First, the strong copyright protection that we enjoy today is essential to provide those who create the music with the right to control its use and to be compensated when it is played or downloaded. This fundamental copyright principle dates back to the Constitution. From America's earliest days, the creativity and ingenuity of its people have been valued and recognized. Unfortunately, copyright protection alone is often not enough. The technology that permits authorized users to easily download music may also be used by others to obtain unauthorized copies from illegal pirate sites.
Internet piracy is rampant and growing daily.
Second, we believe that technology that provides protection for copyrighted works is the other necessary element for the Internet to reach its full potential as a safe place for commerce. At Universal and the RIAA, we spend an enormous amount of time and resources searching for and developing technology that will allow us to control the product we own. It's simply not enough to have the legal rights to control how our music is used, we must have effective technological means to exercise this control. Just as technology has created this new threat of piracy on the Internet, so too can it solve the problem it has wrought. Precisely how, or when, remains unclear.