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ECA Plans Games-Related DMCA Showdown
Gamespot is reporting that the Electronic Consumers Association (ECA) has picked its first legal fight since vowing to step up lobbying efforts. The organization is going head-to-head with the Electronic Software Association (ESA), a long-time backer of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), by coming out in favor of H.R. 1201 (also known as the Fair Use Act of 2007). "If it became law, the Fair Use Act would create a variety of exemptions to the DMCA's prohibitions on circumventing anti-piracy measures. The Fair Use Act would make it legal to bypass anti-piracy measures in a handful of situations, for personal archiving; for researching, critiquing, or reporting on works of substantial public interest (if that is the sole reason for the circumvention); or to skip commercial or personally objectionable content. It would also create an exemption in copyright law for people who make and distribute equipment used to bypass copyright protection (like modchips), provided the device 'is capable of substantial, commercially significant non-infringing use.'"
It is pretty sad that this law is even needed (researching, critiquing and reporting should never ever not be allowed), but it is passes then it will reduce some of the madness.
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Gogo H.R 1201!
We need this.
How about writing your house reps?
Ok games related stub, but i'm going to use karaoke as an example since that's what I work with.
Karaoke fair use is a subject of hot debate between singers, KJ's (Karaoke Jocks) and karaoke manufactuers. Basically guys like me (1 man shows) are considered "commercial". Therefore fair use doesn't apply to us. This whole argument extends not just to karaoke, but music and gaming as well.
Ok from the karaoke anti-piracy agency faq.
http://www.karaokeantipiracyagency.com/faq.html
Am I allowed to make a copy of my discs for archive purposes?
This is one of the most confusing issues involving copyrighted music. It is also one of the arguments often presented by those who want to break the copyright laws. This entire issue revolves around the definition of the class of copyrighted material. By law, you are permitted to make an archive copy of "Software" class copyrighted material. However, music (including Karaoke CDGs) is part of the "Phonorecord" class of copyrighted materials. Archive copies are not permitted in this class. So, no, you may not make an archive copy of your Karaoke discs.
Some of the most prominent karaoke companies want to see the practice of PC based karaoke outlawed. Doesn't matter if you're pirating or not.
Now for a counterpoint from an IP lawyer.
http://ipjustice.org/wp/2007/02/22/karaoke_legal_myths/
TRUTH: While a commercial use weighs against fair use, copyright law permits copying a CDG disc in a number of commercial circumstances. Commercial use, does not by itself, determine if it is an illegal use.
I'm all for a new law that promotes fair use, but the one question I have in mind is will it protect guys like me. Will fair use extend to both personal and "Commerical".
with ?
we are gamers. we are people who have opinions, and we act on them. if you annoy us by "RIAAing" whatever we hold dear and like, annoy our community sites or sour our gaming fun on the internet or any place, we will make sure that whichever jerkados involved in this "showdown" gets their show down in the next title they put out to the market.
consider yourself warned.
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They may as well push to retract the DMCA. The only thing(s) left really are the take-down notices which are known to be wildly abused. And just about anything else could be deemed to fit under the exemptions stipulated by 1201. But hell, if 1201 passes (which I seriously doubt... we're NEVER that lucky as consumers) it would be a seriously good day for the makers of Mod chips and copying technology.
Am I reading this wrong?
:)
"The Fair Use Act would make it legal to bypass anti-piracy measures"..."to skip commercial or personally objectionable content"
well I find DRM personally objectionable, so if I lived in the US I could legally bypass all of it?
This bill has been "Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection" for over 2 and a half years. Kudos to these guys for stepping up the lobbying, but call me when something actually happens.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
With that kind of backing maybe fair-dealing provisions in US copyright won't become exinct! We need that up here in Canada as well, before we get our own DMCA. The mainstream media industries are stepping up their lobby to bring us in-line with DMCA so if we can get some protections in place before that happens it would be great.
Anyways, with this new bill, I'd interpret it as meaning that DeCSS encryption needed to make practical use of our DVD players in Linux machines would no longer be contraban in the US? I.e. it circumvents copyright protection for "commercially significant non-infringing use"? I'd love to be able to sell or purchase a linux-based media-center system that doesn't need to be encumbered by closed DVD player application software.
I was at a Librarian IT conference and attended a seminar on copyright. They brought up a good point that if the modern restrictions on copyright had existed at the advent of the printing press or even at the advent of the book, we would not have libraries.
Preservation and access to information is the primary concern of society. Copyright is a temporary concession granted to creators to enable wider spread of information. It has morphed into a tool to protect a particular business model. DRM is insidious because it impeded archiving attempts and the DMCA is even worse because it makes such circumvention illegal. The expiry of a copyright should also expire any protection the DMCA grants and the copy right should expire in a more sensible term then 99 years.
"Thus, no one shall do to Disney what Disney did to the Brothers Grimm." -Lessig
It should be notable that most creative works build on top of existing works, like how Disney drew a lot of content and inspiration from the brothers grimm. So the current culture of copyright severely impeded creativity.
So if we wish to preserve content or if we wish for more creativity, it's important to place more meaningful limitations on copyright and to view copyright for what it is intended to be not what corporate interest want it to be.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
The bill has 3 primary parts. First is a requirement for retail packaging of DRM'd software (specifically music and digital books on CDs) to include a DRM warning label that identifies that the media contains a DRM security system and may not work in all players. Second is a requirement for a follow up report 2 years after the bill has been passed. And Third is the corrections to the DMCA. That part consists of: (a) Scientific Research- Subsections (a)(2)(A) and (b)(1)(A) of section 1201 of title 17, United States Code, are each amended by inserting after `title' in subsection (a)(2)(A) and after `thereof' in subsection (b)(1)(A) the following: `unless the person is acting solely in furtherance of scientific research into technological measures'.
(b) Fair Use Restoration- Section 1201(c) of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting before the period at the end the following: `and it is not a violation of this section to circumvent a technological measure in order to obtain access to the work for purposes of making noninfringing use of the work'; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
`(5) Except in instances of direct infringement, it shall not be a violation of the Copyright Act to manufacture or distribute a hardware or software product capable of substantial noninfringing uses.'. -Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
(its very late friday, I did not RTFA. I am hoping this random joke = mad mod points)
So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
Great! I find Personally Objectionable all the commercials, non-skippable FBI warnings, copyright notices and all the other crap you have to sit through before (or during) a movie on DVD or TV.
I would be hard pressed to think of a less frightening scenario than pissing off a bunch of gamers.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
The truth is that Gamers are lazy. If we weren't, we'd be outside pretending to do what we do in video games.
If you can motivate a gamer to act they are a force to be reckoned with.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
because this bunch of gamers are the customers of the gaming companies. if they cant sell, they cant keep up.
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Is there a paypal donation I can add some funding to, after all, among the politicians and lobbyists, money talks....
I do agree with some previous posters that the fua2007 (Fair Use Act of 2007) should not be needed, but unfortunately in the over litigious environment we live in here, its necessary to push hard for getting our rights back.
What the hell? Who are these Electronic Consumers? What size batteries do they run on? How the hell did they become associated?
And what can a normal human do to stop them?
My mom needs her medicine, I'm sure that's what these robots are really after.
"Doctor, it's not the voices I hear in MY head, but the voices I hear in YOUR head that really frighten me."
This bill is at least a step in the right direction. It at least gives us back some of the fair use we had before the DMCA and explicitly gives us a more than what we had. Now, if we can take it a step further and say outlaw DRM all together.
We have four boxes with which to defend our freedom: the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.
(He thinks we want to kill him and that games have trained us in the skills to do so. <vox name="Dirk Ruddy">But that's only mostly true.</vox>)
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
I will probably not see these copies released in my lifetime, but we must act to prevent these things being locked up for ever.
Gamers do wanna kill him. They do have the skills to do so. There is just no time to get anything done or get anyone organized. People got raids to take care of and instances and whatever.
Balderdash!
...because the DMCA is a law protecting the protection system, the means of copying themselves. Either you control the means of copying, or you don't. If you allow legal circumvention tools, then you don't. That's effectively no protection at all, and you're back to traditional copyright law of trying to catch them after the actual copying has taken place rather than trying to stop the means themselves. While that might be good, I doubt you can sneak it in by creating exceptions which would make the whole section meaningless.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Just an odd comment... It's FAIR USE Act of 2007, not Fair Use Act of 2007... FAIR USE is itself an acronym.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Yeah, one of these days I need to get off my ass and start killing people for real.
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
You are so entirely correct. In fact, just this morning as I skydived from a plane into the middle of a battle and single handedly defeated the enemy with nothing but a pistol and a medkit I was thinking something similar.
The thought began to grow when I left the battle in my car, cruising 200 mph around the streets of downtown manhattan and shooting policemen. I think there were hookers.
But alas, I had to put this thought on hold... ALIEN INVASION!
I jumped into my 1000 pound battle suit and charged up my shields and start blasting away with my rifle. Later when I was jumping out of orbit and crashing into africa I had a few minutes to think...
Why don't more people lead the kind of life I do?
I didn't have too much longer to worry about it though, because out of no where a giant meteor began to fall towards earth. As I journeyed to the north pole to figure out the source, I stumbled upon the answer....
Everyone is lazy! Why aren't they leading the normal mundane outside life I am? Is there something about video games that's more awesome than this? I think NOT!
I have this really funny quote that I like to put here. Unfortunately, there's this really annoying thing called a char
we are not capable of, but dislike mass boycotts or similar stuff unless there is a real big thing going on, like the net neutrality thing. but, we have strong opinions and act on them. just think about linux/ms, open/closed source and so on. think about consolers and pc gamers.
we dont go boycott, we silently make preferences. it affects things eventually.
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Grammer Nazi's have fun with this, the rest of you feel free to modify it and send it to your representative:
First get the +4 for your zipcode: http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp
Then visit: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Sometimes the best solution is to stop wasting time looking for an easy solution.
Not if you're a game publisher/developer.
Is there anything in there that helps the laptop user? I mean, you can squeeze your entire music collection into a match-box sized media player, but if you want to play games on the road you're expected to carry your collection with you....
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'