EFF Urges Support for Rep. Boucher's DMCRA

DarkSparks writes "The EFF is urging everyone to contact their Representatives and ask them to co-sponsor Representative Rick Boucher and John Doolittle's recently introduced Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA, H.R. 5544), which would introduce labelling requirements for usage-impaired "copy-protected" compact discs, as well as make several key amendments to the DMCA, including affirming the right of scientific research into technology protection measures and affirming the right of citizens to circumvent technology measures to gain access to copyrighted works they've purchased."

Comments

::cannot be copied::

[tevenson]

So we get a label saying "Cannot be ripped and distrubuted over Kazza" on our CDs from now on?

This is all an exercise is futility it seems to me. People will find a way to copy the media, no matter what. Why not use money/technology to do something a bit more useful?

Re:::cannot be copied::

[Nogami_Saeko]

Followed by: "The Sound Quality Of This Disc Has Intentionally Been Reduced To Prevent You From Pirating It You Thief - Now Buy It Like We Tell You To!"

Maybe when publishing companies (music and film both) start realizing that consumers are the ones who pay their salary, they'll start treating us with less contempt. Sorry to say that there are a whole lot of people who are NOT sheep content to be shorn of their hard-earned money.

At some point when faced with all of the DRM crap that companies are trying to force us into, I'll just decide to move on to other activities which are less technologically oriented.

Even now, the rise in film prices to over $12 per ticket is severely limiting the number of movies I go to. That doesn't mean I download them on the PC or anything, but I just spend my time doing other things instead...

Good first step

[Moonshadow]

Both measures are good steps towards repealing the DMCA, or at least nullifying its more damning effects.

Seriously, can you tell me that you'd rather have one law and no rights than two laws and some rights?

I'll take the rights, thanks. Don't make me a criminal for ripping your CD to my computer so I can listen to it without having to swap physical CDs in and out.

Go Boucher.

Re:No!

[GnomeKing]

This is not promoting the opposite...

As much as we might not like it, the politicians feel that the DMCA does have a place in todays society - attempting to get the whole DMCA thrown out is likely to be less successful than promoting some key changes to help protect our rights

Remove the most controversial aspects of the DMCA and joe consumer gets most of his rights back... not all, but most
Fight the whole of the DMCA and the odds of success are greatly reduced

Having said that, I'm not suggesting that we accept the DMCA - just that something is a hell of a lot better than nothing

Wrong way round

[mccalli]

I'm not from the US, so I can't support this bill anyway. However, if I was I'd still have a moral objection.

You are allowed to do anything not made illegal. In the UK, laws set out the limits to your rights, they do not enumerate them. So a law affirming that I have the right to eat cheese, to take a daft example, would be pointless because there is no law saying that I cannot eat cheese. If a law banning cheese came in to force, then the correct action would be to repeal that law, not to introduce another one limiting it.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:Wrong way round

[magicslax]

If a law banning cheese came in to force, then the correct action would be to repeal that law, not to introduce another one limiting it.

This effectively repeals the portions of the DMCA that are especially vile. IANAS...TG (I am not a senator...thank God), but I'm under the impression that it would be much harder to repeal the entire law.

In the UK, laws set out the limits to your rights, they do not enumerate them.

In the US, we do have laws that explicitly state what we can do... like the Bill of Rights. It's a form of self-limitation in which the government prevents itself from passing future bad laws. What would you do if there were suddenly a ban on cheese? I guess it's working the other way around this time, though. Again, you don't see me in the blue suit, so I won't say anything I can't eat if I'm wrong ;-)

Re:Wrong way round

[ShinmaWa]

but to my mind the answer would be to amend the DMCA, not to introduce a second bill

In the United States, a law is amended by introducing another bill. The bill in question serves to amend the DMCA law.

IOW, bill HR12345 might put Law X on the books. Bill HR54321 might amend Law X with additional clarification, removed segments, and/or added text. The same bill might amend several laws at once and enact brand new ones -- all in one shot.

Getting a bit off topic, the Patriot Act bill is a great example of this. Not only did this bill put the Patriot Act on the books, it also enacted more than a dozen other things, including authorizing expenditures for highway construction and additional scientific funding on insect research.

Re:Wrong way round

[TGK]

Ok someone has to explain this and being married to a High School government teacher is proving advantagious in this case.

The United States operates under a system called Federalism. Under this system power is divided between National, State, and Local governments. Each government is responcible for enacting its own laws. -=However=- under the supremacy clause of the United States constitution no law passed by a lower government can contradict a law passed by a higher one.

Example -- The United States Congress (and president) passes a law stating that it shall be illegal for a person to posess more than 50 gallons of Jolt cola per person in his household. The State of Vermont may not pass a law which increases that limit to 75 gallons, or rather it can, but the National limit of 50 gallons will superceed that. (I'm getting to the point here). Vermont could pass a law lowering that limit to 30 gallons, however, and there would be no conflict.

The Bill of Rights was put in place, not to define the freedoms of the people, but to constrain the power of the government. Read it. Congress shall make no law.... The right of the people to * shall not be abridged... and of course, All powers not specified in this Constitution are reserved for the States and the people of the United States.

Key point there -- The BOR does not deliminate the freedoms of the people, it sets boundaries for the government. But remember, those boundaries -=only=- apply to the National government.

The 14th ammendment incorporates much of the constitution upon the States, or rather, it created a way for the Court to do so. IIRC, the only ammendment from the BOR not so incorporated is the 2nd (right to keep/bare arms).

So yes, in the United States we assume that you have right X unless stated otherwise. It doesn't have to be explicitly stated, implied powers are a big part of our legal system, and 99% of what our National government does are things the constitution only implies it can do (establishing a National Bank for example).

The origional poster, however, had a point. Every US citizen should know one thing coming into this debate. Our legal system does -=not=- allow for conflicting laws. A law either superseeds another or it does not. Dominance is clear. If dominance is -=not=- clear it is up to the Court to determine what is meant by the two laws. That decision becomes precident, which has the force of law (in most cases).

Sounds Good, But...

[Hasie]

We must never forget that the DMCA is doing exactly what it was supposed to. There are no unintended consequences.

If this bill were passed, people would be allowed to legally circumvent copy protection. That would go completely against the whole principle of the DMCA which is to restrict access to copyrighted works.

The same people that fought to get the DMCA passed will fight to get this stopped. The problem is that these people are very powerful and have a lot of money. Don't hold your breath...

Industry Poison.

[Quaoar]

By labeling a CD as copy-protected, you exclude a great portion of your audience. If I sold baby food with rat poison in it, and I label the jar specifying that this product is probably lethal, you think more people will buy it? Of course not.

The sad fact is that both the music industry and the negligent baby formula company will find more success by not telling the public about their product's flaws. Without government intervention, the music industry WILL slip copy-protected CDs into the market without notice, as they already have started doing.

Re:Industry Poison.

[psavo]

Please, please don't use Copy Protected , but rather Copy Prevented term when talking about shit like this.

Re:Industry Poison.

[Monkelectric]

I agree with you 101%; For me, copy protected music will be the *REASON* to stop buying music. My cd collection lives under my bed, everything gets transfered to mp3 then stowed. I have 4 mp3 players, and I pretty much dont leave the house without one of them. I like things this way, I like my mp3 players. I'm not buying new hardware for sony, I'm gonna find new artists who aren't protected. If theres something I can't live without [ie a sting album, and he's a media whore so I know he'll be the first guy out there with copy protection], I'll download the MP3 and be a pirate :D.

Re:No!

[Silverlock]

This is not attempting to be another law, and thereby conflicting with the DMCA. It ammends the DMCA..

"Section 5 makes the necessary changes to the DMCA to restore the historic balance in U.S. copyright law."

You can't (AFAIK) make changes to law without going through the process of sponsoring another bill, etc.. It doesn't mean we will have two sets of laws, only that the originals will be changed. They do not want to repeal the entire DMCA, just correct it.

Re:Get M$ to work for YOU

[Dot.Com.CEO]

WMA has in-built copyright management by default. When you rip an album to wma you can only play it on your computer, unless, that is, you clear the "protect content" checkbox

Imho opinion, this attitude would be the one the record companies should pursue. By allowing you to make one copy for yourself that is, for all intents and purposes, undistributable, they at least show some respect for your rights.

I am not being a Microsoft fanboy here, btw, Dolby's ATRAC codec (as used in Minidiscs and Sony Clies) offers exactly the same capabilities, long before MS thought of it.

EFF Endored Legislation?

[Anonymous Coward]

The kiss of death. It will die in committee.

How to contact your Congresscritter

[alizard]

Send a $1000 (or whatever the individual campaign contribution limit is) check via snailmail to his district office, the one LOCAL to you.

Give his office a call in a few days and let them know you'd like to discuss your concerns about the bill with your Congresscritter.

Tell him how you want him to vote and briefly, why.

If a few hundred people in your district do this, you've got yourself a new friend and a vote.

Of course, a high tech community PAC would save us all a lot of trouble in this area.

DMCA?!!

[rovingeyes]

I suggest people contact their representatives to cancel the DMCA instead.

Recently there has been so much out cry against DMCA on slashdot, I thought I shall talk to my dad and convince them to talk to our constituents representatives. You know what my dad said "forget it son, there are lot more pressing issues than copying a cd".

I thought may be he was just being indifferent to me, but guess what none of my friends bother either. When I talked to them about this issue and even pointed to all the disadvantages, none of them were even winked. They said "dude right now my immediate concern is whether I'm going to get a job when I graduate, not whether I'll be able to copy a cd".

Now is this mere isolated instance of indifference or ignorance (well 99% of people I talked to never heard of DMCA)? So I think DMCA or corporate America is not the problem the, problem is plain ignorance and indifference. Doesn't matter if this article gets about 1000 comments and every one feels the same way. We've got to do something and by something I don't mean talking to representatives, I mean educating people. Only then can our voice have some effect.

Remember those anti-tobacco ads - "Knowledge is contagious"

Re:DMCA?!!

[Daniel Dvorkin]

There's a quote by Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Unfortunatley, I think it's bullshit. The only thing that changes the world nowadays is money and weapons.

Ouch.

I'd argue that money and weapons -- particularly the latter -- generally don't change the world; instead they act to keep it as it is, to keep it going through the same depressing cycles of destruction that the world has always known. There's nothing about, e.g., the situation in the current Middle East that would have seemed unfamiliar to a Roman of the late Empire. "Oh, having trouble with the Persians again, eh? What a surprise ..."

And yet ... the world we live in is better than the world of that cynical Roman. And it's better not because of money and weapons, but because in the interstices -- while most people were concerned with making money or fighting wars or simple survival -- there were people making things happen. Between the Caesars and the Bushes came Galen, Bacon, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Newton, Rembrandt, Watt, Einstein, and thousands of others whose names don't come as readily to mind but who each made a real and lasting contribution to the way we live. The work of the artists and scientists and engineers outlives the work of the kings and generals, in the end.

Re:DMCA?!!

[afidel]

Just because other people are indifferent doesn't mean you have to be. In Washington the loudest voice gets heard, they never hear from nor care about the apathetic part of the population. Why? Because so people vote that those who are politically active make a huge difference. For instance in Ohio during the last election the average winning percentage for Republican's in state elections was ~60%, but since only 33% of registered voters voted, and only ~60% of eligible voters are even registered, only about 8% of the elibible voters elected the winning candidates!! I personally have written to my senator about 10 times on issues relating to the DMCA and CARP, and have received 8 responses including one hand written letter. It is not hard to become engaged in the process and have your voice heard, but for some reason the American public thinks it is. Do I get apathetic and say, "fuck it the corp's with the most money are heard the loudest anyway" every once in a while, sure I do. But then I see another action item from the eff or RAIN or some other group I care about and I get off my preverbial ass and write a letter, or compose an inteligent email to my representatives in Washington. Get involved, have your voice heard.

PACs

[mattr]

About the above post from alizard about Community PACs (give your rep a kilobuck and call them) this is really interesting and it works.

I can tell you from experience that my father successfully got congresspeople elected with a PAC and he is no politician. Just a doctor (now retired, this was some years ago) who was fighting to keep his practice alive despite being told by insurance companies what to prescribe. He got thousands of doctors in three states to act (the purpose was to build a doctors' HMO and hospital, and they got pretty far before some sharks took over) and I believe they got a lot of attention (up to the president) and helped get a congressman elected. An anti-bigmusic/anti-closedsource PAC might be interesting if you could convince geeks to 1) put up money and 2) speak out. Of course maybe just sending the money to the EFF is best, not an expert about politics myself.

Labeling proposal

[Alex Belits]

Subsection (c) establishes new labeling requirements for these non-standard compact discs. Among other things, a label prominently affixed to the front of the packaging must notify a consumer that the disc might not play properly in ordinary consumer electronics products and might not be recordable to the hard drive of a personal computer.
The label must be at least 120mm in diameter, and consist of full-size reproduction of the image presently located at http://goatse.cx and a black text "J4ck v413n7i 0wnz joo!" in 20mm high and 12mm wide letters in Helvetica font with at least 1mm wide lines, repeated three times 5mm from the rim of the label.

A different and maybe better letter

[EmagGeek]

I am writing today to ask you to co-sponsor Rep. Boucher &
Doolittle's Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA, H.R. 5544).
I believe that recent movements in copyright law have unfairly plagued
the rights of consumers with respect to their ownership of digital
media.

Specifically, the DMCRA would require producers of digital media to
label any media that has been copy protected or otherwise crippled
in a way that would make that media unusable in certain devices, such
as personal computers, automotive stereo equipment, and other consumer
devices. I believe that consumers have the right to informed consent
with respect to purchases of digital media.

The DMCRA would also codify the right of the consumer to make fair-use
copies of any media they own. For example, a consumer who purchases a
CD should be explicitly allowed and encouraged by law to make copies of
that information for use in his/her automobile, portable diskless audio player,
or other device that may not be able to access that information on its
native media.

I also wish to convey and affirm my belief that it is absolutely wrong
to make copies of information for the purpose of avoiding paying for it.
Supporting this law is not supporting theft of intellectual property. It
is unfortunate that those who would use tools such as personal computers
and peer-to-peer networks to steal information have brought about the
changes in copyright law that have stripped the rights of law-abiding
consumers. It should be solemnly noted that personal computers don't
cause people to steal music just as peer-to-peer networks are not the cause
of piracy. We have seen many new and innovative technologies that have
a perfectly legitimate use in society, destroyed by the idea that it is
appropriate to punish everyone for the crimes of a select few who choose
to misuse those technologies.

There are other benefits to the DMCRA, both for consumers and our society
as a whole, and I emplore you to study this document for all of its merits.
I hope you will co-sponsor the DMCRA and show your support for the
public's rights in digital media. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Err....M'kay

[BrodieBruce]

I can only hope that the publishing companies will stop treating us like cattle (the type from Texas, not India) sometime within the next decade. But this will only happen when they can no longer get away with it. However, I don't see that happening any time soon.

Politicians aren't average consumers. The only time most of them back consumer (rather than corporate) interests is when they absolutely have to do so.

I highly doubt that any of the major music labels or film companies are too worried about a lack of consumer demand. Sure they whine a whole bunch about pirating leading them to bankruptcy, but I think we all know well enough by now that's just not true.

Hmmm...have I said anything that hasn't been said in at least 100 /. posts thus far? Oh well, screw the karma, I'm procrastinating homework right now.

Anyway, I applaud you for doing the ethical thing. Yes, if everyone else followed your model of boycotting ridiculously over-priced entertainmet, then maybe traditional economics would come into play and movie ticket prices would drop down. But most people do one or both of the following instead:

a) Pirate the movie/music instead

b) Pay whatever it costs anyway

From personal experience, I find that most people pirate movies/music they would have rented/borrowed . And they still pay to see/buy movies/CDs they really want to see/own. Let's face it, Yoda yielding a light saber on your 17" CRT and Altec Lansings isn't the same as watching it on the big screen with theater audio.

So, all in all, we're back where we were at the beginning. Pirating won't stop anytime soon (check out last sunday's userfriendly). The movie & music industries aren't about to agree to all our demands. DRM isn't going to disappear simply due to geek dislike (does your mom know what DRM is?). Instead, let's just try to get the letter of the law placed somewhere in the middle and play it by ear from there.

Re:No!

[coupland]

Sorry, but I think your post is really ignorant. The DMCA is law and many consumer rights are already gone. The chances of the DMCA going away are slim to nil, anything reasonable you can do to try to reaffirm your rights is a step in the right direction. You sound like the people who preach that income tax is unconstitutional and we should be fighting to have it repealed. It ain't gonna happen, sister, so come back to reality.

Consumer Freedom

[Marc2k]

This is not an exercise in futility. This bill would put the freedom of choice back in the consumer's hands. Slashdot is decidedly a very small fraction of the population of the US (especially when you consider all those reading this in other countries who couldn't care less about the DMCA, unless it spreads), most people don't even *know* about the DMCA, or even what it stands for. No, my dad does not know what the DMCA is, but would he buy a CD that says "You cannot play this on some devices, including your Personal Computer"? No. Certainly not, nor I suspect would many other people.

That being said, one of two things could possibly happen (given that most people won't buy crippled CDs if they are informed of them unless there is no alternative): 1) Alternative versions of crippled CDs are available, people buy non-crippled discs. 2) Alternative versions may or may not exist, people who buy the crippled versions become frustrated, a public backlash to the crippling scheme arises.

Mind you, these "crippled" CDs don't just entail "copy-protection", it includes (at this moment, IIRC) any hardware manufacturer that does not build the RIAA's copy protection into its circuits. If Sony decides not to give in, your discman won't play the new Ja Rule CD.