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PFF Releases Special Report for Policymakers, Experts
WASHINGTON, D.C. -A major task facing policymakers next year – and one with direct impact on jobs and the economy – will be helping to craft a new framework through which such digital content as music and videos can be made more readily (and legally) available to consumers. In order to cast light on the topic, The Progress & Freedom Foundation has released a special report: “Digital Online Content: Creating a Market that Works.” Edited by William F. Adkinson, Jr. and Albert Tramposch, it contains presentations by experts from business, government and academia made at a conference sponsored by PFF and The Tech Center earlier this year.
“The challenge facing the IT sector – and policymakers – is to create an institutional framework that facilitates development of a functioning marketplace for digital content,” write PFF President Jeffrey A. Eisenach and Tech Center Chairman Bradford C. Brown in the foreword. “In the absence of reliable, consumer-friendly copy-protection systems or effective protection through legal process, content owners have been reluctant to make their products legally available in the online environment. Consumers, on the other hand, have sometimes decided not to wait…creating a massive black market in digital music, video and other content.”
In addition to those of Undersecretary of Commerce James Rogan and U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the special report contains remarks by Michael Bebel, COO of pressplay, Ted Cohen, VP of New Media at EMI Recorded Music, Jim Long, president & CEO of RioPort, Inc., Mark Mooradian, senior director of strategic planning and business development at MusicNet and Sean Ryan, CEO of Listen.com. Other experts include Dr. Michael Einhorn, principal at LECG, LLC; Dr. Harold Furchtgott-Roth, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; Michael Remington, adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law; Albert Tramposch, co-director of the Intellectual Property Program at George Mason University School of Law and Deborah Rose, counsel, House Judiciary Committee. Also available is an expanded and updated version of a conference paper by Einhorn. At the conference, PFF released the Digital Content Primer.
The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.
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