Public Knowledge has asked the U.S. Copyright Office to recommend a global policy that allows blind or visually handicapped people to use technology to read electronic material that is otherwise protected by digital rights management (DRM).

Legislation considered today by the Senate Judiciary Committee would nullify rights consumers already have to record digital music, Public Knowledge said in written testimony submitted to the Committee.

The group said S. 256, the PERFORM Act, would also unfairly impose restrictions on some types of digital music, but not on others.

Seven public-interest and consumer groups, led by Public Knowledge, late yesterday called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to turn down Hollywood’s request to take control of consumers’ TV sets and other devices.

Background: The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) admitted that the figures it had been using to track “piracy” on college campuses were triple the actual figure. The LEK study purports to calculate a $6.1 billion loss for the industry. See story here

The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge:

“It’s a shame that Hollywood discovered its error so late. For the last two years, the MPAA has blamed college students for 44 percent of the alleged “piracy” causing industry losses. Now it finds a data-entry error brings the real figure to about 15 percent. Because of this revelation, we should question MPAA’s entire study and the figures it had used to persuade legislators to write bills to crack down on what now seems to be a much smaller problem than the industry would have us believe.

Public Knowledge President and co-founder Gigi B. Sohn today congratulated the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) on being named to PC World’s list of “Most Anti-Tech Organizations in America.”

According to the magazine: “The Internet economy should be a boon for digital media companies and for those of us that like to buy our music and video online. It's also a very powerful way to connect with people of like mind with a view toward learning about new things to watch and listen to. Unfortunately, the content owners in the record and movie industries have mainly seen the Web as a platform for piracy, and have mainly failed to adapt their businesses to the realities of online, as one lonely industry executive recently admitted.”

Saying that copyright law has "become out of touch with our technological reality to the detriment of creators and the public," Public Knowledge President Gigi B. Sohn today unveiled a new program for copyright reform that will be more responsive to new innovations.

"Pre-VCR copyright policies must be transformed to embrace our new user-generated culture," Sohn said in a speech to the New Media and the Marketplace of Ideas Conference at Boston University. A complete text of the speech is available at: https://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1244.

For Immediate Release

Background: Today Google announced a new video filtering software system for YouTube. More information is available at:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/latest-content-id-tool-for-youtube.html

Public Knowledge President Gigi B. Sohn said that it is unfortunate Google was pressured into spending millions of dollars and countless hours to come up with a means for restricting the use of lawful videos online.

"On balance, this is a sad development. It's a shame that Google was pressured by the entertainment industry into devoting resources to a limited system that could restrict the free flow of information while increasing the control content companies have over otherwise lawful uses of material."

For immediate release April 26, 2007

Statement by Public Knowledge President Gigi B. Sohn on the death of Jack Valenti

"In my 10 years at Media Access Project, I worked alongside Jack Valenti and the MPAA in an effort to preserve Federal Communications Commission rules that promoted diversity in broadcast programming. Then, from 2001-2004, as President of Public Knowledge, I opposed Jack and the MPAA on nearly every digital copyright policy issue.

"Regardless of whether we were policy friends or foes, Jack treated me with kindness and respect. There was no one in Washington I respected more for his intelligence, his commitment, his integrity and his ability to work across party lines. Jack was one of a kind, and a national icon. He forged a lasting legacy for the entertainment industry that will be sorely missed."

Background: This morning, EMI Group announced it will start in May to sell individual song downloads and albums on Apple's iTunes without Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge:

"This is a great day for consumers. Two major figures in the digital music industry, EMI and Apple, recognize that offering high-quality music without the inconvenience of Digital Rights Management (DRM) will be an incentive for consumers to purchase more music. Consumers will have the same digital freedom from an album they download as one they purchase from a store. We can only hope that the rest of the industry takes such an enlightened view."

The publishing industry is growing increasingly concentrated as publishing house giants continue to merge. This hurts both authors and readers, in more ways than one. In a concentrated industry, prices are higher for readers, and payments are lower for authors as the publishing middleman takes a heftier cut. The book industry has been moving to […]