[Mazer]

Thanks for the heads up, Drakonix. Here's the letter I sent:

Support HR 1201, and let Americans own the things they purchase

I am a Coloradoan who owns a large DVD collection, and I am writing to urge you to support the DMCRA, HR 1201. This bill addresses many problems stemming from the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Specifically, HR 1201 would ensure that I can't be prosecuted for disobeying the ridiculous "anti-circumvention" provisions of the DMCA as long as my use of the underlying copyrighted material is lawful. HR 1201 would allow people like me to make backups of lawfully obtained DVD's by removing the restrictions that protect DVD copy-protection rather than the movies they contain.

No DVD movie is sold in this country without a digital copy-protection scheme called Copyright Control System or CSS, a very weak encryption system that begs to be circumvented. The computer code that makes this possible is so simple it can be reduced to four lines of code short enough to print on a post card, but under the DMCA it's legally risky to do so. Not only is it illegal to use such a tool, it's also illegal to talk about how it works. HR 1201 corrects this problem. This is a long overdue reform to our copyright law, and I hope that we can go even further to legalize the tools that allow me, my family, and my friends to exercise our consumer rights, our fair-use rights, and even our free speech rights. For some even better language, please see last Congress' version of the DMCRA, H.R. 107.

In addition, the bill would codify the "Betamax defense," which has been under attack by the entertainment industries in the "INDUCE Act" last year and the MGM v. Grokster case currently before the Supreme Court. This is an example of good case law that can be turned into good legislative law. It would make it clear that a technology innovator will not be held responsible for every copyright infringement committed by his customers as long as the technology is capable of noninfringing uses. The Internet itself is such a technology. This rule is critical if innovators are to have the mandate and motivation to create the new technologies that make us all better off.

I urge you to address this important issue by becoming a co-sponsor of HR 1201. Thank you for your time, your research into the matter, and your leadership on the hill.