Page 94 - Communication Commerce and Power The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite

Foreign Communication Policy and DBS: 1962-1984 83

inter-state organization exclusively concerned with outer-space issues,
the COPUOS stood as an important early medium in the emerging
DBS debate. Preliminary US-based DBS developments and expert
predictions that direct broadcasting applications were close at hand
generated 'a sense of urgency' at least within the COPUOS. Its DBS
36
Working Group was particularly concerned with how direct broad-
casting might affect developing countries. Specifically, the Working
Group set out to study how to insure that all states could gain access
to DBS systems; how to insure that DBS would be used for the
development needs of LDCs; and how to insure that DBS would be
used for peaceful purposes only. 37 Because of its status, agreements
stemming from the COPUOS potentially would have a significant
impact on the development of customary international law concerning
the principles of the free flow of information in general and DBS in
particular.
In 1970, the delegation representing France in the COPUOS DBS
Working Group proposed the adoption oflegal principles - normally
the first step in the formation of an international treaty - that would
require DBS broadcasts to take place under conditions respecting 'the
sovereignty of States that do not wish their territory to be covered
by ... [DBS] broadcasts.' 38 Although specific issues concerning inter-
national copyright, advertising, right of reply, the impact of DBS on
domestic film and television industries, and others were discussed, the
Working Group eventually was dissolved having failed in its efforts to
reach even the most general consensus. Again, US officials were
opposed to any potentially precedent-setting agreement restricting
DBS activities. American delegates insisted that such regulations
were premature and contravened the principles of the free flow of
information found in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. 39 The working paper submitted by the US delegation,
rather than taking part in a discussion of how prospective DBS
systems might be used, instead limited its attention to those mostly
technical issues that remained unresolved (namely, how space tele-
communications can best be integrated with terrestrial systems, the
technical requirements to develop interference-free transmissions and
so forth). 40 Throughout the COPUOS DBS Working Group's delib-
erations, concluded in 1970, US officials refused to address directly
the concerns raised by other delegations as to the prospective regula-
tion of what DBS systems might one day transmit. At an international
colloquium on space law, held in 1973, the Deputy General Counsel
of the USIA, F.S. Ruddy, responded to his government's emerging