In Patrick Ross' commentary below, TPM=technical protection measures, aka anti-copying mechanisms. I think Ross is misguided, irresponsibly overstates the alleged harm of permitting circumvention for fair use, and ignores the documented problems caused by the DMCA. A more rigorous free-market approach is here: http://www.politechbot.com/2005/06/13/new-article-on/ But nevertheless, the Progress and Freedom Foundation is an influential think tank with many fans among Republicans on Capitol Hill. (PFF recently hired Michael Powell's legal advisor, for instance, and its board is primarily former Reagan administration officials.) No wonder DMCA reform is going nowhere. -Declan --- http://news.com.com/2010-1025_3-5889596.html Here's a surefire way to stifle innovation By Patrick Ross Published: October 6, 2005, 4:00 AM PDT ...A well-meaning U.S. Congressman, Rick Boucher of Virginia, is the author of the legislation in question. He first tried to make circumvention of copy-protection mechanisms legal back in 1998, when Congress was debating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. His effort to amend the bill failed. Since then, he has been continuing his crusade through standalone bills; his version in this Congress is HR-1201. Boucher claims that digital rights management (DRM) on DVDs, CDs and other mediums can stifle fair use. The U.S. Copyright Office largely has disagreed in DMCA review proceedings, but Boucher nonetheless persists... But if HR-1201 becomes law, every consumer could legally hack any TPM by claiming fair use, and as fair use isn't codified, there would be as many definitions of it as there are consumers. Consumers would be legally sanctioned to break their contracts with the content provider. No sane business operator enters a contract in which one party has the right to disregard its terms at will, but that's what HR-1201 permits. That hated TPM would disappear from the market, as there's no reason to employ a lock if everyone has a legal right to the key. But as TPM leaves, so do the digital offerings that come with it... _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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