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Library of Congress to Hold DMCA Hearings

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the time-to-be-heard dept.

petong writes "The Library of Congress's Copyright Office will be holding hearings to find out if changes need to be made to the DMCA, according to News.com. 'Anyone with strong feelings about the DMCA, one way or another, may submit a request by Apr. 1 to testify during the public forums, the Copyright Office said in its announcement. The hearing dates in the U.S. capital will be Apr. 11, Apr. 15 and May 2. The dates and locations in California have not been set yet.'"

4 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. This is not a license to act stupid by NixterAg · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is an excellent opportunity to show that the DMCA is crap but please, those of you who attend don't make fools of yourselves. That means dress nice (no DeCSS t-shirts and wear a tie) and that means bathe, shave, and shower. That also means wear both shoes.

    The objective is not to be seen, it's to convince others that your position is the correct and just position.

  2. LA Dates and Locations by pastorBernie · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Washington Post did a similar story in which they confirmed the Los Angeles dates and locations:

    Los Angeles City Hall
    April 17 : 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
    April 18 : 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
    April 25 : 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

    Mark your calendars.

  3. Old arguement, stil works... by b0bd0bbs · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is a link to the DeCSS program, defined as a prime number.
    DeCSS is illegal under the DMCA. Is the prime number that defines it then also illegal? How is a number illegal, exactly? Do you have to skip it when you are counting and if you don't you get arrested under the DMCA?
    Of all the arguements I've heard, this one is the most obvious to me on how broken the DMCA is. It's lunacy. I think I'm breaking the law just linking to the program.

  4. Re:Our lords actually care what we think? yeah rig by Dyolf+Knip · · Score: 4, Informative
    The difference here is that this is an 'official' hearing... theoretically the results will be taken into account by the government, unlike the mass of unorganized and unofficial protests that have all come before it.

    Are you familiar with the UCITA? It's like the DMCA of shrink-wrap licenses. Basically, "Software can have _absolutely anything_ in the license you can't read until you've agreed to it. Software companies are absolved of any and all responsibility for damages from the software they write. Software companies are allowed to put back doors in their software and can disable it on your system if you so much as look at them funny." They try to run something like it through Congress every now and then, but fortunately it's 'only' been passed in two states.

    The UCITA is so bad that even the lawyers have said that it's a terribly bad piece of legislation. And yet they were ignored in Maryland and Virginia. So don't ever buy software written by companies in those states.

    --
    Dyolf Knip