http://news.com.com/2100-1023-954651.html Media chief decries Net's moral fiber By Declan McCullagh August 21, 2002, 6:13 AM PT ASPEN, Colo.--The president of media giant News Corp. warns that the Internet has become a "moral-free zone," with the medium's future threatened by pornography, spam and rampant piracy. Speaking Tuesday at an annual conference organized by the Progress & Freedom Foundation, Peter Chernin decried the "enormous amount" of worthless content online. He also predicted that without new laws to stave off illicit copying, News Corp.'s vast library of movies may never be made available in digital form. "The vast potential of broadband has so far benefited nobody as clearly as it's benefited downloaders of pornography and pirates of digital content," Chernin told an audience of about 200. News Corp. owns 20th Century Fox and Fox Television. [...] In an interview after his speech, Chernin threw News Corp.'s support behind three controversial bills. The company backs a plan by Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., to implant copy-protection technology in software and hardware devices, as well as a bill introduced last month by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., that would authorize copyright holders to hack into and disrupt peer-to-peer networks. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan CNET Radio 9:40 am ET weekdays: http://cnet.com/broadband/0-7227152.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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