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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."
Ammend the constitution. Make it part of our bill of rights. And for the love of God, REPEAL the DMCA!
The only thing the DMCA did was make it hard on cryptographers, security analysts, and researchers to do their jobs and report their results. You want unbreakable crypto? (Well, that will likely never happen, but do you want it to be so hard that it isn't worth the effort?) Then honest people have to try to break it and report on it's strengths and weaknesses. If you pass a million laws saying you can't circumvent encryption, someone in another country where our laws don't apply can still do it. People in America who aren't going to obey the laws anyway can still do it. And people who wouldn't steal the music, but just want to break it for the challenge will still do it.
It is illegal to steal cars, but "slim-jims" are legal, why? Because they can help you get your car open if you lock your keys in. Shouldn't it be legal for me to make a backup copy of my CD in case I drop the original in the lake while on my boat? With the DMCA as it stands, if that disk is copy protected, it is ILLEGAL for me to do that.
"Da ist ein Technölüst in mein Unterpanten!"
The inherent issue here is not actually copyright law, but the failure of the political system.
Here we have an issue that is disliked by everyone that knows about it, and fundamentally runs against several precepts of the constitution (and the original idea behind copyright law).
Yet it is law. Why? Because it allows media companies to increase their profits. Yet even that is debatable. A better description of the DMCA is that it allows media companies to think that they are increasing their profits.
And because of the money involved, these companies have a bunch of cash to blow on lobbyists. Media companies are very very large, and, as a result, have an enormous financial intrest in Washington.
So only the little guys are left. Librarians, Internet activists, and some tech companies (some. Microsoft seems to back the DMCA. Most try to be DRM neutral.). The problem is that the little guys don't have enough cash to buy the best politicians. Yes, buy politicians. So we have to find semi-honest politicians who agree with the cause. Which is near-hopeless.
Of course, the ban on soft money should help, but the underlying problem is the same. Washington is dominated by corporate interests. The only real fix is to make digital rights management and the abhorration that is the DMCA a public issue. Only then will people look at a politicians record vis a vis copy protection come november. And only then will justice finally be done.
I think we need to reorganise the parties.
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All those who are for fair use on this side of the room.
all those who are corprate whores on that side.
ok, all the corprate whore....please step into that small enclosed windowless room with sound proofing foam on the walls and shut the big steel door with automatic locking mechenism on it.
thanks,
ok everyone else, back to business.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
In the US of A, it is perfectly legal for any American to purchase any politician. You don't need to be from Virgina to contribute to Mr. Boucher's reelection efforts. I'm sure certain nefarious organizations will fund his opponents. Do your part and keep this guy from getting crushed for standing up to legalized racketeering.
Party affiliations are getting pretty twisted around with the DMCA. Sure, there's Mr. Boucher (D-VA), but there's also Mr. Hollins (D-Disney). The House still has a Republican majority. I vaguely recall Tom DeLay (R-TX) not letting an xxAA bill out of comittee recently.
It's true that the Republicans are largely responsible for screwing up this country lately, but with this issue you need to pay attention to the person, not the party.
1. Instead of hauling CD's back and forth between home, car, and work, I can make an extra copy to leave in my car if I so choose.
2. My apartment was broken into last year, and the thugs took my roommate's entire CD collection, including some albums that she will probably never be able to replace. You better believe I started making back-up copies of my CD's after that happened.
3. I've copied tracks on to my computer so I can just play them without having to get the CD out.
I, for one, actually OWN a legitimate copy of every CD I have. That doesn't mean I don't need or want an extra copy for myself. Not everyone who is against copy-protection is stealing music, which is what lovely folks like the RIAA seem to forget.
That'd be a huge mistake. Laws last longer than technologies do. There will come a time when "CD" is extremely primitive and inefficient. Meanwhile, the rest of the law remains in place?
It would be amazing to see "Fair Use" in the law books instead of being merely a part of court precedence though.
It's time to flood congress with intelligent opinions. I think this political activism thing is actually working for us. I think even politicians WANT to do the right thing if only they people they represent show they care and are watching.
If by "stealing" you mean "making an exact copy of and leaving the original with the owner", which of course you can't because that is not the accepted definition.
The DMCA is NOT really a copyright law. You are right, digital content is protected in the same way as everything else by regular copyright law.
What the DMCA does is to ban the distribution of devices that circumvent copy protection mechanisms. Thus, for example: Copyright law says it's illegal to use a decrypter to copy a DVD. The DMCA says it's illegal to get the decrypter in the first place (unless you invented it yourself).
Unfortunately, the killer is that it (apparantly) bars devices that circumvent copy protection mechanims, NO MATTER WHAT ELSE THOSE DEVICES DO, and NO MATTER WHAT ELSE THE COPY PROTECTION MECHANISMS DO.
Fair use is the classic example. Preventing fair use isn't copyright protection, because copyright cannot legally prevent fair use. Technically it would be completely legal for you to decrypt a DVD for fair use reasons, and neither copyright nor the DMCA stops you directly. But the DMCA will stop you getting the decryptor you need to do it. So unless you want to engineer one yourself, you effectively lose your fair use ability. The holders have defended this under the grounds that 'they are under no obligation to make fair use easy'.
The real question is how Boucher is going to get fair use into the DMCA without repealing the whole thing. An extra law, which said that they WERE obliged to make fair use easy, would help..
So, 100 people showing up in person is worth a LOT more than 10,000 people sending in e-mail.
/.'s lousy search system. Something about "modem tax" and "chain letters" and such, to try to get "normal people" inflamed and calling their representatives. Does anyone know of a way to search *all* of one person's postings?
Yes, except that 100,000 people getting an inflammatory chain letter, espeically if it gets press coverage, can have a strong "chilling effect" on any legislation even remotely related.
A while back, there was some consideration about changing US coin designs (something that's way overdue in many collectors' opinions, including mine). An incorrect rumor got started that congress was going to remove "In God We Trust" from coins, a call-in and letter-writing campaign ensued, and the legitimate legislation (which NEVER contemplated removing any of the currently mandated legends or devices) died a swift and silent death.
I've often wondered about whether some of the chain letters out there weren't deliberately placed. Maybe taking a page from Ayn Rand or Ender's Game (Demosthenes, etc.) would be an effective way to get stuff done. After all, it's all about public opinion, and the best way to sway that is with FUD, as we all know too well.
Of course, it's sort of stooping to "their" level, but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.
I wrote a nice rant about this some time ago, but I can't manage to find it with
You're cutting them slack they don't deserve. They want you to have to buy an extra copy if the first one is damaged/stolen/whatever. If this were not the case, they would replace first copies at cost when presented with proof of original purchase.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
> How are they supposed to allow copies for
> legitimate uses but not for piracy? Today's DRM
> technology cannot make this distinction.
> Telling them to remove all protection is
> equivalent to saying "ignore me, please,
> because I don't have constructive input."
No, absolutely not. The companies need to be told that if THEY want the benefits of the technology, THEY have to develop it first. Breaking people's rights to get one without the other is wrong.
Suppose I want to be able to defend my house against burglars. I have the right to do that and to use reasonable force in doing so. I would like to build a machine that would club burglars on the head. By your logic, it is ok for me to set up a machine which attacks EVERYONE who comes within range of my house. After all, I have the right to protection, and I cannot help the fact that innocents get attacked because the technology to distinguish them from burglars doesn't exist.
Furthermore, unless legislation that forces companies to adopt technologies that will permit fair use is created, then a) no money will go into developing it, and b) even if it is developed nobody will use it. Why should they? They would far prefer that there was no fair use.