via Daily Tech:
Proposed FAIR USE Act to Limit DMCA Restrictions
By Tuan Nguyen - March 7, 2007 3:51 PM
Excessive
restrictions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act may be a thing of
the past if U.S. Representative Rick Boucher has his way
The
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is making its stance
very clear on digital copying: Allowing users to make copies would
"legalize hacking," it says. However, a new bill in the U.S. Congress
aims to allow consumers to copy and safely play digital material that
they legally own, and to protect user rights for consumers of copyright
material. The bill also aims to protect fair use in hardware devices,
which The RIAA is strongly against as of this moment.
Under the
Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship (FAIR USE)
Act, users will be allowed to copy material they own, but will also be
granted exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA.
According to the FAIR USE Act, consumers will be allowed to make
limited copies of copyrighted material for personal purposes as well as
for reviews, news reporting and education. Additionally, manufacturers
and service providers will not be held accountable for what customers
do with their devices and services.
"The fair use doctrine is
threatened today as never before," said U.S. Representative Rick
Boucher. "Historically, the nation's copyright laws have reflected a
carefully calibrated balanced between the rights of copyright owners
and the rights of the users of copyrighted material. The Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) dramatically tilted the copyright
balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the
public's right to fair use," Boucher added.
A snippet from the FAIR USE doctrine reads (PDF):
The
court shall remit statutory damages for secondary infringement, except
in a case in which the copyright owner sustains the burden of proving,
and the court finds, that the act or acts constituting such secondary
infringement were done under circumstances in which no reasonable
person could have believed such conduct to be lawful.
The
RIAA has already shown its disdain for the proposed bill. "The
difference between hacking done for non-infringing purposes and hacking
done to steal is impossible to determine and enforce," said the RIAA in
a statement.
Late last year, Congress previously ruled that users are no longer allowed to rip DVD movies to their iPods,
even if they own the movies legally. What the RIAA emphasizes is that
some manufacturers may be creating devices that are intentionally easy
to hack, circumventing the onboard protection measures, so that the
"feature" may be attractive to end users.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has stood against the RIAA in many cases,
the FAIR USE Act would help consumers who are being sued for wrong
doing when they have not committed any crime. "The bill would loosen
the grip of the DMCA, which restricts circumvention of digital rights
management (DRM) restrictions even for lawful uses," said the EFF in a statement.
Since
its implementation several years ago, the DMCA has been viewed by many
as being too restrictive, both on consumers and on manufacturers. Many
compare their current collection of DVD movies and music CDs to their
old video and audio cassettes. Copying and making backups were normal
everyday practices that millions did. The RIAA's stance is that digital
copying has significantly impacted music sales in a negative way.
Research proved that the RIAA was making unfounded claims -- while sales of actual physical CDs dropped, overall sales of music has risen tremendously.
Boucher is also an advocate of Net Neutrality and U.S. patent reform.
