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.'"

Comments

About time

[Marcion]

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.

Re:About time

[cayenne8]

"It is pretty sad that this law is even needed..."

Well, we all know that $$$ speaks much louder than words, emails or handwritten letters to our congress-critters.

> So, is there a fund set up yet, where all of us good, fair use minded citizens, can contribute money to pay off those lawmakers that will support this? Can we use this money to buy a lobbyist to get this to the attention of the lawmakers that we in the US actually WANT this law?

Re:About time

[Kadin2048]

> So, is there a fund set up yet, where all of us good, fair use minded citizens, can contribute money to pay off those lawmakers that will support this? Can we use this money to buy a lobbyist to get this to the attention of the lawmakers that we in the US actually WANT this law? Yes.

What about business archiving?

[t0qer]

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".

Wake me when something happens...

[RingDev]

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

Re:Wake me when something happens...

[VGPowerlord]

Bills are apparently numbered for each session of Congress.

The 109th Congress's HR1201 AKA "Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2005," a bill to alter the Federal Trade Commission Act to punish companies that mislabel copy-protected CDs, got stuck in committee.

The 110th Congress's HR1201 AKA "Freedom And Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act of 2007," a bill to alter Copyright Law to add fair use exemptions, is new.

Adding to the confusion, both were proposed by Rick Boucher.

Copyright

[king-manic]

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.

Re:Copyright

[Anonymous Coward]

"The expiry of a copyright should also expire any protection the DMCA grants"

Unless I am greatly mistaken (obligatory IANAL disclaimer), the DMCA provides that circumvention of mechanisms used to protect a copryighted work is illegal. By very definition, at the expiry of copyright, protection granted by the DMCA also expires, (as the DMCA does not outlaw circumventing protections placed on a work in the public domain).

Of course, whether or not it will be PRACTICAL to circumvent such mechanisms... or whether or not we will continue to see copyright term extensions (such that nothing actually falls into the public domain) are other questions entirely, but assuming all stays as it is now, you will be able to crack the encryption schemes on, say, your Lord of the Rings DVDs round about 2100 A.D. with no legal repercussions.

Re:Copyright

[quanticle]

Right. The issue is that, with the lifetimes of modern media being not that long, we might get to a point where even if you were around in 2100 there might not be any legal copies of LotR to break the encryption on. That's where the issue about breaking encryption for the purposes of personal archiving comes in.

Nothing for ya in this bill

[RingDev]

From a layman's reading, it doesn't look like there is anything for ya in this bill. This bill doesn't do anything about clarifying what is or is not fair use, it only corrects the absence of legal use exemptions from the DMCA.

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

Personally objectionable content

[JustNiz]

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.

Re:Hellloooooo idiots, do you know who you are dea

[Just Some Guy]

we are gamers. we are people who have opinions, and we act on them.

I would be hard pressed to think of a less frightening scenario than pissing off a bunch of gamers.

Re:Hellloooooo idiots, do you know who you are dea

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

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.

DRM expiry

[Alain Williams]

I would like to see an obligation for any corporation that releases (sells) anything that it DRM 'protected' to have to lodge an unencumbered copy with an appropriate national library. When the copyright expires the library will then make the unencumbered copy available to the public.

I will probably not see these copies released in my lifetime, but we must act to prevent these things being locked up for ever.

Re:DRM expiry

[Kjella]

Maybe there is:

What is mandatory deposit?
Mandatory deposit (17 U.S.C. section 407) requires the owner of copyright or of the exclusive right of distribution to deposit in the U.S. Copyright Office for the use of the Library of Congress two complete copies of the best edition within 3 months after a work is published. Copies of all works under copyright protection that have been published or distributed in the United States must be deposited with the Copyright Office within 3 months of the date of first publication. (See Copyright Office Circular 7d, Mandatory Deposit of Copies or Phonorecords for the Library of Congress, and the Deposit Regulation 202.19.) Electing not to register your copyright in the work with the Copyright Office does not exempt you from the mandatory deposit provision of the law.

We are a foreign publisher. Do we need to submit our publication to comply with the U.S. deposit requirement?
Yes. If you distribute your work in the United States, you are subject to the deposit requirements of the United States. These requirements apply to a work that is first published in a foreign country as soon as that work is distributed in the United States through the distribution of copies that are either imported or are part of an American edition. The deposit requirement is one copy.

Re:Hellloooooo idiots, do you know who you are dea

[UserGoogol]

Yeah, one of these days I need to get off my ass and start killing people for real.

Damn Straight!

[Godman]

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!

Re:you would be,

[Just Some Guy]

because this bunch of gamers are the customers of the gaming companies.

Gamers, as all other Slashdot demographics, are genetically incapable of boycott: "I will not ever buy from Valve again! I will not ever buy from Valve again! I will not... hey, wait, the cake is a lie! Shiny!"

Say what you want, but you know it's true.

Write your congressperson

[jhfry]

Here's what I wrote to mine:

Dear Sir,

As my congressional representative and fellow U of D Graduate, I would encourage your support for HR 1201: Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act of 2007.

This bill amends some serious issues in past legislation regarding the copying of copyrighted materials that include some form of copy protection measures.

It has always been a concern for the producers and publishers of audio, visual, print, and other copyright works that the public will violate their copyright and illegally distribute their product. Finally, in the "information age" technology exists which allow these copyright owners to attempt to protect their work.

History has shown, repeatedly, that these copy protection measures are not only inadequate, but can often cause limitations for legitimate use of the product. For example, I would like to create a "scratch copy" of my legitimately purchased DVD's for my children to use, or copy my music collection to my portable music player or computer.

Both of these actions are considered "fair use" by copyright law. But more recent laws, such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), have made it illegal to bypass the copy protection measures that have become commonplace on modern media (CD, DVD, software, etc.).

Essentially, the bill I encourage you to support would decriminalize the act of bypassing these copy protection measures so that the copyrighted work might be used for legal purposes as defined by copyright law.

I realize that the copyright holders will argue that these measures prevent mass distribution (piracy) of the protected works. However, time has shown that these measures do not deter those interested in piracy and are easily bypassed. Therefore, the only thing they actually achieve is to prevent honest customers from using the product as allowed by fair use.

One example I would like to provide is one regularly faced by educators. If a teacher would like to create a multimedia presentation that includes clips from movies, songs, or even text from an electronic book (an use that is clearly allowed under copyright law), they must first bypass copy protection measures on all of their sources... an act which requires the use of software or hardware that is illegal to produce, distribute, and use. HR 1201 resolves this discrepancy.

Thank you for your time and efforts on behalf of myself and all of those you represent.

Truly,

Joe Fry

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/