Does the MPAA want net neutrality after all?

A memo submitted to the Obama-Biden transition team by the Motion Picture Association of America outlines the MPAA's hopes for the next administration's list of international trade priorities.

Intellectual property concerns are paramount, as one might expect from the MPAA. Topping the list of the group's issues is "camcording," or the process whereby inaudible, shaky pirate copies of semi-current films are made. Mexico in particular is on the group's mind; describing the incidence of camcording there as "growing to crisis proportions," the group is working to secure legislation there, and they could use some help.

Piracy takes up two spots on the hit list. Internet piracy's still weighing heavily on Hollywood's mind, and the MPAA invokes the WIPO Treaties as weight for their efforts. The group calls for increased use of "automated detection and removal of infringing content" and cites recent French and British efforts to provide online content and facilitate "inter-industry cooperation" -- DRM, anyone? -- as good models for the US.

Massive disk-duping enterprising in places like Russia and China draw MPAA ire too. The MPAA statement says, "It is essential that governments regulate optical disc production as a tool for controlling piracy and launch deterrent enforcement efforts against illegal replication facilities."

And then there's net neutrality. Market access and electronic commerce take on an interesting cast when your product consumes mass quantities of bandwidth; as the memo puts it, "MPAA's market access interests cut across goods, services, and electronic commerce negotiations." The group would like to see quotas and tariffs eliminated on "audiovisual-related products," and aims for calculation of customs duties on the of the carrier medium, not royalties. (In other words, 100,000 DVDs of The Dark Knight are worth precisely the same as 100,000 DVDs of Gigli.)

Fair enough. Under electronic commerce, though, there's an eye-catching statement about distribution mechanisms and discrimination. "Electronic commerce is integral to the emerging business models of MPAA's member companies. MPAA places high priority on ensuring that this critical means of distribution is not jeopardized by discriminatory regulations nor prejudiced by initiatives that aim to exclude audiovisual goods..."

Say what? The MPAA is famously opposed to net neutrality. But the sentence continues: "...under the guise of cultural promotion." For a moment there, it looked as if the group was suddenly presenting the net-neutrality brief -- leave the means of distribution free from discrimination, exclusionary efforts, and other tweaking.

It all tumbles down by the end of the sentence. But one wonders if a transition team for a President-Elect on record as favoring net neutrality might read the MPAA memo plus the repeated calls on change.gov's "Open For Questions" section concerning net neutrality and come to some interesting conclusions about how it all fits together.