The 4C Entity is a hardware and computer manufacturers group formed by Intel, IBM, Toshiba and Matsushita Electric, among other technology companies. Its main technology, Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM) embeds a blocking mechanism directly into portable computer devices, such as microdrives, Zip drives and flash memory cards used for MP3 players, to prevent the unauthorized transfer of copyrighted media. The 4C Entity, just one of several hardware and manufacturer-created firms, represents the entertainment industry’s efforts to collaborate with computer firms in protecting copyrighted assets.

Audible Magic Corp., a California-based company, sells technologies and applications that help corporations, entertainment firms, universities and Internet Service Providers monitor and prevent the illegal use of copyrighted materials. Audible Magic's technologies are among the first of a new generation of anti-piracy products that go beyond passive monitoring by actually tracking and recording what files are being transferred over a network. Applications are used to monitor, identify and track content usage across all media types.

Its flagship product, the "content-based identification (CBID)," acts like a digital fingerprinting device that records virtually all file-swapping traffic passing through a network. Audible Magic stores this information in its database of some 3.5 million songs and other copyrighted multimedia, and reports it regularly to client companies. Audible Magic's anti-piracy technology also monitors individual file trades and the use of peer-to-peer sites, unbeknownst to the person downloading a Missy Elliott song or an episode of The Sopranos.

Creative Commons, a cyber-law and copyrights project based at the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, aims to provide an alternative to current copyright laws so that online materials can reside in the public domain.

Lawrence Lessig, a critic of current copyright laws, is the chairman and founding member of the Creative Commons and a law professor at Stanford University. The group, whose members include intellectual property experts like web publisher Eric Eldred, has issued a set of copyright licenses free for public use, and which artists and publishers can use to voluntarily limit the length of their copyright or to establish the terms by which others can reproduce their work. Its self-described mission is to increase "the sum of raw source material online, but also to make access to that material cheaper and easier."

Digital Rights-Management (DRM) Technologies: Copyright-protection applications and devices are often referred to as "digital rights-management" technologies. The RIAA, among other groups, has pushed for Congress to create legislation mandating the use of DRM technologies in an effort to create an industry standard for digital media distribution.

Supporters of DRM claim such anti-piracy technology helps "keep honest users honest," while opponents such as Cory Doctorow, outreach coordinator of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says it "keeps honest users in chains."

The Digital TV "Broadcast Flag" is a copyright protection tool the motion picture industry has recommended Congress adopt as an industry standard. The "broadcast flag" would add a digital watermark to deter or prevent the retransmission of digital TV signals over the Internet. The "flag" consists of a sequence of digital bits embedded in a TV program that signals that the program must not be redistributed.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, advocates for the protection of civil liberties, notably freedom of expression, in the digital age. EFF takes on a number of court cases that may set legal precedents for the treatment of basic rights in cyberspace.

Additionally, the group aims to educate the public, lawmakers and the media about free speech issues and individual Internet rights. Created in 1990 by software engineers and civil rights experts, EFF largely focuses on matters related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the right to online anonymity and privacy and peer-to-peer technologies.

A firewall refers to a system or a group of hardware systems used by a university/business to maintain its computer network security, monitor network traffic and enforce its network usage policy. A firewall protects against viruses, filters content, and can block certain online material from entering a network. It can therefore prevent users from viewing and downloading digital entertainment files.

The Future of Music Coalition, a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., seeks to represent the interests of independent artists and to protect intellectual property rights of artists in the digital age. The group — formed in 2000 by members of the independent music community and experts in technology, entertainment law, and public policy — works to inform the media, lawmakers and public about how media regulations and new digital media distribution could impact the creative community. The association contends that media corporations attempt to silence the voices of independent artists, to the detriment of ingenuity and consumer choice.

The Motion Picture Association of America is a trade association based in Los Angeles that represents the U.S. film industry. The MPAA was created in 1922 to represent the film industry's domestic interests and its international wing, the MPA, was founded in 1945 to represent U.S. film industry interests abroad. The association's board of directors includes representatives of the seven major U.S. movie and television program producers and distributors, including the Walt Disney Co.; Sony Pictures Entertainment (owned by Sony Corp.); Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Inc.; Paramount Pictures Corp. (owned by Viacom); Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. (owned by the News Corp.); Universal Studios (owned by Vivendi Universal); and Warner Bros (owned by AOL Time Warner).

MPAA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack Valenti, a former special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson, is the staunch and demonstrative advocate for tougher copyright protections and for foreign governments to abide by global copyright pacts, such as the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement. The MPAA estimates that the film industry lost nearly $3 billion in 2002 due to international Internet piracy and illegal copying of optical discs, like DVDs.

On July 1, 2004, Valenti formerly announced his resignation after serving 38 years as head of the MPAA. The trade association tapped Dan Glickman, the former agriculture secretary under the Clinton administration, to succeed Valenti, effective Sept. 1, 2004. (Updated July 2004)

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade group based in Washington, D.C., representing the $15 billion U.S. music and recording industry. The association's stated mission is to protect intellectual property rights worldwide and to review federal and international trade law. The organization is headed by Chairwoman Hilary Rosen — who announced her decision to step down in Jan. 2003 — and president Cary Sherman, its board members include top executives from Warner Music Group, Maverick, Elektra (all owned by AOL Time Warner); Sony Music Entertainment, Columbia, Epic (owned by Sony Corp.); Universal Music Group (owned by Vivendi Universal); BMG Entertainment, RCA Music Group, Arista (owned by German media giant Bertelsmann); Capitol Records (owned by EMI Group plc); Tommy Boy Music; Univision Music Group (owned by Univision Communications), among others.

In July 2003, the RIAA named Mitch Bainwol, former chief of staff to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, to replace Hilary Rosen as its new chief executive, effective Sept. 2003.

Secure Digital Music Initiative: In 1999, the recording industry sponsored the now-defunct SDMI — a group of some 200 technology, electronics and Internet companies — to create an industry standard for digital media copyright and distribution. The firm developed anti-piracy, or "watermarking", technologies to prevent unauthorized media files from playing on devices, like MP3 players. The proposal to use digital watermarking as a standard for digital copyright protection became obsolete — as did SDMI — when academic researchers at Princeton cracked the code in 2001.

-- By Liz Harper, Online NewsHour