Audio Video News

Predicting a "collision" between film studios and expanding digital technology, Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), has asked for Congressional help in beefing up copyright protection for his industry.

The threat of Napster-like sites letting movie fans share their favorites without generating revenue for Hollywood is a serious one, Valenti explained at a luncheon in the nation's capitol on Tuesday, February 6. Without Washington's support, the studios can't risk putting their products on the Internet, or let them be broadcast in any high-resolution digital video format, he said.

Valenti wants legislators to enact tough new laws to discourage copyright violation and to allow the film industry to create technological barriers to piracy. The outspoken MPAA chief had disparaging comments for "netizens" who believe that intellectual property laws are outmoded. He spoke ominously of a coming "collision between those who believe that intellectual property of the brain pan of human beings is worthy of being copyrighted, and those who think everything on the Internet is open and spacious and free . . . we have to face it."

With several studios about to begin their first trials at streaming films over the Internet, Valenti is pushing hard for action that he hopes will prevent the film industry from being blind-sided the way the music industry was by Napster's file-sharing system in late 1999. Acknowledging that consumers have long had the ability to copy movies onto videotape, Valenti opined that there is a huge difference between making single copies for private use and "making an infinite number of perfect digital copies."

The potential for the proliferation of large numbers of free copies of movies over the Internet and via DVD recorders could lead to financial disaster for his industry, Valenti emphasized. He is seeking Washington's approval for the development of strong encryption technology that would keep control of film distribution solidly in Hollywood hands. House Commerce Committee chairman Rep. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) met with Valenti to discuss his concerns, without committing to any specific legislative agenda.