(grrr arrrgh – promoted by juls)

There has been plenty of good news coming out of both houses of Congress recently, so this might surprise you and if you care about consumer’s fair use rights then you’ll want to take action and call your senators on this one.

Ars Technica has a good piece on it, and an bipartisan coalition of Senators is introducing a bill called the Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act (PERFORM).

A new bill introduced in the US Senate this week would force satellite, digital, and Internet radio providers (but not over-the-air radio) to implement measures designed to restrict the ability of listeners to record audio from the services. Called the “Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act” (PERFORM), the bill is sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Joseph Biden (D-DE), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Yes thats right, two Democratic Senators are behind this as well Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) (links go to their contact pages).

Who is behind this?  The RIAA of course.  It was originally introduced in April of 2006 but it died in committee.

Here’s what it does according to the Ars Technica article:

Like its predecessor, the new legislation would require content protection on all satellite radio broadcasts along with cable and Internet broadcasts. Broadcasters would be required to “use reasonably available and economically reasonable technology to prevent music theft.” But that’s not bad for consumers, says Sen. Feinstein, who tells us that “consumers’ current recording habits” will not be inhibited as they will still be allowed to record by time period or station. However, they would be prevented from automatically cherry-picking all the Shakira songs from the services.

The bill would also get the government into the business of price controls, with content providers required to pay a predetermined “fair market value” for the use of the music libraries. If another company decides to enter the unprofitable satellite radio market in the future, it too, would be forced to pay the same rates as XM Radio and Sirius.

Ironically this comes at the same time that an endangered GOP Senator, John Sununu, is proposing something to permanently remove the “broadcast flag” from play which is the right side of the issue in my opinion.  Here’s an article on his legislation.

So please do contact Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and let them know this isn’t the kind of legislation you support and that a Democratic majority should not be caving in to the desires of the RIAA.