you would send to a relative or friend. There is no watermark, chip device, or screening system that will ever effectively put an end to this problem. Only the passage of time as new content is released with the required protection technologies will eventually solve Internet piracy. Mr. Perry, who co-chairs the relevant working group within the CPTWG, also made this clear. Another major point of misunderstanding is our differing perspectives on the role of the PC in the hands of the consumer. Mr. Eisner's characterization of the phrase "rip, mix, burn" as emblematic of our industry's perspective on piracy is utterly false. What the content community fails to recognize is that these utilities the ability to copy content, remix and manage it and port it to other storage media for personal use in a protected fashion are features that consumers have come to expect. The ability to rip, mix and burn in a protected manner is not piracy, it is simply fair use of content as permitted by law. As I said, we will continue to work with all interested parties on these important issues, as they are vitally important to our industries and the nation's economy. Thank you again for the opportunity to present our position on these important matters. Sincerely,
Leslie L. Vadasz
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