IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 24, 2007

Lawmaker Proposes To Strengthen Anti-Counterfeiting and Internet Piracy Efforts

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“Congress is making Internet service providers responsible for piracy on their networks, not just those who download or share the content,” said Congressman Howard Berman at Anti-Piracy Event in LA

SafeMedia has the Technology and solutions to support this legislation

Hollywood, CA – A California congressional delegation, Motion Picture Assn. of America (MPAA), Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA), law enforcement and music industry executives huddled in a weeklong brainstorming meetings to solve the growing problem of counterfeiting and piracy threats to America’s economy. SafeMedia Corporation is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Coalition against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP) and is an Internet Task Force Member.

“Counterfeiting and music piracy have been going on for years, escalating to a point where it has to stop, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us to do this,” Singer Mary Wilson, one of the three original legendary Motown Supremes singers testifying during Anti-Piracy Awareness Week in Hollywood (Thursday, August, 23, 2007). Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard, known as the “Supremes,” were one of the most successful female singing groups in recording history.

“Counterfeiting and piracy are costing the U.S. economy about $250 billion annually, have led to the loss of more than 750,000 American jobs and needlessly expose consumers to dangerous and defective products,” said California 28^th District Congressman Howard Berman, who moderated the Town Hall meeting, along with 33^rd District Congresswoman Diane Watson and 27^th District Congressman Brad Sherman. “The Crime of counterfeiting and piracy is a dangerous threat to consumers and our economy,” said Berman, who also chaired a hearing last June in Washington to reduce digital copyright violations on campus. Berman promised to secure more funds and resources for the U.S. Dept. of Justice, INS, Homeland Security and other federal agencies to crack down on counterfeiting and piracy.

Representative Sherman also believes that Congress has to start enforcing intellectual and copyright laws at the borders with more investigators, prosecutors and federal trade agents. “Six to nine percent of the world trade has pirated goods from auto parts to Barbie Dolls. If the real Barbie Dolls have lead paint, just imagine what the counterfeit dolls have,” he said.

All panelists agreed that the industry and government need to take a proactive approach on the street and on the Internet. Last month Retired General Wesley Clark warned a Congressional hearing that the “next national security threat is the contaminated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks.”

Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), in a study for MPAA, found the global cost of counterfeiting and piracy to LA-based firms was $5.2 billion, 106,000 jobs and $4.4 billion in lost wages. And Internet service providers (ISPs) are scrambling, too, to find technology solutions to eliminate contaminated P2P file sharing on their networks, which drains bandwidth, which is creating customer dissatisfaction.

“We are literally laying off people due to piracy, it is a national epidemic,” said Mike Robinson, vice president, U.S. Anti-Piracy Operations, MPAA.

“Piracy runs rampant, from new TV shows to new music being distributed illegally over contaminated P2P networks,” said President Pasquale Giordano, SafeMedia Corporation, Boca Raton, Fl. “Our technology eliminates the entire illegal file sharing of copyrighted material, identity theft and security risks of contaminated P2P networks that affect consumers, students, businesses and our government’s national security. One of the defining characteristics of contaminated networks is that users rarely ever know that they are sharing all the files on their computer with every other user on the network,” he said.

LA Council President Pro-Tem Wendy Greuel, a former DreamWorks SKG executive, told the piracy awareness workshop, “Sunday on the front page of the LA Times, there was a story on where the best places to buy counterfeit goods that look authentic. To show you an example of the depth of the problem, today the LA Times turned around and criticized piracy in another story.”

SafeMedia’s P2PD solutions support the U.S Chamber of Commerce and Hollywood in their fight against Internet Piracy associated with contaminated P2P networks. SafeMedia recently provided written testimony to Congress, which is looking for business solutions to prevent Internet Piracy. Representatives Berman and Watson are both co-sponsoring bills to fight piracy.

“SafeMedia has developed business solutions combining P2P Disaggregator technology (P2PD) and a Digital Internet Distribution Solution (DIDS) that prevents contaminated P2P networks from indiscriminately accessing users’ computers,” explained CEO Safwat Fahmy, SafeMedia Corp. “It eliminates illegal file sharing of copyrighted material, protecting the users from identity theft, spyware, malware, viruses and reducing the bandwidth cost to ISPs.”

Safejoy is a global multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-cultural web portal designed to safely and securely download on-demand copyrighted digital material, providing that the user is protected by P2PD technology. Safejoy login process provides this functionality and security.

DIDS digital distribution solution is the only solution that guarantees a legitimately purchased song on the Internet will be delivered to a computer that cannot be accessed by a contaminated P2P network. No other digital delivery system can make that claim.

P2PD is DNA technology that discriminates between contaminated and non-contaminated P2P traffic whether encrypted or not and it operates at network speed almost invisibly.

“Our business technology solutions utilize advanced technologies such as: Adaptive Fingerprinting and DNA markers; Adaptive network patterns; Intelligent libraries; Remote update and self-healing to effectively dropping all contaminated P2P traffic with no invasion of user privacy,” said Fahmy.

SafeMedia’s technology comes at a crucial time when congress is considering legislation to combat Internet piracy and illegal downloading of copyrighted music and movies associated with contaminated P2P networks. An individual sued by the RIAA has served a third party complaint against Kazaa and AOL. The US Chamber of Commerce, MPAA, RIAA and other organizations have team up with the Mayor of Los Angeles to fight piracy.

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Council President-elect Wendy Greuel kicked off the week of educational and media events focusing on the costs and health and safety threats of counterfeiting and piracy. “Every day we can created something new: motion pictures, sound recordings, video games, and toys, but every sector of every industry in LA County and the country is at risk from aerospace chips on the high end to technology and computers,” said Mayor Villaraigosa.

“The Task Force we formed earlier this year will work together to educate consumers about the issue, lobby for tougher penalties for the crooks and these crimes, and to get organized criminal networks selling counterfeit and pirated products off the streets and behind bars.” Greuel also acknowledge that Internet Piracy is also out of control.

[Editors note: For media interviews with SafeMedia contact George McQuade, MAYO Communications, 818-340-5300. For more info about SafeMedia Corporation product line visit www.SafeMedia.com or call 561-989-1934.]