Senator Sam, Republican from Kansas, cuts through the copyright industry jibber-jabber and strikes a blow for consumer rights, due process, and privacy. He sees the DMCA for what it is, and the proposed "broadcast flag" on digital television as an affront to consumer rights. His press release on the matters from today:

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback today chaired a full Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on Digital Rights Management. Brownback yesterday introduced legislation vital for American consumers and our nation's educational community in the 21st century digital media marketplace - the Consumers, Schools, and Libraries Digital Rights Management Act of 2003.
Today's hearing focuses on two timely issues for consumers in the information age: new challenges to their privacy, and an ongoing Federal Communications Commission proceeding that raises the specter of depriving them of their customary and legal uses of broadcast television content.

Our first panel will discuss the merits of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's information subpoena, included in section 512(h) of the Act. Recently a federal court has held that copyright owners may use the subpoena to compel Internet service providers to disclose to them the names, addresses, and phone numbers of their subscribers suspected of piracy. This occurs when an ISP's service acts as a "conduit," or the transport, over which the subscriber sends and receives data. This subpoena process includes no due process for the accused ISP subscribers.

This past July, a hardcore pornographer, Titan Media, filed a subpoena against SBC Communications seeking the identifying information of 59 SBC Internet subscribers. Since that time, Titan has offered a most generous amnesty program: those ISP subscribers it suspects of piracy can go to their website and buy porn, and in exchange Titan won't identify them. Gracious indeed. [Yale man caught in the Titan net]

I support strong protections of intellectual property, and I will stand on my record in support of property rights against any challenge. But I cannot in good conscience support any tool such as the DMCA information subpoena that can be used by pornographers, and potentially even more distasteful actors, to collect the identifying information of Americans, especially our children.

Yesterday I introduced the Consumers, Schools, and Libraries Digital Rights Management Awareness Act of 2003, in part, to eliminate the results of the RIAA's case against Verizon to ensure the DMCA information subpoena cannot be used in this manner.

The Consumers, Schools, and Libraries Digital Rights Management Awareness Act of 2003 also addresses other issues vitally important for consumers in the digital environment. This legislation seeks to preserve consumer and educational community customary and legal uses of content, and to create minimum protections for them as digital rights management technologies are increasingly introduced into the marketplace.

Digital rights management, otherwise known simply as DRM, refers to the growing body of technology - software and hardware - that controls access to and use of information, including the ability of individuals to distribute that information over the Internet.

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