ƒc Joe Biden and Diane Feinstein are teaming up with the Republicans to run this DRM - Digital Rights Management - Bill thru Congress.   It was defeated last year but never count out the megacorps behind the RIAA-MPIA consortium.

Senators aim to restrict Net, satellite radio recording at ZDNet explains what these good folks are up to.   This new digital age we live in is not a revolution but an evolution of the days of 8-track tapes, then cassette tapes, then CD's and now MP3's.   The BetaMax vs VHS war was another twist in the ability of consumers to record copyrighted material that has evolved in DVD, DVR and TIVO recording.   Without staying on top of what is going on today, the consumers of digital music and video are doing themselves a disservice.   If this issue concerns you, I urge you to take action...  - ƒc

Don't Let Congress Shackle Digital Music

The new Congress has barely begun, but the major record labels are already up to their old tricks.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has re-introduced the PERFORM Act, a backdoor assault on your right to record off the radio. Satellite and digital radio stations as well as Internet webcasters would have to adopt digital rights management (DRM) restrictions or lose the statutory license for broadcasting music. Letters from constituents like you helped beat this dangerous proposal last year -- take action now to block it again.

This bill aims to hobble TiVo-like devices for satellite and digital radio. Such devices would be allowed to include "reasonable recording" features, but that excludes choosing and playing back selections based on song title, artist, or genre. Want to freely move recordings around your home network or copy them to the portable player of your choice? You'll be out of luck if PERFORM passes.

±  Click To Expand    Read The Petition

As a constituent with an interest in technological innovation and the future of the Internet, I am writing to ask you to oppose S.256, the PERFORM Act, introduced in the Senate by Senator Feinstein. This bill is an attempt by the recording industry to cure short term contractual issues by placing blanket restrictions on technology, curtailing the right of consumers to noncommercial recording in their own homes, and mandating their own restricted radio streaming standards. The bill would forbid future digital radio receivers that allowed "automated recording, or playback based on specific programs, time periods, or channels as selected by the user" in digital radio -- even though such abilities are unrelated to online piracy and have been a source of innovation in other media, such as TiVo and other digital video recorders. The bill would also for the first time compel Internet radio stations -- individuals and companies broadcasting streaming music online -- to abandon the established MP3 standard in preference for a narrow selection of government-permitted, incompatible, proprietary formats. Our modern copyright law has always avoided playing kingmaker with technology. The PERFORM Act would break this important principle and create a very dangerous precedent. Last year, the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition called PERFORM "strictly a bill to limit the options of honest people." Musician Todd Rundgren told the Senate Judiciary committee that it was "yet another futile attempt to turn back the clock" by the music industry. I urge you to defend my right to home recording, and the freedom of technologists and musicians to innovate new, profitable technological tools. Please oppose the PERFORM Act.

Sign This Petition...
 Technorati Cosmos ( Blogs Who Link To This Petition )

Other Information About This Issue...
EFF summary of the bill's implications for webcasters.	Sign The Petition at 'Save Internet Radio'
•   Full Test of the PERFORM Bill	•   PerformAct.com

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Tags ::  Politics • Save Internet Radio • DRM • RIAA