Recently, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has been pressing states to enact new legislation aimed at criminalizing the possession of what they call “unlawful communication and access devices.” These measures represent an unprecedented attack on the rights of technologists, hobbyists, tinkerers and the public at large. In essence, these proposals would allow “communication service providers” to restrict what you can connect to your Internet connection or cable or satellite television lines.
These measures represent a stealth effort to dramatically expand the reach of the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which has already put fair use, innovation, free speech and competition in peril since being enacted in 1998.
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Under existing law, those who have legitimately purchased communication services (e.g., cable TV, satellite, or broadband Internet services) are free to connect whatever they like to the wires they pay for, so long as they do not violate any otherwise applicable law. So, for example, you are free to connect a new TV, PC, VCR or TiVo to a cable television connection that you pay for. Similarly, you are free to connect a Wi-Fi wireless access point to your DSL line in order to share your broadband connection among several computers in your house. This freedom has encouraged technology vendors to compete and innovate in response to the demands of consumers.
The proposed super-DMCA statutes reverse this traditional rule. Under these statutes, you would not be entitled to connect anything to your cable, satellite, or DSL line without the express permission of your service provider. The model MPAA bill accomplishes this by making it a crime to possess a device to “receive
