Who Owns Your Digital Media?

Ren Bucholz writes "In what was designed to be a "safety valve," the Copyright Office is holding its tri-annual search for exemptions to the DMCA's prohibitions on circumventing access controls. The Electronic Frontier Foundation submitted comments last December that outlined four "classes of works" that should be exempt, including copy-protected CDs, region-coded DVDs, DVDs with unskippable promotional material, and public domain works that are only available on DVD. They are asking people to write in support of the four exemptions that they have proposed. The Copyright Office is only accepting comments until February 19th, so get on it!"

Comments

Educating the Public

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

"They are asking people to write in support of the four exemptions that they have proposed. The Copyright Office is only accepting comments until February 19th, so get on it!"

I question whether this is the right approach. Is flooding the Copyright Office with the same requests really going to have any sway whatsoever? I mean, if the number of letters that come in support of or against the DMCA determines how the Copyright Office will make up their mind, then the battle is already lost since the corporations have the money and resources to fake millions of letters. And since I seriously doubt that they're doing this, wouldn't our time be better spent doing something a bit more proactive than sending letters? These days, no one in the government is even reading e-mail. I think organizing protests that get noticed on local news stations or, better yet, national news is a much more valuable use of time than having every send off an angry letter. It will lead to more public attention. I mean, we all know that the DMCA is awful because we understand the implications but the public at large still doesn't. We need a campaign to educate the public because I don't think the copyright office is going to side with a flock of nerds over multi-national corporations when the public doesn't even care about the issue. There's no reason for any government burecrat to stick their neck out over this until it means trouble for him or her if he doesn't stick his neck out.

Just my $0.02

Re:Who Owns Your Digital Media?

[anubi]

I would certainly hope that all would consider that *I* own the media once I have legally *purchased* it. However, I do not consider that I own the work on the media. I see the media as only being a carrier for the work, much as I see a bag as a carrier for its contents. The way I see it, I have only purchased a copy of that work for my own benefit - whatever that is.

I still strongly adhere to the concept that I have purchased a copy of the work, and strongly defend what I consider as my right to transfer that work amongst other media I may have. I do not consider replication of that work for distribution to others so that they do not need to purchase that work themselves to be my prerogative, although I would bend as far as running off a sample.. kinda like I would share a swig of my Stolichnaya, but would be quite miffed if once they got a sample, they expected me to be their free source of it.

Personally, I think the content industry has went way too far though. I must know what it is that I am intending to buy because there is a lot of stuff out there that I have no interest in whatsoever. Walking into a record store and buying a CD, without knowing about it first, makes just about as much sense to me as walking in an auto parts store and buying a water pump, without knowing if the pump I am purchasing will fit the car under repair.

Why is 137? Why exactly 137?

too little too late

[ldspartan]

I'm tired of being reactive. All the letter writing in the world isn't going to make the DMCA any less of a bad law, so why try? Be proactive - vote for a congressman who doesn't support big business and its want to walk over the wants of the citizenry in the name of control. Write your congressman. Inform your neighbors that the officials they elected are rapidly signing away their rights.

If we keep be reactive, the opposition will always be a step ahead of us, because they will continue to control congress and write the laws.

Re:More copy protection isn't the answer

[tannhaus]

No, I disagree totally. First, the artists do not own MY cd. The artist contracted with a record company. Any standard record contract gives the rights to that cd to the record company. The record company is the one screaming save the artist! while at the same time bending that selfsame artist over the table for a little woo woo.

Ok, now that we've established that the artist doesn't own the music, the record company does, let's follow that cd to a store. That cd is on a rack. I want that cd, so I buy it. Now, I have bought the recording...it's mine. I am not free to give away COPIES of that recording, however, I am free to give away that recording if I wish..it's mine. If I want to copy that cd and put the original away so it doesn't get scratched, that should be my right. It's my recording. If I want to copy that cd and put the copy in the car, that should be my right. I bought the recording. The record company holds the rights to distribute that recording. I do not. But, I do hold the rights to listen to my recording however I wish.

Re:You missed the point; you're probably dumb

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is that the same people who say what you've said usually just turn around and bash the next course of action someone suggests:
"Challenging the DMCA in court will never work, we need Congress to repeal it!"
"Congress will never listen to us, so vote them out."
"Voting is useless because both parties suck and third parties never win."
"Boycotting the media industry is hopeless; they'll just blame the loss on piracy."
"Civil disobedience won't work, they'll just use that as an excuse to pass even more stupid laws."

It's all a bunch of defeatist crap that gets us nowhere. Forget choosing. Do all of the above! Or as many as you can. No one says you have to pick one tactic and cling to it forever. Nor does it have to take an inordinate amount of time. I wrote and submitted my comments in the time it took you to reply to my first message.

How does the public become alerted to the DMCA by writing letters to the Copyright Office?

Here's one scenario:

1. /. user submits his comments to the Copyright Office
2. /. user realizes, "Hey, these examples are really easy for Joe Sixpack to understand! A lot of non-techie people I know have probably experienced at least one of these four."
3. /. user forwards the handy link to Joe Sixpack.
4. Joe Sixpack, who has never heard of any of this before, thinks, "So that's why I can't fast forward my @%&*@! Disney DVD for my kids!"
5. Joe Sixpack adds his comments to the chorus.
6. Joe Sixpack is now at least slightly more aware of the issue. He may even be sympathetic to the next link you forward him.

No it won't save the world by itself, but it's something.

Re:Who Owns Your Digital Media?

[anubi]

Your response to my post is appreciated. I will address your comments.

Yeah, but it is the content you want/buy, otherwise you would go out and buy a blank CD, not a music CD.

Very true. I consider what I paying for with legal tender is a legal licence for my personal use of the work encoded onto the media. The media itself is of little value, as is the bag. Both are just containers.

I often buy a carton of eggs. Its not the carton I want, but it comes preloaded with eggs. I know I could, if I had to, get empty cartons, raise hens, and end up with the same carton loaded with eggs - but the store made it so easy to buy eggs, so why bother? Now if the farmers started playing all sorts of games with me, trying to tell me what I could do with the eggs, and under what conditions I could prepare them, I might have to resort to raising chickens.

I consider it to be my right to transfer the work amongst any media I have, because I have paid for it, and I intend to enjoy it. In my case, its backup to another CD, then rip to MP3, mix, and burn so I can play it in the car and jogging player.

If the original media gets damaged later, its no big deal. As long as the original media stays intact long enough for me to transfer its contents onto my system, with due backup systems, losing the original carrier is about as traumatic as losing the box the hard drive came in, albeit that I do place significant effort to keep my original source media in pristine condition. Thats what backup is all about... the data is the only thing thats really important. Everything else is replacable.

Back to the eggs.. just because they came a dozen to a box does not mean I am forced to eat them in sequence.. I want an egg here, a strip of bacon there, grits there, etc. Same with the music. I have my own unique tastes of what I want, and I compile my own mix. I do not feel some authority can tell me I can not mix my music anymore than some farmer can tell me I have to eat the whole dozen eggs before I can eat the toast. Or telling me I can't fry my bacon in a microwave oven.

I do not believe I have any right to dictate to the sellers what they can do with the money after the trade, nor do I consider they have any right to tell me how I am going to be allowed to enjoy my use of their work after the trade. If I made your car, do I have a right to tell you where you can go?

Yup, and thus you own that copy (just as you own a particular "copy" of a football if you buy it). You do NOT hold the copyright to the copy though. As such, you can do anything you want with your copy as long as it is not one of the things prevented by copyright. Rather simple really.

True, quite simple. I feel I can do anything with my copy as long as it is not one of the things prevented by "copyright".. only problem is coming up with what both parties agree to be the fair use definition of "copyright". I feel committed to the "like a book" doctrine. I feel when I pay the purchase price, I am entitled to personal use of the work. I feel a lot of people get confused with media. Media is only the "box" the "work" was delivered in. I feel I purchased the "work", but the media was necessary just as the carton was a necessary part of purchasing the eggs.