DMCA - Stop The Insanity! - VideoHelp Forum

4th Jun 2003 13:11 #1

Member

Severely jaded after years of watching how this shi.., er stuff works, I don't think this bill has a chance. Modern government works for big business mostly (the guy with the money to grease bank accounts).
But I thought it significant that at long last someone is thinking about the private citizen.

If nothing else, this will send a message to Hollywood! Unfortunately, that message is "I'd like one Swiss bank account, please".

Senator wants limits on copy protection

By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 4, 2003, 9:54 AM PT

update WASHINGTON--A conservative Republican lawmaker is expected to announce a bill next week that would dramatically scale back the ability of record labels, movie studios and others to use anticopying technology, according to a source familiar with the proposal.
The bill, authored by Sen. Sam Brownback, would regulate digital rights management systems, granting consumers the right to resell copy-protected products and requiring manufacturers to prominently disclose when anti-copying technology is being used.

The Kansas Republican's proposal also could derail the recording industry's legal pursuit of the identity of a Verizon Communications subscriber by requiring a lawsuit be filed before the name of an alleged peer-to-peer pirate is disclosed to a copyright holder. That would amend the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which a federal court concluded does not require a judge's approval before a copyright holder can force the disclosure of a suspected pirate's identity.

The main thrust of the Brownback bill, however, is to slap regulations on digital rights management (DRM) technology, which has become increasingly popular as a way to reduce widespread copyright infringement on the Internet. Last month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stressed his company's support for DRM technology, and Apple Computer uses DRM to limit how customers can reuse music downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. Some consumer groups argue that DRM infringes on the right to make "fair use" of copyrighted works and to back up legally purchased digital files.

If the Brownback proposal were enacted, the Federal Trade Commission would have the power to ban DRM systems that limit a consumer's right to resell any "digital media product," a category that includes everything from computer software and e-books to copy-protected CDs and movies. It also says that companies selling such products must offer "clear and conspicuous notice or a label on the product" that follows FTC regulations starting one year after the law's enactment, unless the FTC determines that industry groups have created reasonable "voluntary" guidelines on their own.

At a privacy and politics summit in Washington on Tuesday, an industry representative said the measure will likely be introduced at a press conference in the middle of next week. A spokesman for Brownback said Wednesday that he could not confirm when the event would be held. Brownback, a conservative with a 100 percent voting record from the American Conservative Union in 2000, is a member of the Senate Communications Subcommittee.

"We're going to support it," Mike Godwin, an attorney with advocacy group Public Knowledge, said of Brownback's plan. "I think that Sen. Brownback and his staff have clearly made an effort to develop a bill that addresses some of the major excesses that we're seeing in the policy arena at the intersection of copyright policy and technology policy."

However, a representative at the Recording Industry Association of America said the legislation is "weighted down with a variety of bad public policy judgments hostile to all property owners. The DMCA was a carefully crafted compromise and balance struck by Congress. That's why efforts to cherry-pick particular provisions are likely to fail.

"With respect to the information subpoena provision, the intent of Congress was clear and appropriate, and the district court's decisive rulings show that Congress got it right."

A draft of the Brownback bill provided to CNET News.com by a congressional aide also:

• Says the Federal Communications Commission may not force companies that create or sell PCs or digital video products to include specific copy-protection technology in them.

• Requires the FTC to create an advisory committee to describe "the ways in which access control technology and redistribution control technology may affect consumer, educational institution and library use of digital media products based on their legal and customary uses of such products."

• Says the FTC must prepare a report two years after the bill is enacted into law. The report would include information about how prevalent DRM technologies are, if they allow "consumers, educational institutions and libraries to engage in all lawful uses of the product," and how often copyright holders have tried to glean subscriber information from Internet service providers.

Adam Thierer, an analyst at the free-market group Cato Institute, applauded parts of Brownback's bill--such as limiting the FCC's power--but said it was a mistake to involve the federal government in regulating DRM technology.

"It's a decidedly mixed bag," Thierer said. "There are some things worth praising, such as opposing technology mandates from the FCC, but the baggage in this bill in terms of the FTC regulations are somewhat troubling...There are requirements that cut in the opposite direction. That's really unfortunate."

An unrelated bill already introduced in Congress by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., takes a similar approach in part, saying that software, music and movies that include copy-protection technology must be prominently labeled with consumer warnings.