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Economist: US Congress Should Hack Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Posted by samzenpus on from the you-bought-it-you-rebuild-it dept.

retroworks writes This week's print edition of The Economist has an essay on the Right to Tinker with hardware. From the story: "Exactly why copyright law should be involved in something that ought to be a simple matter of consumer rights is hard to fathom. Any rational interpretation would suggest that when people buy or pay off the loan on a piece of equipment—whether a car, a refrigerator or a mobile phone—they own it, and should be free to do what they want with it. Least of all should they have to seek permission from the manufacturer or the government."

2 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Don't repeal the entire DMCA by tepples · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A complete repeal of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act would also repeal the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA). Such a repeal would make it much easier to find online service providers liable for their subscribers' actions. Remember that YouTube's successful defense against Viacom was that it qualified for the OCILLA safe harbor.

  2. Re:DMCA was always flawed ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The DMCA was so badly written as to more or less entrench rent-seeking and remove property ownership from consumers.

    This is true with one exception - the DMCA was not badly written, it was exceptionally well written. This was the INTENDED effect.

    They would have you believe that the DMCA is to stop people from downloading copyrighted songs/videos/etc, but the true purpose was to provide them a legal means of market control. If no one can make (DVD/Blue ray players/that one tool required to fix your car) EXCEPT them, then they have a strangle hold on the market and can do as they please.

    The greatest scam politicians pull (And do so often) is convincing the public that a law is for something completely different then it actually is.