DMCA Brings Good Things to Life

Few single pieces of legislation have done more to spur technological innovation and expand the supply of movies and other entertainment than the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Photo: Thomas Del Brase/Getty Images

When Congress passed the DMCA in 1998, neither consumers nor innovators in the technology and entertainment industries imagined that just eight years later people would be viewing movies and TV shows on their computers, their video iPods, their PlayStation Portables, and even their cellphones. During these years, innovators were not only able to imagine new ways to provide movies to consumers but were also able to deliver them. They could do so because they knew that the products of their creativity would be protected from theft and abuse by a fair set of rules.

The DMCA put into law a common-sense proposition: that it is wrong to break through technical “locks” that keep digital content from being stolen or to market devices that do so. The DMCA gave innovators and creators an effective means of protecting themselves against thieves who try to beat the system by unlawfully making copies and redistributing movies and other entertainment.

Perhaps the best example of the innovation that the DMCA is bringing home to consumers is the DVD. DVD players are the most successful consumer electronics devices in history. Since the passage of the DMCA, tens of millions of consumers have enjoyed a wide variety of entertainment in this high-quality format. We at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) attribute the triumph of the DVD directly to the DMCA, because in providing some protection against unbridled theft, the DMCA empowered entertainment companies to release their products in digital format.

Although critics have accused the DMCA of damping technological innovation and preventing the “fair use” of copyrighted works, recent history supports the opposite conclusions. (“Fair use” is a legal concept that permits the reproduction of copyrighted works for certain purposes without permission or payment.)

Rather than discouraging innovation, the DMCA has fostered an innovative environment that has given consumers greater access to movies, TV shows, and other copyrighted material than ever before, advancing new technologies as well as new business models.

The DMCA recognizes the historical importance of fair use. In fact, under a DMCA requirement, the U.S. Copyright Office is conducting its third investigation into fair use practices. It has found no evidence to support claims that the DMCA diminishes consumers' ability to fairly use copyrighted materials.

Although the DMCA has greatly expanded consumers' viewing choices, threats to the future expansion of these choices still remain, especially in the realm of over-the-air broadcast television. Cable and satellite subscription services can protect their high-quality programs from being illegally copied and infinitely transmitted over the Internet, but over-the-air broadcasters cannot. The broadcast signal must be unprotected so that all consumers can receive it on their existing televisions. Congress can help ensure the future growth of viewing choices for over-the-air viewers by enacting “broadcast flag” legislation. This law would allow broadcasters to invisibly protect their programs from copying and redistribution in the same way that satellite and cable providers do, so broadcasters will not be forced to limit new television programs to fee-based subscription services to make them safe from theft.

But neither protecting digital programs nor inserting broadcast flags in analog programs is enough to ensure that everyone enjoys the benefits of new and expanding entertainment options. As we make the transition to the digital television, we must keep in mind that the majority of U.S. consumers still use analog TVs. Therefore, digital programs still must be converted into analog for viewing on these nondigital TV sets. When such programs are converted back to digital, say, for use with a DVD recorder, they lose their original digital protections and are exposed to unlimited illegal copying and redistribution. It is not hard to understand why producers would choose not to expand viewing options in a realm with such vulnerability to theft.

Hence, we at the MPAA are urging Congress to enact the “Analog Hole” legislation. This law can help ensure that consumer choices are not undermined by the risk of theft—by laying out simple rules of the road for programming and equipment.

While these issues remain to be resolved, the DMCA and related legislation have fostered a climate of unbridled innovation and development and an explosion of consumer entertainment choices. No one exposed to today's video marketplace could possibly argue that consumers do not have more and better viewing choices now than they did before the DMCA. Enacted on the eve of the 21st century, it has truly ushered in a digital millennium of incredible achievement and infinite promise.

—Fritz Attaway,

Executive Vice President and Special Policy Advisor, Motion Picture Association of America