Another DMCA Attack Looms

ndege writes "In this Wired article, Rep. Rick Boucher is finally ready to try and dismantle a key part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Boucher, a Virginia Democrat, said last July that he wanted to amend the DMCA to permit certain 'fair uses' of digital content, such as backing up an audio CD by bypassing copy protection technology. In an interview on Thursday, Boucher said he now has sufficient support from the tech industry, librarians, and Internet activists."

Comments

As a po' European, I ask you to support this

[Mikoca]

A Petition to the European Parliament. After you read all about it, of course, as the site provides.

Re:GNU Philosophy in Government

[Anonymous Coward]

Douglas Adams? Try Plato. It's in "The Republic".

Re:How about repealing it?

[Mr_Matt]

Kind of, but not really. Check out this link to see why.

Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107 of the US Code first defines what fair use is, and then states that for these cases (which fall under the definition of fair use) that use of the copyrighted work doesn't infringe on the copyright. You're technically right about fair use not being protected by law per se, but your post implies that it's only a judicial precedent. It's not - it's a clearly defined escape clause in copyright usage.

Of course, IANAL, YMMV, ROLLIN HAND, but it's worth noting that there already exists a "concept of fair use" in the law. Legislation like the DMCA usually comes about when people don't know and/or understand the laws they already have.