Data Protection Laws May Be Helping Pirates, EC Official Says
AMSTERDAM -- The EC may have to rethink its privacy rules to help thwart piracy, an official said here Thurs. at Cable Europe’s Cable Congress 07. As content providers press telcos and ISPs to be “gatekeepers” against copyright infringement -- and operators claim privacy laws bar them from policing content -- the EC worries a value chain is developing in which players “hide behind the rules” to avoid liability for piracy, said Christophe Forax, an aide to Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding. The question is whether data protection laws fit new business models, he said.
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Despite the growing number of online content deals, the EC is examining whether there are legal roadblocks that should be removed, Forax said. A Content Online effort aims to ensure that everyone in the distribution chain wins, he said. The proposal will cover at least all Internet Protocol-based content, including mobile distribution, he said: “We don’t close any doors here.” It’s due before summer. Mobile TV recommendations are expected this year, too.
The online content proposal will also take up net neutrality, which is linked to content distribution, Forax said. There’s great confusion in Europe about the term, and debate is needed to clarify its meaning, he said, but because of the different regulatory structure, it won’t be a U.S.- style discussion.
Net neutrality is also being considered in the Commission review of the e-communications regulatory framework, Forax told us later. Current law requires nondiscrimination among platforms, something the EC doesn’t want to change. But questions are arising about companies’ ability to offer premium or innovative services. Net neutrality shouldn’t prevent that, he said.
Asked whether preemptive rules on access to content may be coming, Jeremy Olivier, U.K. Office of Communications head of convergent media, said his agency tries to avoid intervention. No preemptive regulation is needed to ensure access to basic or premium content, he said, but antitrust authorities should monitor development of the market in content access. The EC doesn’t envision a regulation forcing rights owners to unbundle content and make more rights available, Forax said.
The Commission is also hard at work on its proposed audiovisual media services directive, now known as the TV Without Frontiers directive. Two points are up for discussion at Mon.’s informal Council meeting, said Forax: (1) Whether to retain the country-of-origin principle, which allows broadcasters who comply with the rules of their home country and avoid different rules in other countries where their programs are shown. (2) What the rules for product placement should be. Forax said he’s optimistic the Council and European Parliament will reach agreement soon enough to allow adoption of the directive this year.
A Council proposal that the directive apply to “TV-like” services hasn’t been resolved. It’s not a bad approach, but the definition of TV-like isn’t clear, said Michael Bartholomew, European Telecom Network Operators’ assn. dir. Moreover, he said, there must be a “big discussion” on the difference between linear (traditional broadcasting) and nonlinear (on-demand) services, he said. Cable operators that merely select TV channels for inclusion in a package shouldn’t have to comply with the directive, because they exercise no content control, he said.