CNET's reporting on a largely boring CES took an interesting turn in the coverage of a panel that included 8 US congressmen who seem to have realized that Big Content's continued attacks on their customers isnt' just stupid, it's also not what they intended when passing DMCA.

Debate was more unified on intellectual property issues, with lawmakers saying that while Congress will continue to support strong copyright protection, media industries need to come up with their own solutions to file-swapping and other issues.

Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., joined others in criticizing the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for suing alleged music swappers, calling the RIAA's legal tactics heavy-handed and against the intent of U.S. copyright laws, including the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

"The fundamental problem with the approach of the RIAA took is that it was based on legislation that created special property rights," Sununu said. "Suddenly, you had a private entity that's able to issue subpoenas, which is unprecedented."

"That's not what the DMCA was intended to do," he said. "We can't be writing legislation that gives holders of certain types of intellectual property special rights...We can't carve out special legislation to give special powers to certain types of content."

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said it's up to content creators to come up with business models that accommodate modern technology and attitudes. "I don't agree you're going to get teenagers and young people to believe they're doing something immoral" in file swapping, he said. "The industry has to decide on a different model."

Lawmakers also spoke in support of moratoriums on taxing the Internet, with Sen. George Allen, R-Va., saying lawmakers need to be vigilant against efforts by state and local authorities to grab a chunk of broadband service fees.

Sununu said those same force are hungry to take a bite out of the emerging market for Internet-based telephone service. "I think the most important policy issue we'll be dealing with over the next few months is voice over IP," he said. Sununu said Congress' job is "to try to protect it from taxation, to define it as an information service, so the technology can grow."

[by way of BoingBoing]