BILL BACKERS LINK DRUGS, CABLE THEFT

TAMPA - What do illegal access to cable service and the drug trade have to
do with each other?

Plenty, say those who recently pushed a bill through the Florida
Legislature to further safeguard the cable industry against piracy.

Officials say cable operators lose $350 million every year in Florida, and
the state loses $30 million to $40 million in taxes because of cable theft.

And Rep. Dave Murzin, R-Pensacola, co-sponsor of House Bill 79, said
authorities have frequently recovered narcotics and guns during raids on
stash sites for lifted cable boxes, descramblers and other equipment used
to illegally receive and transmit cable signals.

Charlie Dudley, general counsel of the Florida Cable Telecommunications
Association, said many people pirating programming are part of the drug
trade, too.

"One of the things they do to launder their [drug] money is sell cable
descramblers," he said.

The arguments seem to substantiate the need for cracking down.

But some in the technology, electronics and telecommunications industry say
the broadness of the legislation could have a negative effect on their
businesses.

On its Web site, the Consumer Electronics Association, which promotes
technology, says legislation such as House Bill 79 that passed May 2 is
being pushed by the Motion Picture Association of America and is
"over-reaching" and "ill-considered."

The legislation, which addresses mainly hijacking cable signals, raises
such a crime from a misdemeanor to a felony, imposing stiffer penalties.

But the pending law also provides a broad definition for "communication
devices" that might be used fraudulently to receive or transmit "any
communications service."

Dudley said the rules had to be written broadly to encompass all types of
communication, no matter the medium. But the law applies only to those
breaking it.

Bill opponents say the legislation, as written, could discourage people
from purchasing modems, cable boxes and other communications equipment,
fearing they might be targeted as criminals.

Bob Elek, spokesman for Verizon, said the company is against any law that
might keep people from purchasing broadband access to the Internet. He
said the Florida bill is another from across the nation that is open to
interpretation and could pose problems.

"All of them have a dampening effect on the consumer's willingness to
embrace broadband and use it for all its capabilities," Elek said.