Politics and IP

The Computing Technology Industry Association posted a series of questions posed to both President Bush and Senator Kerry regarding technology policy. One of the questions was: “What should federal policy be toward protecting intellectual property on the Internet – recognizing the harmless role plated by mere conduits – and facilitating the free flow of ideas based on those creations?”

President Bush’s response:
“I strongly support efforts to protect intellectual property and will continue to work with Congress to ensure all intellectual property is properly protected. Technology is a critical conduit of information and sometimes can be misused for illegal copyright infringement. Blaming the technology does not address the issue. We must vigorously enforce intellectual property protections and prosecute the violations, not the technology. My Administration has launched the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP) Initiative to do just that. I have also worked to obtain China’s support for stricter enforcement and more severe penalties for piracy and counterfeiting of American ideas and innovations.”

Senator Kerry’s response:
“I do not condone the illegal sharing of copyrighted material. We must ensure that our laws protect the creations of individuals and companies while not unreasonably stifling technological innovation. I am open to examining whether legislative action is necessary to ensure that a person who lawfully obtains or receives a transmission of a digital work may back up a copy of it for archival purposes or transfer it to a digital media device for the purpose of non public performance or display.”

Hmmm…both responses seem the same and both empty. As I have said before in other posts, I do not believe legislative action will ever be able to stop illegal copying of copyrighted works. Legislative response will always be far behind the development of new technologies. If people want to protect their works, they are going to have to take it into their own hands using DRM technologies – fighting advances in technology with other advances in technology.

President Bush also mentions working with China to try to obtain stricter enforcement and more severe penalties for piracy of American works. This probably will result in nothing happening since the over 1 billion Chinese (and other people from all over the world – not just the Chinese) will continue to pirate. Senator Kerry would not be able to do anything about it either.