Digital Media Consumer Right's Act

[cquark]

Congress is considering the Digital Media Consumer Right's Act, a reform of the DMCA that should protect our fair use rights and also protect innovation by making the Betamax decision, which allows engineers to make new devices like VCRs and DVD writers, part of the law. Please write your representatives. It's easy--just enter your name and address, then click for a letter to be sent at the EFF Action Center.

Here's the full action call from the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

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

 

[Genx87]

It is amazing how that law destroyed fair use in a single swoop.

I wont mention which pres signed it 😉

 

[Tab]

:thumbsup:😀

 

[halik]

signed...spread the word

 

[cquark]

Originally posted by: Genx87
It is amazing how that law destroyed fair use in a single swoop.

I wont mention which pres signed it 😉

Unfortunately, neither major party has a good record on fair use and sensible copyright and patent laws. The MPAA/RIAA lobbyists have too much money and power.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Done.

(btw - you need to fix the link at the bottom of your post - in the quoted section)

 

[cquark]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Done.

(btw - you need to fix the link at the bottom of your post - in the quoted section)

Thanks, and fixed. The forum software does odd things with angle brackets near links.