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Digital Copy Protection: Mandate It? Ban It? Or Let the Market Decide?

Postponed

POLICY FORUM
Wednesday, May 15, 2002
11:00 a.m. (Luncheon to follow)

Featuring Rick Lane, News Corporation; Jonathan Potter, Digital Media Association; Sarah B. Deutsch, Verizon; and Steve DelBianco, Association for Competitive Technology.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Digitization and broadband have made nearly any song available on the Internet at the touch of a button, and full-length movie downloads are catching up. In an attempt to halt rampant piracy, one congressional proposal would mandate government-approved copy protection technologies in digital devices. Other proposals–which look at the issue from the perspective of consumers' "fair-use" rights to make limited copies–would limit the private sector’s use of copy protection for products like compact disks. Is legislation to mandate or limit copy protection the proper response to the challenges presented by the digitization of media, or is the role of the market being overlooked by policymakers? Join us for a lively discussion.

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