The Motion Picture Association of America is an industry group that attempts to both enforce copyrights of members and to lobby Congress to get legislation approved that the MPAA believes will help the film industry. They're much like the RIAA, but they have not taken to suing their customers to the level the RIAA has. Regardless, they're not necessarily the nicest people in the world. They certainly don't appreciate American ideas like fair use and limited copyright.
The "copyfight" that's been going on since Napter was released is still an important and salient part of our national debate. The RIAA is now pressuring Apple to raise the prices on their songs in the iTunes Music Store because they don't like the success Apple has had. They want a larger piece of the pie AND to tell Apple how to manage its business. Apple has told them where they can shove it, but the RIAA is pressing ahead with plans to try to force Apple to play ball their way. They've also announced plans to try to get some type of tariff placed on iPods to recover some of the sales of that device, which music industry leaders say somehow should belong to them. They believe the government should prop up their extinct business model.
Now enter the MPAA. It seems years ago, some company named Tivo made a device that allowed you to timeshift television. You could record shows for later viewing, pause live tv and more. After a few years of just putting up with this, the MPAA now wants to change the way things are done. They want to add technology called a "broadcast flag" to television signals. This "broadcast flag" would set permissions for how broadcast tv could be recorded. To make it work, all hardware that could process a TV signal would have to incorporate this flag. This means the MPAA would have final say on how your computer, television, DVR, recordable DVD drive or any other video equipment you might own would be made.
And you would lose fair use rights you've always had. A broadcast, once it is out there, can be recorded freely and kept. That is "fair use." With the broadcast flag, shows could be sent out that COULD NOT be recorded. That's the whole reason it exists. Instead of allowing consumers to decide how they get their media, the MPAA wants to decide for you. That's simply unacceptable.
20 Senators are taking the WRONG stance on this one. We need to do what we can to let them know we will not accept them putting corporate welfare above our fair use rights. Let these people know we will not accept their blatant disregard for the principles laid down in our Constitution. Let these 20 Senators know the time has come for them to prove they serve their constituents, and not corporate interests.
Check out the EFF's action notice for a little more information.
Go to the Senate's webpage to contact your Senator.
Also Slashdot has some good information on this issue.
Please do something! It's time to send a message that fair use will be defended.