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The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has responded to an ongoing copyright infringement suit being pursued in a US District Court by the music industry against Verizon Communications, Inc.

The case pits the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against the telecommunications giant and pivots around a judicial order requiring Verizon to divulge the identity of one of its DSL subscribers, claimed by the plaintiffs to be an egregious offender of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The subscriber purportedly downloads and makes available hundreds of music recordings. Verizon is vigorously contesting the order.

"Verizon will use every legal means to protect its subscribers' privacy," Verizon lawyer John Thorne told reporters in Washington. "The recording industry brought this case as a 'test case' of its aggressive legal theories. We are seeking a stay so that the Court of Appeals can issue a final ruling on the critical legal issues before we are required to turn over our subscriber's identity." As of this report (February 9), the Court of Appeals had not responded to Verizon's request to stay the order. The DMCA was signed into law in 1998 at the behest of the entertainment and software industries, and has been attacked by civil libertarians and home recording activists as a blow to the heart of long-established "fair use" rights.

On February 4, the CEA took advantage of the lull in litigation to issue a statement on the case. "The RIAA's lawsuit against Verizon is yet another example of the need for legislation to address some of the 'holes' in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act," said CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro. "Surely when it passed the DMCA, Congress did not envision that the Act's subpoena provision would be used against home Internet users. Consumers should not live in fear that their ISP will be required to turn over their identity to any copyright holder simply because someone claims [they're] doing something illegal.

"Instead of criminalizing its customers, the RIAA and the recording industry should focus on developing easy, consumer-friendly business models that leverage the benefits of technology. At the same time, Congress and the courts must acknowledge and reinforce the crucial distinction between illegal infringement and authorized fair use," Shapiro continued. "This case underscores the critical need to develop a balanced, common sense approach to legitimate concerns about transmission of copyrighted content over the Internet that respects copyright while preserving established fair use rights. The CEA will continue to work closely with our colleagues in the content community and with the Congress to establish such a solution."

In mid-January, the CEA and RIAA announced a cease-fire agreement in the digital copyright war, in which the RIAA withdrew its support for governmentally mandated "hardware solutions" which would enable electronics products to spy on their owners and report possible copyright violations to some supervisory body. "We welcome the RIAA's apparent opposition to government mandates that would force consumer electronics manufacturers to insert controls into their products which would limit consumers' home recording and fair use rights," Shapiro said on January 14.

Shapiro expressed his organization's support for the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (HR 107) (DMCRA), introduced a few days earlier by congressmen Rick Boucher (D-VA) and John Doolittle (R-CA). If passed, the DMCRA would undo some of the excesses of the DMCA, supporters say. By late January, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) was the lone remaining supporter of legislation such as that proposed by Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (D-SC), which would install technological watchdogs in coming generations of electronic products. MPAA president Jack Valenti told reporters that he wasn't ready to "unilaterally disarm," despite losing the support of the RIAA.

The MPAA and the Hollings Bill are encountering new opposition from a recently organized and well-funded high-tech coalition called the Alliance for Digital Progress (ADP). At a press conference on January 23, ADP president Fred McClure described the MPAA as "the enemy" but quickly retracted that epithet. A veteran of the Reagan and elder Bush administrations, McClure stated that legislation like the Hollings Bill "will raise the price of everything from CD players and DVD players to personal computers. It will make the devices consumers own today obsolete."