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Lofgren Introduces BALANCE Act to Modify DMCA

Posted by michael on from the lobbyists-spring-into-action dept.

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."

5 of 297 comments (clear)

  1. p2p also by geeklawyer · · Score: 5, Informative

    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...

    --
    -he who laughs last, is a bit slow.
    journal
  2. Balance Act by Entropy248 · · Score: 5, Informative
    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?
    --
    Webmaster Wanted - Entropic Reactions
  3. EFF's info on contacting legislators by Kaimelar · · Score: 5, Informative
    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'. ;-)

  4. Re:Usefull Information? by PancakeMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  5. Re:Usefull Information? by nbanman · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.