cope
December 1st, 2002, 10:41 PM
DMCA open for attack for 1 month
Copy Control Complaint Desk Opens
Formal public comment on DMCA invited for one month, then feds will reconsider act.
Michelle Madigan, Medill News Service
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
WASHINGTON -- Frustrated with technological access controls on digital media? Disdainful of the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act? The feds are inviting you to vent.
The Copyright Office is now accepting comments on the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which made it illegal to copy digital entertainment and imposed a number of other restrictions that have drawn users' ire. The comment period ends December 18. A comment form is available online.
It's the latest review by the federal Copyright Office, which was mandated by Congress when it approved the DMCA. During the previous review in October 2000, the office received 235 comments in the first round, says Rob Kasunic, a senior attorney in the Copyright Office.
Individuals or companies can send statements to the office on a Web-based form or by mail. The initial round of comments is for proposed exemptions, and the office will accept reply comments in January and February.
Based on the comments and their evidence, Kasunic says, his office will make recommendations to the librarian of Congress, who can accept or reject the proposals. Decisions are expected in October 2003.
DMCA Tested
The DMCA was heralded by advocates as protecting the rights of artists, writers, and even programmers, to prevent their digital work from being illegally copied and distributed without their permission. The act says, "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title."
But many in the tech industry have grown increasingly wary of its provisions.
The provision was invoked to great attention in the tech community when the U.S. government charged Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov with violating the DMCA when he demonstrated and marketed a program that would thwart copy-protection on Adobe's eBook file format. Charges against Sklyarov were dropped, but a case is still pending against his company, ElcomSoft, even though its product is legal in its home country.
The law also drew attention when a professor charged that it stifled academic research. A digital watermark firm had challenged all comers to crack its technology, then threatened Professor Edward Felten and his team with prosecution under DMCA if they published their findings.
The DMCA also allows exemptions to the anti-circumvention rule, intended to protect fair-use rights of consumers. The Copyright Office determines which types of works fall under this exemption.
Gearing for Fight
DMCA foe the Electronic Frontier Foundation will participate in the review, and is "encouraging others to make a clear record that the DMCA is being used in ways Congress never intended," says Fred von Lohmann, an EFF attorney.
He argues the DMCA threatens researchers and programmers trying to publish research or software tools with legitimate uses. He also says that people may have legitimate reasons to copy a CD that they purchased.
"Unfortunately, the Copyright Office was pretty unsympathetic to some of these issues when they were raised last time," von Lohmann says. "With two more years of experience we are hoping the Copyright Office will take a different look."
Steve Metalitz, an attorney who represents copyright industries, defends the DMCA, saying it makes more material available in digital form.
Groups with a stake in upholding copyrights, like the recording industry, will not comment during the first round, waiting to see what requests are brought forward. While he is skeptical of any proposals for exceptions, Metalitz plans to respond to the proposals during the second round in January.
Only the First Round
Von Lohmann says the real solution is in amending the DMCA, not merely reviewing it.
"The review will underscore how important legislative efforts are," he says.
Representatives Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) and John Doolittle (R-California) plan to reintroduce in January a bill that would require labeling on "copy-protected" CDs. The bill would amend the DMCA by protecting the fair-use rights of consumers who want to make copies legally.
Content industry groups worry that reopening the DMCA will cut back on their legal protections, Metalitz says.
The amended law "would facilitate the lives of hackers and complicate the lives of people who want access to movies, books, and software in a legitimate fashion," he says.
Complaint form here
.copyright.gov/1201/comment_forms/index.
Let the voices be Heard
Copy Control Complaint Desk Opens
Formal public comment on DMCA invited for one month, then feds will reconsider act.
Michelle Madigan, Medill News Service
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
WASHINGTON -- Frustrated with technological access controls on digital media? Disdainful of the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act? The feds are inviting you to vent.
The Copyright Office is now accepting comments on the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which made it illegal to copy digital entertainment and imposed a number of other restrictions that have drawn users' ire. The comment period ends December 18. A comment form is available online.
It's the latest review by the federal Copyright Office, which was mandated by Congress when it approved the DMCA. During the previous review in October 2000, the office received 235 comments in the first round, says Rob Kasunic, a senior attorney in the Copyright Office.
Individuals or companies can send statements to the office on a Web-based form or by mail. The initial round of comments is for proposed exemptions, and the office will accept reply comments in January and February.
Based on the comments and their evidence, Kasunic says, his office will make recommendations to the librarian of Congress, who can accept or reject the proposals. Decisions are expected in October 2003.
DMCA Tested
The DMCA was heralded by advocates as protecting the rights of artists, writers, and even programmers, to prevent their digital work from being illegally copied and distributed without their permission. The act says, "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title."
But many in the tech industry have grown increasingly wary of its provisions.
The provision was invoked to great attention in the tech community when the U.S. government charged Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov with violating the DMCA when he demonstrated and marketed a program that would thwart copy-protection on Adobe's eBook file format. Charges against Sklyarov were dropped, but a case is still pending against his company, ElcomSoft, even though its product is legal in its home country.
The law also drew attention when a professor charged that it stifled academic research. A digital watermark firm had challenged all comers to crack its technology, then threatened Professor Edward Felten and his team with prosecution under DMCA if they published their findings.
The DMCA also allows exemptions to the anti-circumvention rule, intended to protect fair-use rights of consumers. The Copyright Office determines which types of works fall under this exemption.
Gearing for Fight
DMCA foe the Electronic Frontier Foundation will participate in the review, and is "encouraging others to make a clear record that the DMCA is being used in ways Congress never intended," says Fred von Lohmann, an EFF attorney.
He argues the DMCA threatens researchers and programmers trying to publish research or software tools with legitimate uses. He also says that people may have legitimate reasons to copy a CD that they purchased.
"Unfortunately, the Copyright Office was pretty unsympathetic to some of these issues when they were raised last time," von Lohmann says. "With two more years of experience we are hoping the Copyright Office will take a different look."
Steve Metalitz, an attorney who represents copyright industries, defends the DMCA, saying it makes more material available in digital form.
Groups with a stake in upholding copyrights, like the recording industry, will not comment during the first round, waiting to see what requests are brought forward. While he is skeptical of any proposals for exceptions, Metalitz plans to respond to the proposals during the second round in January.
Only the First Round
Von Lohmann says the real solution is in amending the DMCA, not merely reviewing it.
"The review will underscore how important legislative efforts are," he says.
Representatives Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) and John Doolittle (R-California) plan to reintroduce in January a bill that would require labeling on "copy-protected" CDs. The bill would amend the DMCA by protecting the fair-use rights of consumers who want to make copies legally.
Content industry groups worry that reopening the DMCA will cut back on their legal protections, Metalitz says.
The amended law "would facilitate the lives of hackers and complicate the lives of people who want access to movies, books, and software in a legitimate fashion," he says.
Complaint form here
.copyright.gov/1201/comment_forms/index.
Let the voices be Heard