[Ecommerce] OECD and DRM (in Washington Internet Daily)

[Manon Ress]

OECD Meeting in Rome

TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2006  WASHINGTON INTERNET DAILY

Govt. Shouldn't Pick Digital Content Winners, Losers, Speakers Say

ROME -- Govts. should only monitor the digital content market and not
try ad hoc or advance regulation, said several industry speakers at
an international conference on "The Future of Digital Content"
organized by the Organization of Economic Cooperation & Development
(OECD) and the Italian Ministry of Innovation & Technology.  The OECD
has published in-depth studies on the mobile content, games, music
and  scientific publishing markets.  Next in line is a study about
the digital film market.

FCC Comr. Copps, like business representatives, said:  "The role of
government is not to pick winners and losers." Govt. is poorly
equipped to do that, he said, but much better at erasing barriers to
competition.  Speakers also said transparency of regulation would
help, and consumers would reap the benefits of a competitive market.
Copps also said it was important to "protect the dynamic character of
the Internet, where people can express themselves freely."  A 2nd
role of govt. is to ensure that advanced technology reaches all
citizens, including those in remote areas and without large income,
he said.

Govt. intervention in standardization also should be limited,
speakers said.  Patents on important standards are a big challenge,
according to Donald Whiteside, Intel vp-corporate strategy.
Whiteside said it's up to those involved in standards to talk about
rules to announce IP claims early in standardization processes -- but
compulsory licenses and requirements that core standards should be
free should be rejected.  If EU govts. wants to actively promote
digital content, the system of copyright levies should be reformed to
encourage development of digital rights management (DRM)systems.

But DRM is a contentious issue.  Consumer rights groups like the
Consumer Project for Technology (CPT) and the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, both invited to speak at the conference, warned of what
they see as lock-in effects of DRM.  CPT Dir. Jamie Love said:
"Before a technical protection management or digital rights
management is protected by law against circumvention, it should seek
approval."  Love also urgently backed an Access to Knowledge Treaty
to balance the interests of users and rightsholders given the fact
that rightsholders were pushing for more protection.

The OECD also asked for caution with DRM.  The OECD recommendations
are that regulatory frameworks should balance the interests of
suppliers and users in areas such as the protection of intellectual
property rights -- a demand that was highlighted here by Lucio
Stanca, Italy's Minister of Innovation & Technology.  Stanca urged
lowering the cost of protection of content because the number of
consumers is so much bigger in the digital world.  He also urged
avoiding tackling issues locally that should only be tackled
internationally.

Eli Noam, dir. of Columbia U.=92s Institute of Tele-Information,
outlined possible futures for the digital content market.  One is
"let a million flowers bloom," with major and independent content
producers.  The other is "a billion flowers blooming":  Consumers
will produce content themselves, as has started with blogging and
podcasting.  On the other hand there could only 10 or 100 flowers,
meaning the majors from Microsoft to Google and Yahoo, said Noam.
That would deeply affect culture and politics, he said. -- Monika Ermert

************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology
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