Apparently the U.S. Senate wants Internet radio providers to use Digital Rights Management (DRM), in S.256, also known as the “Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act” (PERFORM):

Then there are the issues related to the use of DRM. Since there’s no such thing as an open DRM standard broadcasters will likely pick and choose from the motley assortment of available options. Not only will this create confusion among consumers, but it will likely leave many users out in the cold. Very few DRM schemes are cross-platform, and the ones that are (FairPlay) would likely not be available to Internet broadcasters.

Chances are that many broadcasters would select Microsoft’s DRM system, effectively turning Internet radio into a Windows-only medium (and ironically leaving Zune users out of the loop).

Washington Tries Its Best To Kill Internet Radio Powered by BlogBurst, by Kirk Biglione, Medialoper – An entertainment publication for people who think, Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Biglione points out that Internet radio already pays the same music licensing fees as traditional radio, plus extra fees. To also require this extra technology could put many Internet radio stations out of business.

And for not much of any reason:

In a world where just about every song ever recorded is available from any number of online sources, it’s hard to believe that a significant number of listeners are sitting around waiting for their favorite song to play on some Internet station so they can record the stream, cut the song out of the stream, tag it, then transfer it to their iPod. No, something tells me that people who don’t want to pay for songs have more efficient ways of stealing music.

It seems to me that this bill is an example of exactly what government shouldn’t do regarding the Internet: mandating (defacto, because there isn’t any other standard) a specific technology implementation, and a proprietary one, at that. Doesn’t seem like good risk management to me.

-jsq