MPAA: Net neutrality an assault on creativity

So the movie industry is lining up four-square with Comcast on this net neutrality thing. MPAA boss Dan Glickman just gave a speech (PDF) this week, in which he announced:

Today MPAA and all of our studios are standing up in opposition to broad-based government regulation of the Internet. We are opposing so-called “net neutrality” government action. And, in the process, we are standing up for our customers, for our economy and for the ability of content producers to continue to create great movies for the future.

The way Glickman sees it, for the first time, technologies exist for network providers to stop the wholesale piracy of intellectual property and this net neutrality business would cut that off at the knees. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who has introduced a relatively mild net neutrality bill in the House, wants to destroy the creative industries.

Net neutrality legislation "would impede our ability to respond to consumers in innovative ways, and it would impair the ability of broadband providers to address the serious and rampant piracy problems occurring over their networks today."

I thought Jon Healey's piece in the LA Times nailed it well. Despite Glickman's attempt to paint Markey as a defender of piracy, the Markey bill in fact would:

"make it U.S. policy to preserve the public's access to 'lawful' content, applications and services online, carving out wide latitude for ISPs to interfere with infringing works. For example, ISPs couldn't block all Bit Torrent traffic simply because it might be used for piracy, but they could use video fingerprints to try to stop Bit Torrent from being used to deliver bootlegged movies.

After all, how will Hollywood feel when they discover that they want to use some technology that Comcast deems it doesn't like. Having handed the gate keys to the ISPs, Hollywood will find it hard to get them back.