Webcasters attack EnFORCE
Webcaster Alliance says it’ll fight proposed legislation aimed at expanding the RIAA’s (Recording Industry Association of America) antitrust exemption.
The announcement came in response to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch’s recent introduction of the Enhancing Federal Obscenity Reporting and Copyright Enforcement Act of 2003 (the EnFORCE Act)that would expand existing exemption to cover all compulsory mechanical licenses under section 115 of the Copyright Act.
"A Federal Judge recently approved a $143 million settlement in the CD price-fixing case that was brought against the RIAA’s Big 5 record label members," says WA president Ann Gabrie in a statementl. "Yet here they are attaching additional language to expand their antitrust exemptions to a bill they know most legislators would have a hard time opposing, since it deals with the exploitation of children. This is so typical of the RIAA and their manipulative, smoke and mirrors tactics."
While the new bill has been described by Hatch as "fostering flexibility, certainty, and accountability," Gabriel says it’s just another RIAA attempt to grab more power under false pretenses.
"Since the initial antitrust exemption was enacted more than eight years ago, the RIAA has done nothing but stifle, legislate against, and prosecute technical innovation in an attempt to secure obscene profit margins for their members at the expense of the consumer," she goes on. "With so little to show from an exemption that has been in place since 1995, why should legislators believe the answers to the RIAA’s problems will somehow be solved by expanding the existing antitrust exemptions?"
