 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Ensuring Content Protection in the Digital Age
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
Dr. Paul F. Liao
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. I am here today in my capacity as Chief Technology Officer of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America and President of its Panasonic Technologies Company division. Our company is the principal U.S. subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. ("MEI"). Our principal brand, and the name by which the companies are commonly known is "Panasonic." Panasonic is one of the world's largest producers of innovative electronic and electric products for consumer, business and industrial use. Our consumer and broadcasting product lines include a broad array of audio, video, communications and computing products and components. In the DTV realm, for example, we were proud to introduce the first consumer HDTV in the United States in the summer of 1998. As a company on the cutting edge of the transition to digital television, Panasonic has been deeply involved in efforts to ensure that digital content is adequately protected. My testimony summarizes some of the many technology development efforts Panasonic has been involved in, including the development of the CSS encryption system used to protect DVD discs, the development by the "5C" group of companies of the Digital Transmission Content Protection ("DTCP") technology that protects copyrighted content as it moves digitally from device to device in a home network, and the invention of the Content Protection for Recordable Media ("CPRM") technology to provide secure, encrypted recording and storage of authorized copies of copyrighted content. In participating in these technology development efforts my company has been guided by two overarching principles:
Although my prepared remarks today focus most particularly on the experiences of Panasonic, I am here also as a representative of the "5C" group of companies and would be happy to answer questions with respect to 5C activities and initiatives during the question and answer portion of the hearing. At the outset, I would like to express my gratitude to all of the Members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, including the Ranking Members of the full Committee and this Subcommittee, and especially to both the Chairman of the full Committee and to you, Mr. Chairman, for your continued focus through private meetings, industry roundtables and other means on bringing the various stakeholders together to address and resolve issues that have been affecting the transition to DTV. While the topic of today's hearing is Ensuring Content Protection in the Digital Age, I believe that the availability of robust content protection systems is only one of the building blocks necessary to promote the transition to the digital world. Because this Committee has been so dedicated to encouraging the transition to DTV, and because 5C has played an important role in advancing the transition to DTV, I will use the DTV example to illustrate the role that content protection systems can play in the transition to and availability of new digital technologies and compelling content for consumers. Our experience has shown that careful balancing is necessary to achieve the public policy goals articulated by this Committee, and to harmonize the needs of consumers and of the various affected industries. I believe that three things are necessary to make the DTV transition a reality:
To encourage the development of each of these components, a careful balancing of interests is required.
Panasonic - through the 5C and through other private licensing initiatives -- has been working hard to meet the legitimate interests of content companies, broadcasters and consumers. I am pleased to report that much progress has been made in each of the three areas I mentioned, however significant issues remain that merit the Committee's attention. Carriage of DTV Good progress has been made
with respect to ensuring carriage of DTV by broadcasters, cable operators and
satellite systems. I would like to extend congratulations, on behalf of
Panasonic to the broadcast industry which has made great strides towards DTV
availability. Over 300 broadcast
DTV stations are already on the air and carrying a variety of programming in TV
markets that comprise over three-quarters of all TV households. I would also like to extend
congratulations to the cable industry which has been offering increasing DTV
content over the past few years to their digital subscribers.
There are many digital and some interactive program services already, and
several cable operators have recently announced plans to provide more on their
systems, including HDTV programming. Congratulations
are also in order to satellite service providers, which have carried digital,
and to borrow FCC Chairman Powell's phrase,
"value-added" TV content from the time satellite services were
launched. Panasonic has supported the availability of such value-added content in a variety of ways. Our company has made direct financial contributions to cover program development and HDTV production costs. For instance, we provided significant program production equipment support for the first HDTV presentation of "Monday Night Football", and for the past two years we have sponsored CBS's prime-time HDTV line-up. We likewise provide digital equipment loans and HDTV production support for the efforts of several producers of high-quality digital programming, such as nature, natural history, documentary and other programs which are being aired on public and commercial broadcast, cable and satellite channels. Panasonic is also providing professional DTV and HDTV production equipment to producers, program makers, and special-venue presenters in order assist in the transition to DTV. Progress with respect to carriage of content is encouraging, but I believe the transition to DTV could be accelerated if consumers had access via "cable ready DTVs" and a choice at retail of cable set top boxes. After all, cable is the largest provider of television service to American TV households. A key element of these cable ready DTVs and retail set top boxes is the POD-Host Interface technology. We would like the license agreement for this technology to include clear rules, such as those included in the 5C license for DTCP technology, to ensure that the technology cannot be used to undermine consumers' customary home recording expectations. I applaud the Committee's efforts to date and urge the Committee to keep a keen focus on these issues Content As I mentioned at the outset, CE and IT manufacturers such as the 5C group of companies involved in developing and licensing the DTCP technology, realize that in order for content providers to fully embrace DTV and other new digital forms for delivery of content, security concerns must be adequately addressed. Panasonic has been at the forefront of developing content protection technologies for use with both audio and video. We have been directly involved in developing and licensing technologies that can protect content from the source to the time it is displayed on a consumer's TV or PC. We have likewise developed technologies to protect the content from unauthorized copying and redistribution if/when it is recorded in the home. In participating in these technology development efforts Panasonic has been guided by several themes:
We realize that both the opportunities and the potential challenges posed by the digital environment are ever evolving. Despite the fact that the content protection technologies we have been involved in developing were each designed to meet specific sets of requirements outlined by the content companies, the CE and IT companies involved in these efforts have been willing to keep innovating and adding to the existing technologies (and creating new ones) to meet unanticipated or previously unarticulated goals of the content owners. Of course, this has all been done with the interests of consumers in mind, because serving our customers is Panasonic's most important goal. In our view this is the most effective way to proceed. It is simply not possible for the government to mandate from above broad design requirements which as effectively address the myriad of interests and technological challenges as do collaborative private sector efforts. We expect, nevertheless, that for any solution to be successful it must withstand public scrutiny. We therefore welcome your continued interest in our efforts to address these challenges. Some specific examples of our activities with regard to content protection are summarized below. 5C
-- Panasonic is one of five companies (sometimes therefore referred to as the "5C"), that developed the Digital Transmission Content Protection ("DTCP") technology used to protect content as it traverses the IEEE 1394 home network.
CSS
-- Together with Toshiba, Panasonic developed the Content Scramble System technology used to encrypt pre-recorded DVD discs
4C
-- Together with three other companies (sometimes referred to as the "4C" ), Panasonic developed Content Protection for Prerecorded Media ("CPPM" used e.g., to protect DVD-Audio) and Content Protection for Recordable Media ("CPRM" used for secure recording and storage of content)
Consumer
Equipment The third and central part of the puzzle in making the DTV transition a reality is consumers. Consumer technologies succeed when consumers are aware of them and see value in them for their own lives. In the national transition to DTV, all involved must be part of the effort to alert and educate consumers to the DTV opportunities and choices they have. And all must provide enough value for consumers to want to 'buy in' to the DTV revolution. Panasonic tries to do this every day with its retail partners, in its advertising, in joint DTV 'launch parties' and special events with broadcasters and others, through support of CEA's industry-wide promotion and education efforts, and, most importantly, by providing a variety of DTV products we hope will be appealing to consumers. This also means that consumer DTV products must be affordable, easy to use, and respect consumer expectations about how the consumer will be able to interact with and use content. Panasonic's activities, both in the 5C and elsewhere, have been guided by these concerns. Therefore:
Current Challenges &
Future Efforts During hearings before the Senate Commerce Committee in February, representatives of the motion picture industry advocated the need for a government-mandated solution to three specific problems:
Panasonic agrees that these are serious issues deserving of attention. A brief summary of inter-industry efforts to consider these challenges follows. Protection of broadcast content delivered in the clear Because digital terrestrial television broadcasts and certain basic tier cable video programs are delivered in unencrypted ("in the clear") form, unlike pre-recorded, encrypted, digital media such as DVD or digital cable and satellite transmissions delivered via conditional access systems, there is no technical or legal authorization necessary and no licensing predicate by which to establish conditions for the secure handling of such content. As a result, unprotected DTV content can, as a technical matter, be delivered outside of the home environment, such as over the Internet without authorization from copyright holders. In November of 2001, representatives of the 5C members described to the Copy Protection Technical Working Group ("CPTWG") a refined version of a proposal, originally presented to the 5C members by Fox following on industry standards activity in the Advanced Television Standards Committee, which would require certain devices which demodulate DTV content to respond to a "Broadcast Flag" and securely route content which a copyright owner has indicated should not be redistributed via the Internet, only to protected digital output and recording technologies, or to analog outputs. The 5C members recommended that a group be formed under the auspices of the CPTWG[1] to evaluate this proposal and to determine whether there is sufficient industry and consumer organization support for the proposal as a solution to the problem of unauthorized redistribution of broadcast content. To date, the group formed as a result of this initiative has undertaken considerable activity --
Plugging
the so called "analog hole" Digital content delivered in a protected manner must nevertheless be converted to an unprotected analog format in order for it to be viewed on the vast majority of HDTV and digital televisions in consumers homes. The "analog hole" refers to the potential which exists for redigitization and subsequent unauthorized redistribution of content (via peer to peer networks or otherwise) because of this need to convert digital signals to analog form in order for them to be viewed. It is currently thought that the most effective means by which the so called "analog hole" issue can be addressed is by using a watermark to indicate how content marked with the watermark can be copied and redistributed. There are efforts currently underway, under the auspices of the DVDCCA, to evaluate 'standard definition' watermarks which we hope will be extensible to 'high definition' content. This process has shown that there are serious business, legal and technical issues that need to be resolved before a watermark can be identified for use to plug the "analog hole." Further efforts are necessary before it can be determined how such a watermark might practically be implemented in order to mitigate the analog hole problem. It is possible that narrowly-tailored government efforts may be necessary to address this problem once an appropriate watermark has been identified, however these decisions should await identification of such a watermark. Preventing
unauthorized peer to peer distribution of content The problem of unauthorized peer to peer distribution of copyrighted content is most difficult to solve. CE and IT companies, including the members of 5C, are sympathetic to the concerns of content owners, yet it is in the arena of solving the peer to peer problem where the legitimate concerns of content owners, the legitimate interests of consumers, and the ability of CE and IT manufacturers to deliver products that are affordable and innovative may be hardest to harmonize. The problem is made even more difficult by the fact that digital devices are used to enjoy (and sometimes share) a variety of data - some of which are not copyrighted. To my knowledge no concrete proposals concerning how to solve the peer to peer problem have been proposed by any industry sector. It is quite likely that no single solution to this problem will be developed and that instead a variety of technical, legal and business approaches will be necessary. At the moment the immediate, although admittedly partial, solution appears to be consumer education efforts and strong enforcement of copyright laws to punish commercial piracy of copyrighted content. In the event that inter-industry efforts to address the issue are convened, Panasonic stands ready to contribute its technical knowledge to find a solution which promotes the availability of digital content while promoting the twin goals of preserving consumer rights and protecting the intellectual property of content owners. Conclusion Panasonic has built its business on delivering innovative products to consumers. We realize that in order to deliver the greatest value to our customers we must likewise provide strong copyright protection for the owners of copyrighted content. For this reason we, together with other members of 5C have been at the forefront of developing technologies that aid the transition to the digital environment for all parties involved. Panasonic will continue to contribute, where it can, to help address technical challenges faced by the industries represented here today and to promote a rapid and fruitful transition to DTV. [1] The CPTWG is the open forum of CE, IT, and content companies and consumer groups which meets, typically on a monthly or bi-monthly basis in Los Angeles, to consider technical copy protection issues.
|
|||||||||||
|
