Senate Committee Hearing

p2pnet: Here's a great example of our hard earned tax dollars at work...Yesterday, the full Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation held a hearing in D.C. on the potential effects of the MGM v. Grokster ruling to impede technological investment and innovation...I applaud their efforts to examine future industry options so quickly after the decision and I hope everyone present now has a better understanding of each other's point of view...(I also found it interesting that they're using Real Networks technology for their streaming playback, which is pretty hip, but unfortunately, I had no luck accessing the video as of this morning...Perhaps they're still editing out the stuff they don't want us to hear?)

Slyck has an excellent post regarding the meeting...'With more questions than answers as a result of the ruling, its become apparent a third party may be able to shed light on the contestaable situation...And while the The Senate Committee has no jurisdictional authority, the meeting may prove useful as a foundation for upcoming legislation...Finding common ground between groups like RIAA/MPAA and P2P United/DCIA has been difficult in the past to say the least, but perhaps the recent Supreme Court decision may have given P2P developers just enough leverage to strike a licensing deal with the copyright industry...The ultimate goal of yesterday's meeting was for the Senate Committee to gauge the ramifications of the MGM vs. Grokster decision. Indeed if the Senate agrees with the testimony provided by P2P United and the DCIA, we could well be on our way to witnessing a licensing agreement between the two sides.'

The witness list included:
Adam Eisgrau - Executive Director, P2P United      
Gregory Kerber - CEO, Wurld Media, Inc.
Mark Heesen - President, National Venture Capital Assoc.
Dave Baker - Vice President Law & Public Policy, Earthlink
Mitch Bainwol - CEO, Recording Industry Association of America
Fritz Attaway - EVP, Motion Picture Industry of America