Copyright Office Posts Reasons to Curb Copyright
Law's Reach
The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress has posted the
Reply Comments on Rulemaking on
Anticircumvention, commentary from the public on why current
copyright law needs more exceptions for fair use and other such things.
You'll find some thoughtful ideas here.
Not that it's likely to sway anyone to do the right thing. Congress spoke
clearly enough when it wiped out fair use and the public interest in the
1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, after all.
So clearly, in fact, that federal judges have universally upheld the
Draconian law even when it appears to overflow into areas Congress could
not have imagined. Case in point is Lexmark's lawsuit against a maker of
printer-cartridge refills, Static Control
Corp., which had the temerity to reverse-engineer Lexmark's
software that prevented customers from getting less expensive refills.
While we can't do much, today, about this law and the federal judges who
flout all reason, we can do something about Lexmark.
My pledge: I will not buy a Lexmark printer until the company reverses
its anti-customer stand and expresses some regret for its abuse of the
system. Since Lexmark is likely to do this approximately a month after
hell freezes over, I guess I'll buy my printers elsewhere.
Take the same pledge, folks. Draw some lines in the sand, or you'll be
buried.
http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/
