Washing
Your Movies
The House has approved The Family Entertainment and Copyright
Act. It contains numerous provisions, but among the most controversial
is one that exempts companies from claims of copyright infringement
for using technology that edits without permanently altering
an original movie.
Representative
Lamar Smith (R-TX), the main sponsor of the bill, had wanted
to legitimize the “sanitizing” technology in use by ClearPlay,
a Utah company that creates movie-specific filters that can
be plugged into a specially equipped DVD player. The filters
let viewers edit three types of violence, five levels of sex
and six types of profanity, said Bill Aho, ClearPlay’s chief
executive.
The
bill does not address the editing form of censorship used by
CleanFlicks Media and other companies that distribute edited
versions of movies. Hollywood companies had sued both ClearPlay
and CleanFlicks for copyright infringement. The Family Entertainment
and Copyright Act will make the former moot but leave the latter
embroiled in litigation.
In addition to the ClearPlay provisions, the act also strengthens
anti-piracy laws, establishing prison terms for selling pirated
materials. It makes it a federal offense to create bootleg films
by using recorders in theaters and gives theaters the right
to detain suspects for questioning until police arrive.
The
Holistic Wisdom Corporation