"DMCA Killer": Does It Go Far Enough?

by Jordan Yerman | February 28, 2007 at 11:24 pm

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So Boucher's and Dolittle's bill would soften the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, yes, but a quick read of the bill itself raises some questions.

First of all, it looks as though tape decks are legal again. Lovely. Also, whilst makers of infringement-capable devices are safe from legal action as long as those devices have "commercially significant non-infringing use", who decides what that use is? The same people who think that the Internet is a series of tubes?

No mention is made of actually using the aforementioned devices, nor is mention made of altering an existing device to play crippled media, or un-crippling a device that has been so hindered.

But it's a start.

A bill introduced Tuesday by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-California) would loosen some of the tight restrictions on consumer behavior imposed by the draconian Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 -- something the lawmakers say is long overdue.

The Boucher and Doolittle bill (.pdf), called the Fair Use Act of 2007, would free consumers to circumvent digital locks on media under six special circumstances.

Librarians would be allowed to bypass DRM technology to update or preserve their collections. Journalists, researchers and educators could do the same in pursuit of their work. Everyday consumers would get to "transmit work over a home or personal network" so long as movies, music and other personal media didn't find their way on to the internet for distribution.

Consumers could also circumvent technological measures to skip past objectionable content, or add a piece of media to an incomplete compilation already in the public domain.

"The fair use doctrine has come under attack as never before," Boucher told Wired News on Wednesday. "The DMCA was a full frontal assault. My goal is to affirm fair use for the purchases of digital media and assure that the fair use doctrine is reinforced."