* International harmonization - One of the content industry's major claims in pushing through the Term Extension Act and the DMCA was that these changes in copyright law were required to harmonize U.S. laws with those of the European Union (EU). However, the EU declined to extend copyright terms and, as a result, many early 1950s sound recordings that remain subject to U.S. copyright protections are entering the public domain in the EU. Additionally, despite heavy entertainment industry lobbying the EU's proposed revision of copyright law rejects many of the DMCA's more controversial provisions, especially those that can be used to prosecute individuals using P2P software.
* Privacy - The RIAA and MPAA have sent letters to the top 1000 U.S. corporations and to thousands of universities urging them to adopt computer network policies that discourage copyright infringement, and to require individuals connecting to such networks to use software that monitors their hard drives for infringing content. On November 6, 2002 the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sent a response to academic institutions in which they were urged to reject such monitoring software as invasive of privacy and academic freedom.
* Copying levies - At the urging of copyright collection societies, proposals are pending in Canada and Germany to place levies on computers and storage devices for facilitating copyright infringement in order to compensate rights holders and authors. Discussion of similar compensation modes is increasing in the U.S. in tandem with proposals for a new compulsory license that legalizes and monetizes P2P file sharing and CD/DVD burning. However, such proposals are criticized by entertainment industry interests as legitimizing piracy, while some in the technology sector view them as an unwarranted "tax" on consumers.
* Pornography - The movie and the record industry have long faced periodic criticism from Congress over violent or suggestive content. P2P software may now face its own critique for facilitating the sharing of pornographic images and video clips, including some that portray minors. The House Government Reform Committee is updating a 2001 report that looked at such activity on Napster, and plans a Spring 2003 hearing on this subject.
* CARP Costs - The CARP procedure that resulted in the controversial royalty rate for non-interactive webcasting reportedly consumed $25 million in attorney and expert witness fees to produce $15 million in initial revenues. Reform of, or an alternative to, the CARP process is desired by many parties, and it is likely that Congress will consider ways to alter the setting of royalties under existing and future compulsory licenses.
Conclusion
Moore's Law, which predicts a doubling of computing power every 18 months, will continue to mount an escalating challenge to the relevancy and enforceability of copyright law. Digital technology now allows for the reproduction and distribution of an infinite number of perfect copies of a digital work at a marginal cost approaching zero. It is extremely difficult to produce digital works meant to be marketed to broad audiences that include effective technological protections. While the record industry has been most directly affected by CD burning and file-sharing to date, no third party study has yet established a conclusive link between these activities and declining record sales. Indeed, some studies have found that file-sharing promotes CD sales on a net basis, and record industry critics have ascribed its problems to such factors as consolidation of the radio broadcast industry, inflexible and elevated product pricing (10), a shift in consumer preferences toward audiovisual media (11), and licensing problems (especially with music publishers) that prevent the offering of broad online music services.
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