Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Reform (HR 1201)

[Drakonix]

Those of us who live in the United States should consider supporting DMCA reform under HR 1201.

The following article was published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. If you are a U.S. resident please consider using the EFF Action Center link below to indicate your support of this important consumer rights protection reform of the DMCA.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has been wreaking
havoc on consumers' fair use rights for the past seven
years. Now Congress is considering the Digital Media
Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA, HR 1201), a bill that would
reform part of the DMCA and formally protect the "Betamax
defense" relied on by so many innovators.

HR 1201 would give citizens the right to circumvent
copy-protection measures as long as what they're doing
is otherwise legal. For example, it would make sure
that when you buy a CD, whether it is copy-protected
or not, you can record it onto your computer and move
the songs to an MP3 player. It would also protect a
computer science professor who needs to bypass
copy-protection to evaluate encryption technology.

In addition, the bill would codify the Betamax defense,
which has been under attack by the entertainment
industry through the "Induce Act" last year and the
MGM v. Grokster case currently before the Supreme
Court. This kind of sanity would be a welcome change
to our copyright law.

Last year we sent 30,000+ letters of support for the
DMCRA, and the bill got a hearing on Capitol Hill. It's
time to double that number - take action at the link
below, then urge your friends and family to support HR
1201, too!

Make your voice heard with the EFF Action Center:
http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=115
(Note: U.S. Residents Only)

Source:

EFFector Vol. 18, No. 14 May 5, 2005

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
ISSN 1062-9424

Link: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/003536.php