June 16, 2004 5:30 PM PDT
Piracy battle begins over digital radio
- Related Stories
-
FCC to look at digital radio piracy?
April 7, 2004 -
Will HDTV antipiracy plan unplug digital networks?
April 7, 2004 -
Tuning in to digital radio
October 21, 2002
Digital radio, which transforms traditional over-the-air broadcasts into the same kind of bits and bytes used in Internet transmissions, promises to boost the audio quality of FM signals to that of a CD. But it also holds out the promise of transforming radio listening in the same way that TiVo hard drive-based recorders have changed TV--by providing powerful recording and playback options.
The new medium has attracted the attention of the Federal Communications Commission, which recently began a proceeding that could end up laying out content protection rules and other regulations for it.
On Wednesday, the Recording Industry Association of America asked the FCC for new antipiracy protections that would prevent listeners from archiving songs without paying for them--and from trading recorded songs online. The RIAA and musicians' trade groups are worried that consumers might one day forgo buying albums or songs from iTunes-like services in favor of recording CD-quality songs off digital radio services.
"We know this (technology) will be attractive to consumers," RIAA Chief Executive Officer Mitch Bainwol said. "For us, it's the challenge that peer-to-peer introduces but made more complex by the fact that there are no viruses, there is no spyware or other file-sharing (problems)."
The debate is shaping up to resemble the earlier discussion around digital television technology, which similarly had movie studios worried that their products would be recorded and traded online. Both debates have pitted powerful forces against each other in Washington, D.C., and have given content companies a key role in helping shape the future of a nascent technological medium.
In digital radio, the RIAA would like to see music transmissions encrypted so that only authorized receivers that follow content protection rules could play the songs. It would also like to see a "flag" inserted in a song's data stream to prevent any recordings made from being transmitted online.
Those ideas have drawn deep opposition from consumer groups and electronics companies, which say the FCC has no congressional mandate to impose content protection on radio broadcasts of any kind.
"Interfering with radio broadcasters' shift to digital broadcasting would choke off advancement and modernization," Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, said in a statement released Wednesday. "Not only is that un-American, it's totally without merit."
Consumer groups echoed Shapiro's opposition to the RIAA's proposals.
"No one at the Recording Industry Association of America or the FCC has demonstrated any need whatsoever for content protection on a service that doesn't exist in the U.S.," said Gigi Sohn, co-founder of Public Knowledge, a copyright campaign group that is working with Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America on the issue. "The recording industry is trying to fool the FCC into regulating home taping of radio, which is protected by law."
The first round of comments on the digital radio issues had a deadline of Wednesday for submission to the FCC. Another round of comments is due on July 16.
See more CNET content tagged:
digital radio,
RIAA,
radio,
electronics company,
digital television
When was the last time you heard anybody say they copied anything off radio and with songs available online at thousands of websites globally, why would anyone even bother to copy anything off radio??? Many of the songs being downloaded for free aren't even on radio.
If I'm missing something here...please tell me. But I see this as a major NON-ISSUE issue.
I find it astonishing that anyone would suggest trying to lock down (and hence lock people out from) the broadcast media. Surely radio even more than TV is characterised by intense competition for listeners; it cannot possibly be practical to administer the controlled distribution of decoder keys, let alone build the technology in to the receivers, or expect listeners to bother carrying around a keycard.
If the RIAA have their way, the US will never get significant DAB uptake.
Oh, and it's a crazily offensive assault on fair use too.
Now we have RIAA, the new crybaby on the block, wanting to 'control' every thing. Up to now they didn't make a whimper about controlling the radio waves or people recording from the radio. I can understand to some extent, their concerns about mp3 swapping. But now, they want to stifle, inhibit, control radio broadcast too? It resounds frighteningly close to dictatorship and censorship to say the least. Might as well censor or destroy all the cassette tapes that exist around the world too, and include voice recorders, line out to line in loop recording, etc. RIAA, wake up! We are in a new era, the digital era now, not the dark ages. The times they are a changing... as Peter, Paul, and Mary once sung. Change is inevitable. Rather then 'fight' the technology or try and control radio broadcast, accommodate it and assimilate it.
RIAA is overstepping the line. They are getting almost as obnoxious as SCO, thinking that the whole world owes it to them. SCO didn't say 'boo' over the years about Linux, until it began to take note of the rising popularity and penetration. Now, SCO, like a crybaby, is staking claims and wants a piece of the action. If they were so concerned about Linux and supposedly it violating it's so-called, 'proprietary' code, then why did SCO not take note and speak up 'years' ago, literally.
Now we have RIAA, the new crybaby on the block, wanting to 'control' every thing. To some degree I can understand their concerns about mp3 swapping. But now, they want to stifle, inhibit radio broadcast too? It resounds frighteningly close to dictatorship and censorship to say the least. Might as well throw out all the cassette tapes that exist around the world too, voice recorders, line out to line in looping, etc. To RIAA I say, wake up! We are in the digital age now, not the dark ages. The times they are a changing... as Peter, Paul, and Mary once sung. Change is inevitable. Adjust to change. Rather then 'fight' the technology or try and control radio broadcast, accommodate it and assimilate it.