Lofgren Introduces BALANCE Act to Modify DMCA

Infonaut writes "Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D - CA) introduced H.R. 1066, The Balance Act. It seeks to clarify 'that America's historic principles of fair use - protected under Section 107 of the Copyright Act - apply to analog and digital transmissions.' Apparently Lessig is on board, as are several associations and other organizations. If you like what you see, encourage your representative to support the bill."

Comments

What happened to the DCFA?

[archnerd]

Lofgren introduced the Digital Choice & Freedom Act last term. What ever happened to it? This seems like basically the same thing/

Re:What happened to the DCFA?

[Sarcazmo]

A lot of bills die a quiet death. If the subcommittee fails to report a bill to full committee, then it's effectively dead for the year.

Usefull Information?

[robi2106]

A list of US House Representatives
(remember it is always best to write snail mail to your reps. Email is trashed to easy.
http://www.house.gov or here Write your Rep

And here are the Senators

Senate Listings

Re:Usefull Information?

[PancakeMan]

Actually, the EFF says that, post 9/11, email is better than snail mail for this sort of thing. The delay resulting from security checking makes snail mail, in their opinion, a less useful option than email and faxes for activism.

Re:Usefull Information?

[nbanman]

I work in a Congressional district office (Earl Blumenenauer, 3rd District OR), and while I don't speak for other Senator's and Congressman's offices, it doesn't matter whether you call, write, or send an email. Either way, your comments get categorized by the same person, and I don't think we let any slip. Well technically, we have a webform rather than email for constituent comments. If you do want to send snailmail, send it to your District office rather than Washington DC. Mail gets through much faster over here, and it ends up in the same place. Believe me, it's just as easy to misplace snailmail as electronic mail. And not that we would wilfully trash constituent letters, if we wanted to I don't think it would be much of a challenge. Calling is effective. It does take up alot of our time and lets the entire staff know that it's a hotbutton issue (even the people who don't answer the main line have to hear it). Remember to be polite, even if you don't support the representative's stance.

p2p also

[geeklawyer]

clearly a clued up congressional representative. See also her remarks on p2p here

" Illegal file-sharing is a major problem. But we should not create one problem to solve another."

She'd get my vote...

we'll, if I had one over there...

Balance Act

[Entropy248]

So, let me see if as a fourth-year pre-law undergrad I can translate this from legalese into something resembling English...

1. Let's add the following to the DMCA:
2. You are allowed to back up the stuff you've bought legally, as long as you don't perform it or infringe on the rights of the owners by selling it
3. You cannot sell media covered by the DMCA with a non-negotiable license because said license is unenforceable as of now.
4. You can do whatever you need to do in order to watch the media, as long as you don't go against #1.
5. If you don't have a way to see/hear/whatever the media is, you can do what you need to in order to see/hear it as long as you don't sell/perform it

Is that about right?

EFF's info on contacting legislators

[Kaimelar]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a good page with info on contacting legislators (and tips on how to be most effective at getting your opinion heard by them) at http://www.eff.org/congress.

Not whorin', just informin'. ;-)

A sample letter to your representative

[TTop]

Dear Congressman/Congresswoman,

I would like to encourage you to support Representative Zoe Lofgren's "Balance Act" (H.R. 1066). This act seeks to balance the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and clarify consumers fair use rights for digital content.

Like Representative Lofgren, I believe that "Contrary to the intent of Congress, the DMCA has been used to legitimize...control over consumer uses. It's been used to prohibit lawful users from circumventing technical restrictions, even to pursue their fair use rights."

I believe that Fair Use is an important issue that's been overlooked in the debate, and that the long term effects of the DMCA on Fair Use are detrimental to society. Passage of this Act will be a boon preserving the Fair Use rights of your constituents.

Sincerely,

-----

Write the correct people

[jfmiller]

This bill has been refered to the Judiciary Committee and from there will most likely be sent to the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property

Everybody ought to lick the stamp and write there Rep. but if you vote in the districts of any of the following it is especially important.

Thank you,
JFMILLER

F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI) [Chair]
Lamar Smith (R-TX) (Sub Committee chair)
John Conyers, Jr (D-MI) * [Ranking Democrat]
Howard L. Berman (D-CA) *
Henry J Hyde (R-IL) *
Richard Boucher (D-VA) *
Elton Gallegly (R-CA) *
Robert C Scott (D-VA)
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)*
Jerrold Nadler (D NY)
William L. Jenkins (R-TN) *
Melvin L. Watt (D-NC)
Spencer Bachus (R-AB) *
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) * [Bill's Sponcer]
Mark Green (R-WI)*
Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX)
Rick Keller (R-FL)*
Maxine Waters (D-CA) *
Melissa Heart (R-PA) *
Martin T Meehan (D-MA) *
Mike Pence (R-IN) *
William Dalahunt (D-MA) *
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) *
Robert Wexler (D- FL) *
John Carter (R-TX) *
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) *
John Hostettler (R-IN)
Anthony D. Weiner (D-NY) *
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Adam B Schiff (D-CA)
Chriss Cannon (R-UT)
Linda T. Sanchez (D-CA)
Steve King (R-IA)
Howard Coble (R-NC)
Steve Cabot (R-OH)
Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Chris Cannon (R-UT)
* -- Member, Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property