Floor Statement on Passage of the Family Movie Act
Washington,
Apr 19, 2005 -
This legislation contains four main components.
First, the Family Movie Act will enable parents to skip over or mute the sex, violence, and profanity in movies content they deem objectionable for their children.
Second, the ART Act will create new penalties for those who camcord movies in public theaters and who willfully infringe copyright law by distributing copies of pre-release works, movies or otherwise, online.
Third, a reauthorization of the Film Preservation Board will protect older works that will otherwise deteriorate.
And finally, a technical fix to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act will ensure that libraries and archives have continued access to works during the last 20 years of copyright term.
As my colleagues know, I feel strongly that parents should decide for themselves what their children see and hear on television.
These days, I don’t think anyone would even consider buying a DVD player that doesn’t come with a remote control. Yet there are some who would deny parents the right to use the equivalent electronic device that would protect their children from sex, violence, and profanity in movies watched at home.
Raising children may be the toughest job in the world. Parents need all the help they can get. And they should be able to determine what their children see on the screen.
Yes, we parents might mute dialogue that others deem crucial or we might fast-forward over scenes that others consider essential. But that’s irrelevant. Parents should be able to mute or skip over anything they want if they feel it’s in the best interests of their children.
And, as a practical matter, parents cannot monitor their children’s viewing habits all the time.
Just as the author of a book should not be able to force someone to read that book in any particular manner or order, a studio or director should not be able to force our children to watch a movie in a particular way.
No one can argue with a straight face that it should be against the law to skip over a few pages or even entire chapters of a book. So, too, it should not be illegal to skip over a few words or scenes in a movie. The Family Movie Act in Title II of S. 167 ensures that parents have such rights. In fact the Register of Copyrights testified that such actions by parents are not in violation of existing copyright law, but needless litigation continues on this issue. It is time for the rights of parents to not be tied up in the courts any longer.
Turning to other provisions within S. 167, millions of pirated movies, music, software, game, and other copyrighted files are now available for free download via certain peer to peer networks. Many of these files are the latest movies, music, software, and games that have yet to be released to the public in legal copies.
Title One of the legislation focuses on these pre-release copies of works that are distributed on computer networks before they are available in legal copies to the public. Such activity is clearly wrong, yet existing law does not create a penalty targeted at this activity. Title One creates a minimum penalty of three years in jail for those who undertake such activity.
Combined with the camcordering provisions in Title One, this legislation will impose new and significant penalties on organized groups that camcord movies on the first day of their release and then distribute pirate DVDs the following day on streets worldwide.
Title Three of the legislation reauthorizes the Film Preservation Board at the Library of Congress.
Title Four corrects a technical error in the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act that had the result of limiting library and archive access to older works.
This legislation represents a combination of important public policy objectives. I encourage my colleagues to support the measure and send it to the President’s desk for his signature.
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