TCTA Talking Points — An Informed Citizen's Perspective
These talking points were distributed to Tennessee state legislators on behalf of the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association, on TCTA letterhead.

We provide them here along with clarifying facts about each point drawn directly from the bill, existing Tennessee law and related sources.

• The purpose of the bill is to update state law so that it comprehensively protects new broadband communication services from piracy and sabotage.
  
  Sabotage and piracy are already illegal. The purpose of this bill is to grant unprecedented enforcement powers to corporations who want to control your access to digital media.
  
  
• The bill prohibits piracy and intentional disruption of broadband communication services while also protecting the anti-piracy technologies used by communication service providers for network security.
  
  The bill does not mention acts of piracy or disruption, but instead prohibits the ability to use the Internet in ways that the MPAA sees as making such use possible. Unfortunately, that also covers the ability to do many things that you might do every day.
  
  
• The bill targets those who profit from piracy by imposing the most severe criminal penalties on large scale distributors of pirate software and hardware - a Class D felony, which is the maximum penalty under existing law.
  
  Here's a quick test: Check out your computer system and your home theater setup. Count every "electronic mechanism, transmission lines or connections and appurtenances thereto, instrument, device, machine, equipment, technology or software that is capable of intercepting, transmitting, re-transmitting, acquiring, decrypting, encrypting or receiving any communication service, including the receipt, acquisition, interception, transmission, re-transmission or decryption of any communication service provided by or through any cable television, fiber optic, telephone, electric power lines, satellite, microwave, data transmission, radio, Internet-based or wireless distribution network, system or facility, and components thereof, including any computer circuit, splitters, connectors, switches, communication security hardware and software, transmission hardware, security module, smart card, software, computer chip, electronic mechanism or any component, accessory or part of any communication device which is capable of facilitating the interception, transmission, re-transmission, decryption, acquisition or reception of any communication service" that you find. If that number is five or more, and you violate any part of this bill, then congratulations—you're a Class D felon.
  
  
• The bill does not criminalize otherwise lawful conduct by ordinary citizens.
  
  This is only correct if "ordinary citizens" are defined as those who don't have cable or use the Internet.
  
  
• Broadband services are increasingly critical to our economy and are relied upon by consumers, businesses and governments.
  
  We would not have broadband services if measures like this one had been in place ten years ago. This bill will stifle the spread of any new technology not pre-approved (and probably licensed and sold) by the MPAA and its allies.
  
  
• By providing strong legal protections for these services, this bill will help protect the communications infrastructure in this state for the benefit of all citizens.
  
  Again, this does not protect services. It prohibits advancement and spread of any technologies that have any potential of interfering with the MPAA's current business plan.
  
  
• The cable industry alone estimates that each year between $100 million and $130 million in revenue is lost to piracy in the state of Tennessee.
  
  The implication is that if piracy were completely wiped out in Tennessee, the cable companies would be making an additional $100 to $130 million per year. Interesting, that "the cable industry alone" makes this estimate, and that they provide no estimate of how much of this piracy will be remedied by this bill. Nor do they estimate how more Tennesseans will have to pay when they can't buy a Tivo, a VCR, a router, or even a splitter without their cable company's permission.
  
  
• Neither this legislation nor the current law address theft of copyrighted material such as movies and music, which is punishable exclusively under federal copyright law.
  
  Exactly. These acts are already illegal, so why do we need this legislation? We don't. The media companies want to extend their reach to the control of the electronic devices and software that you are able to buy, use, or even write about.
  
  
• Legislators have heard from members of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose members believe in unfettered access to the Internet and retailers of consumer electronics, whose concerns have been addressed in our amendatory language approved by the Consumer Electronics Association in Washington since.
  
  This gives the impression that the MPAA and TCTA have dealt with the concerns of the EFF and other groups. This is not true. Their "amendatory language" has only served to obfuscate the bill and make its application and enforcement even more vague. It adds the concept of "intent to defraud," but makes it possible to prove such an intent where none exists. Also, the Consumer Electronics Association still opposes this bill on many points. Their recent press release outlines several of CEA's objections, which are also shared by many other groups and thousands of Tennesseans.
  
  
• Several other states have passed similar legislation: Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, Arkansas
  Legislation is pending in: Florida, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Texas, and Georgia
  
  The MPAA managed to get versions of this bill passed in six states before many groups were aware of their actions. This was not an open, public-minded campaign by a group dedicated to "the benefit of all citizens," but a closely-held, secretive campaign, engineered to use the state legislatures to enforce the business plans of a few powerful media companies.