USCO Reviewing DMCA Anti-Circumvention Clause

ahknight writes "The United States Copyright office begins its required review of the effects of the anti-circumvention portions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act on November 2nd. This review period lasts until December 1, 2005. They will be accepting your well-thought-out opinions on the web and by mail. If you're reasonably ticked that you can't legally get around encrypted files to get at the media you've bought, start writing a coherent stance for the USCO today."

Comments

give it a few days

[v1]

It's not open for comments just yet. They're accepting your feedback starting November 2. Warm up your keyboard and give 'em a piece of your mind!

In Addition To Coherent

[lbmouse]

"start writing a coherent stance for the USCO today."
 
.My wife works with the USPTO on a daily bases and she suggests that in addition to writing coherently, you should also write for the lowest common denominator in their audience. In her opinion you should aim for no more than an 8th grade level.

Backups

[GWTPict]

Got kids? My niece trashed several DVDs before she was old enough to understand why she couldn't watch The Lion King again.

Re:hopefully

[SecretSauce]

What I think they are incapable of understanding about 'copies for use of a single household' is the fact that we are not just watching these movies on our Brand Name DVD player (where brand name has paid licensing to just use the damn DVD copyrighted logo etc and as such giving money to these people hell bent on taking all our rights) but have moved on to say hey, I'm travelling this week, I'll rip it to watch on my PSP while the wife and kids can still enjoy it on said Brand Name DVD player.

Me, My kids and my wife are ONE household. If I buy the DVD for OUR use and wish to rip it to my PSP, I'm not breaking the law....as much as they'd like to SAY I am.

Re:hopefully

[dhanes]

You, sir, obviously don't have children. I've bought the friggin' Lion King DVD at least 3 times (before I built a MythTv). At 3 years of age, children don't understand that the shiny round thingy that has their 'Simby' on it isn't unbreakable or can't be scratched.

It only takes one good comment

[Sarcasmooo!]

I hope it's not too late in the thread to have this article seen, and I apologize for piggy-backing on the parents comment (hopefully it's close enough to being an on-topic response anyway), but I wanted to point out to people that one person really can change minds inside the government with a well written arguement (you'll have to read a bit to see him mentioned). I wouldn't pretend to know what might get you your 'foot in the door' in regards to changing the mind of a person subjected to lobbying and writing campaigns on a regular basis, but my suggestions are simple.

• Start by not sounding partisan, you weren't always an 'activist', explain why a rational and average American like you would come to your conclusion.
• On that same page, leave whatever philosophy you might have on the approach of a plutocratic revolution where corporate rule enslaves mankind for another letter -- even if you do think it's the root of the problem.
• And again relating to the above, don't speak in a letter as if the recipient is the greedy benefactor of corporate dinners and exotic vacations. Even if they were, making them your villan will put them on the defensive, and no matter what perversions of rational thought are required they will find a way to justify ignoring your statements.
• Don't subscribe to write-in campaigns. Form letters are already ignored, and to combat such an easily abused practice you can bet many letters will be ignored just for resembling eachother or arriving from activism websites themselves.

Re:hopefully

[toddestan]

Kids or other people being careless with your DVDs. Scratching and scuffing from normal use. Fungus and molds that are known to attack DVDs and CDs in some areas. Protection agianst the DVDs being lost or stolen. Cheap DVD players eating DVDs. There are plenty of reasons to make backup copies of DVDs.

Re:Licensing? You got hosed...

[Kjella]

[Longish rant about copy vs copyright]

Your information is ten years out of date. Since DVDs are protected by CSS, and CSS is protected by the DMCA, your rights are those that don't violate copyright or CSS. Since the copy-protection can be as restrictive as it wants, the copyright holder effectively sets all your rights. First sale? Not if the DRM doesn't let you transfer it. Fair use? Everything that involves making a copy in whole or part is gone thanks to the DMCA. What's left are a few bits and pieces like news commentary. Forward through the ads? Nope. All DMCA violations. Buying a DRM-protected media is like buying something locked in a safe with a glass window. It doesn't matter what rights you have to the object inside, since you're forbidden by law to open the safe. The current legal practise is that nothing gives you the right to open that safe, for any reason. Unless the safe lets you do something, you have no rights to your own property (short of using it as a paperweight). That is why they say they are "licensing" it instead of selling it. They "license" you the rights you got left, even though in every other way it is like a sale. And the hardware will do as they say, not you.

Kjella