The Act is also targetting webcasters who provide a music stream of licensed music. The bill states that there is a need for copy protection against the groups listening to the streams and making a digital copy on the fly. The bill suggests that webcasters do not broadcast in DRM-less MP3 format, instead be forced to broadcast proprietary formats that contain DRM for the licensed materials they use.
"New radio services are allowing users to do more than simply listen to music. What was once a passive listening experience has turned into a forum where users can record, manipulate, collect and create personalized music libraries," Feinstein said in a statement. "As the modes of distribution change and the technologies change, so must our laws change."
This statement met with praise by the RIAA who retorted with, "Under the current system, satellite radio has been allowed to morph into a digital distribution service -- shorting the creators of music, displacing licensed sales and threatening the integrity of the digital music marketplace in the process," RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol said.
PERFORM did not make it through Congress the last time it was brought up due to the fact that the Judiciary Chairman of the Senate at the time did not find time to review the case. Unfortunately for those interested in keeping broadcasts the way they are, the new Senate Judiciary Chairman is Patrick Leahy; a notoriously outspoken individual against a great deal of technological advances.
In Feinstein's statement, she noted "Unfortunately, the PERFORM Act stalled in the last Congress. However, I am hopeful that the Judiciary Committee under Senator Leahy's leadership will make time to examine this and other important intellectual property issues. This legislation is too important for it to languish for another Congress."
Source:
Internetnews.com