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EFF Reviews 5 Years Under The DMCA
briaydemir writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has a new report, Unintended Consequences:
Five Years under the DMCA, detailing how the DMCA has stiffled competition, innovation, scientific research, and fair use. The original news release is here, and the report is also available as a PDF. Check it out if you want a good summary of all the DMCA cases over the past five years."
This article really shows why it is time for the DMCA to go. Anyone who happens to create any sort of device that someone figures out a way to use it to circumvent anything can be sued under the DMCA. (See also the Sklyarov incident.) Remember when someone discovered that you could use a Sharpie to circumvent the copy protection on a CD? Manufacturers/programmers/whatever should never be responsible for what anyone does outside the intended uses.
Another problem is that Congress makes some of these laws so vague as to leave too much interpretation up to the judges who try cases under these laws. Unfortunately, organizations such as the EFF don't have the clout or the resources that the corps do.
I have to stop now before I go on a rant ;-)
There is no spoon or sig.
What I'd really like to know is just how "unintended" some of these consequences were... *shrug*
One of the things that bothers me most about laws like the DMCA and the NET (no electronic theft) act is the excessive punishments they put in place for various violations.
For example, the DMCA makes it a felony to circumvent a copy protection device. And, similarly, the NET act makes it a felony to share copyrighted materials via a service like Kazaa with a possible 5 year prison term.
Regardless of whether the things out lawed by legislation like this really should be out lawed or not, the punishments really need to be adjusted to fit the crime. Neither getting your dvd player to play dvd's from europe, nor sharing the latest Eminem song should even carry the possiblity of landing you several months little less several years in the slammer. Okay, the Eminem case is iffy, but otherwise...
. . . because they were in a dispute with the painter's guild. Steinway painted their pianos. The painter's guild claimed this as a violation of their guild rights.
Steinway said, "Fuck this shit" (Well, the German equivilent actually), and came to America. In the process making America the center of a cultural technology that had previously been a European monopoly.
America is making such inovative freedom illegal. It will reap the consecquences, just as did Europe.
The DMCA was written entirely to protect existing vested interests. When you do so you automatically restrict (even if that wasn't your intent) development of other interests that spur economic growth.
The end result is stagnation with all power and wealth gradually making its way into a few hands.
Welcome to the economic algae pond, Brother.
KFG
The DMCA has nothing to do with maritime law. It was not enacted to protect cargo ships or the spanish armarda. "Pirate" is a propaganda term used by copyright owners to imply that unauthorized copying is the equivilent of murder and theft on the high seas. The message is clear: only a vicious enemy of the people would do unauthorized copying. To a lesser degree the term "protection" is also a propaganda term to describe what copyright owners do in restricting our freedom. These terms are an important weapon of people who support the DMCA and other stifling laws as they encourage informers to rat people out to the non-official police forces the copyright owners fund.
All in all, you'd think the EFF would be too smart to play their game.
How we know is more important than what we know.
The points they are trying to make are these: 1) DMCA is like Duct Tape... It works on anything, even for things its not intended to. 2) Congress became lazy when they had the DMCA drawn up, and left WAY TOO MANY Loose ends on it. 3) Something has to be done to revise/remove it until a decent Act is actually drawn up...
Just me
The DMCA was created in the spirit that new forms of electronic media were not safe from potential copyright violations, and the act did what it set out to do. Yet it also did a great deal more as special interests and corporate schmoozers managed to get their paws on the bill and turn it into more of a "dominant market player protection act" than anything else. We all agree that the amount of innovation stifled using the DMCA as justification is staggering. Yet electronic media should also be protected from the loopholes the bill originally solved. Here are a few potential solutions:
1) Remove the current DMCA and amend it such that only specific uses of media are prohibited. Allow for the use of back-engineering tools with HARSH punishments for people who knowingly use them to break copyrighted material with intent to distribute. This leaves the burden of proof with a prosecutors instead of the "guilty-til-proven- innocent" tactics of the RIAA et. al.
2) Make a specific statement for "loser pays": anyone suing under using this legislation who loses the case pays for the legal costs of both parties. Settlements don't count, and this will outright favor the bigger players, but in the American climate of "legal attrition" as a business strategy I see no other effective means of trying to relieve this aspect of the DMCA problem.
3) Allow publications on computer security to be done freely and thoroughly if tied to legitimate academic or corporate entities. Hold computer manufacturers liable if one of their components has a security flaw that causes eggregious commercial/monetary damage but which could have been fixed by repair of one of these published flaws.
4) Ensure that American laws apply only to American citizens with the express wording that products purchased in other parts of the world which belong to the consumer are theirs to do with as they please. A clause allowing rightful action to take whatever steps necessary to use that product would be nice (mod chips et. al)
Pointing fingers makes us feel good, but unless we propose alternatives and compromises, are we really doing anything but venting? Does anyone else have potential solutions/thoughts on how to resolve this issue?
As long as there is a Second Amendment, there will always be a First Amendment.
The DCMA, with it's idea that I can purchase a piece of equipment and then not do it as I wish, or that I cannot make copies of books or music for personal use, is just immoral. It is immoral because it allows contracts in which the end user has to agree to terms that are unknown until the end user either cannot return the product of inadvertently breaks the contract. It is immoral because it prevents the necessary innovation that encourages the free market. It is immoral because it circumvents due process.
And we cannot allow immoral acts to continue. The best defense is peaceful civil disobedience. For instance, don't buy music from RIAA labels. If they have no income, they have no money to fight legal battles. The same goes for the MPAA, game vendors, and anyone else that uses the DMCA. It won't be possible to totally shut them out, but we can at least make an effort.
I believe a lot of what goes on P2P networks is copyright infringement, but what choice do we have. The music and movies are sold in packages that violates our traditional fair use rights under the law. If i can't make a copy of the CD for my car, and the manufacturer won't give me another CD when the original get stolen or damaged, then why should I buy the CD. The manufacturer obviously has no respect for me as a customer, so I might as well return the disrespect the manufacturer and copy the music off the net.
The same goes for movies. If movies are increasingly downloaded from the net, it won't be because people don't want to buy movies. It will be because the movies we can buy are illegally packaged to prevent out fair use rights. Why should I buy a movie that is crippled when I can download a copy that honors my fair use rights. The manufacturer may hid behind a license, but it makes no difference. A contract that removes legal rights, especially when the rights are not itemized, should not be honored.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Jesus H tap-dancing Christ. Please tell me you were trying to earn a (Score: 5, Funny).
Are you not aware of what a self-fulfilling prophecy that is? You won't donate to an organization that explicitly fights to protect your privacy, because you're afraid that they won't protect your privacy?
Are you also afraid to vote for anybody other than Bush because Ashcroft might find out and come gitcha?
You might as well be afraid to go to a restaurant during your lunch hour because you might not have enough time left over to eat at your desk.
The best legislation money can buy.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...