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The tools of technology are growing in importance to
homeowners. Today more than half of all homes contain a
personal computer. Most are connected to the Internet.
Homeowners use both tools to pay mortgages and other bills,
buy products and services, plan vacations and business
trips, and increasingly telecommute, and/or facilitate
home-based businesses. Their children use both tools to do
school work and research.
For
these reasons policies that impact these functions are of
growing importance to homeowners.
Telecommunications policy
is equally important. Alternative ways to deliver
telecommunications services should be promoted and barriers
to competition removed.
The Alliance supports
the following positions on technology issues.
Privacy
Homeowners
are entitled to control who may use private personal
information and how it may be used. Especially sensitive are
medical and financial data. The Internet facilitates the
collection and use of data about homeowners, much of it
personal. In many cases, such as when a company analyzes
past customer buying habits in order to better serve their
future needs, both parties can benefit. However there are
many types of personal information that homeowners would
prefer not be shared with other parties. The Foundation
opposes the dissemination of personal information about
homeowners without their express approval. Congress should
enact legislation that requires clear and conspicuous
disclose of company privacy policies on the home page. It
should mandate straightforward opt out or opt in procedures
that give consumers the ability to control the disclosure of
any information they provide. The website operator should be
required to employ verifiable assessment procedures that are
sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that the site is
managed in conformity to the stated policy.
The federal government should not tax Internet-based phone
calls (VOIP).
Consumers should be provided
increased representation on state regulatory bodies that
determine telecommunications policy.
Stop the Internet
Phone Tax!
Spam
New
Spam laws requiring Internet vendors to use valid email
addresses, provide effective opt-out procedures, identify
their product offerings in their e-mails subject line, and
provide the FTC the right to fine (and state attorney
generals and consumers the right to sue) for violations will
help reduce Spam, but may not be enough. Congress should be
prepared to enact new anti-Spam laws to address problems not
resolved by the recent bill.
Access to Computing Technology and Telecommunications
Because
computing technology and communications are becoming
essential services as well essential educational tools
federal policies must assure that all students have access
to these important tools. AHGA supports a telecommunications
tax or other source of funding for the purpose of providing
Internet access for the nation’s poorest schools and
libraries. At the same time the existing “tax on
talking”, originally enacted to fund the Spanish American
War, should be repealed. Federal programs to provide rural
residents and disadvantaged citizens access to broadband
telecommunications services at affordable costs should be
developed. Because instant messaging is also becoming an
essential communications service international standards to
provide functional interoperability between various instant
messaging services should be implemented in 2001, with
participation mandated by law if not achieved through
voluntary means by 12/31/2001.
Digital Rights Management
Homeowners and their families are the major consumers
of music and video products, and increasingly music and
movies are in a digital format. The vast majority of
homeowners use digital content in a responsible and legal
manner. Music and entertainment companies are increasingly
concerned about piracy of their intellectual property and
have proposed legislation that would require manufacturers
of equipment that plays digital entertainment products to
incorporate Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems to
prevent illegal copying of their products.
DRM systems restrict the use of digital files. DRM
technologies can control file access (number of views,
length of views), altering, sharing, copying, printing, and
saving. These technologies may be contained within the
operating system, program software, or in the actual
hardware of a device. DRM systems take two approaches to
securing content. The first is "containment," an
approach where the content is encrypted in a shell so that
it can only be accessed by authorized users. The second is
"marking," the practice of placing a watermark,
flag, or a XrML tag on content as a signal to a device that
the media is copy protected.
AHGA respects intellectual property rights and copyright
protections including the strong enforcement of piracy laws,
and has no objection to additional funding for enforcement
of these laws or to strengthening the sanctions against
piracy if needed. AHGA does not object to digital rights
protections developed by entertainment companies and
incorporated into their products for the purpose of
preventing piracy or to digital rights protection solutions
developed voluntarily by hardware or software companies.
Consumers may or may not purchase those products as they so
choose.
AHGA objects strongly to government mandates that would
require non-entertainment companies to modify hardware or
software to some standard that would theoretically prevent
piracy. Homeowners rather than entertainment companies would
ultimately pay for those solutions. This would be akin to a
state government sending a speeding ticket to every resident
with a driver’s license on the theory that probably half
of them exceeded the speed limit at some time last year, but
only 10% got caught. Why should the 50% that didn’t speed
be penalized, and for that matter, what about due process
for the other 40%?
Entertainment products are different than computer software,
which has always been licensed to users. Those licenses,
provided with the software, define their rights of use. By
contrast rights of use of entertainment products have
evolved over time under the “fair use” concept. Although
entertainment products are also protected by copyright laws,
the fair use concept - the right of consumers to use
lawfully owned entertainment products, to make backup
copies, to share those products with family and friends, and
to sell or trade their lawfully owned entertainment products
has long been established by statutory and common law
interpretations of copyright law. Fair use includes
libraries' and educators' rights to provide content to
users, the right to sell physical copies of certain content
that one acquires lawfully (the "First Sale"
doctrine), and the ability to make a backup copy of music.
Fair use provides a potential defense to individuals who may
be accused of an unauthorized use of protected content.
Fair use should not be abridged by federal legislation. DRM
technologies should seek to allow for fair use rights. It is
highly questionable as to whether government mandated
directives and guidelines for digital rights management
could accommodate fair use as it has been defined by
statutory and common law interpretations of copyright law.
For these reasons Congress should not enact mandated
directives and guidelines for digital rights management
.
Technology and Communications
Homeowners are major beneficiaries of the tools of
technology. Homeowners use technology to pay mortgages and
other bills, buy products and services, plan vacations and
business trips, and increasingly telecommute, and/or
facilitate home-based businesses. Their children use both
tools to do school work and research. The Alliance
recommends that:
Web sites should provide clear and conspicuous home page
disclosure of company privacy policies and include
procedures that give consumers the ability to control the
disclosure of any information they provide.
Federal and state telecom regulatory bodies must protect the
interests of consumers and recognize property rights.
Consumer representation on state regulatory bodies should be
increased.
Spam enforcement procedures should be included in
international treaties. Congress should enact new laws to
punish unauthorized use of spyware and phishing. Anti-Spam
laws should be strengthened if necessary.
The Internet Tax Moratorium should be permanently extended
and applied to Internet-based (VOIP) phone calls.
Federal programs and tax incentives to provide rural
residents and disadvantaged citizen’s access to affordable
broadband services at reasonable prices should be expanded.
Power line broadband should be promoted.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology should not be
mandated. Established consumer’ “fair use” rights to make
digital backup copies of music, movies, and books for
personal use should not be abridged.
Congress Should Set a Specific Early Date for the DTV
Transition.
Current law requires termination of analog television
broadcasting on December 31, 2006, or when 85 percent of the
households in a television market can receive digital
television (DTV) broadcast signals, whichever is later.
After the DTV transition is complete all TV broadcasting
will be in digital format, and when portions of the spectrum
used for analog TV broadcasting will be available for other
high value uses. The American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance
(AHGA) believes that the transition will produce substantial
consumer benefits for the nation’s 75 million American
homeowners and other consumers. For that reason AHGA urges
Congress and all stakeholders to work together in this
Congress to reach a consensus on legislation setting the
earliest practicable date certain for the completion of DTV
transition.
Among the significant consumer benefits of the DTV
transition are:
Facilitating the deployment of high-speed broadband
connections, especially in rural areas where availability is
most lacking.
Improvement of first responders’ communications systems,
thereby enhancing homeland security and disaster response.
Increased competition and lower prices for high-speed
broadband Internet access as new competitors enter the
market.
More locally relevant media programming.
An estimated $28 billion in new federal revenue from the
auction of the analog spectrum (according to the Brattle
Group, a worldwide economic consulting firm).
An enhanced television viewing experience for American
consumers.
The direct creation of new jobs for American workers, and
indirect support of U.S. jobs through increased U.S. global
competitiveness.
There are three major challenges that Congress will have to
address as it develops legislation to implement the DTV
transition. They are:
•
What we do to help the analog access only TV owners whose
sets would no longer be able to function without
digital-to-analog converter boxes after the DTV transition
is complete?,
•
What is the appropriate balance of consumer benefits, such
as improved first responder communications capabilities and
corporate local programming requirements?, and
•
How do we provide marketplace certainty regarding the date
of analog TV spectrum availability so companies will
formulate the business plans and attract the investment
required to deploy the new services as soon as possible?
All of these challenges are surmountable. The revenue raised
in spectrum auctions is more than sufficient to fund the
costs of converter boxes for those with analog access only
TV sets. At $50 per converter box, assuming the
participation of every eligible consumer, the cost of
computer boxes would range from $750 million to $4 billion
based on estimates from several sources, compared to the
estimated $28 billion revenue from the auction’s proceeds.
Given the significant consumer benefits from new services
and the estimated auction proceeds, it would be good policy
to devote what will be a modest percentage of the auction
proceeds to an efficient converter box program. Moreover
should budget and/or political considerations necessitate a
smaller program, eligibility could be limited to mid and low
income consumers.
AHGA believes that it is desirable to devote a reasonable
amount of the cleared spectrum for unlicensed uses (e.g.
community wireless networks which could provide more local
news and information programming. Local governments,
nonprofits and localities could use the spectrum to bring
more local programming and high-speed Internet access to all
residents at a reasonable cost. It is also very desirable to
create incentives for new entrants and small players to
enter the marketplace, thereby increasing competition. The
amount of the newly available spectrum set aside for local
governments, nonprofits and new/small competitors at the
outset should be balanced against the other substantial
benefits that will accrue to consumers from the DTV
transition. Economic and legislative realities may make it
necessary to defer the implementation of some of the social
responsibility requirements into the future.
Companies with economic interests in the cleared spectrum
advocate an early date-certain for the completion of the DTV
transition. They argue that without the certainty provided
by a hard date for completing the transition, it is much
more difficult to develop business plans and attract
investment to build and deploy innovative wireless broadband
networks.
Given the wide array of significant benefits that will
accrue to homeowners and other consumers from an early date
certain for the DTV transition, AHGA supports the earliest
possible specific transition deadline. To achieve that goal
all stakeholders – consumers, businesses, and policymakers
in both political parties must be flexible. All parties must
be willing to make some compromises in order to reach a
solution that provides a strong net benefit to society.
Accordingly AHGA urges other members of the consumer and
business communities and congressional republicans and
democrats to work together in this Congress to reach
consensus on legislation setting the earliest practicable
date certain for the completion of DTV transition.
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