Rick Boucher, meet Zoe Lofgren; Zoe Lofgren, meet Rick Boucher. Finally some real sanity from the Hill.......beats the Hollings-Valenti-Berman-Rosen circus paranoia, and at least this proposal recognizes that existing penalties are there for criminals, but protects LAWFUL CONSUMER USE of digital media.
About bloody time the Hill began to realize that just because the potential for abuse is there (eg, copying an MP3 from one person to another) doesn't mean that it will be used for mass criminal purposes, or that we need to presume everyone guilty first by restricting what they can do with technology. Rick Infowarrior.org U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren 16th Congressional District, California http://www.house.gov/zoelofgren Digital Choice and Freedom Act of 2002 For over one hundred years, copyright law has aspired to strike a fair balance between the interests of copyright holders in the control and exploitation of their works with the interests of society in the free flow of ideas, information and commerce. The great challenge today is to maintain that balance in the digital age by finding ways to prevent and punish digital pirates without treating every consumer as one. The Digital Choice and Freedom Act achieves this, and does so without utilizing government mandates or other prescriptive measures that ultimately only serve to stifle innovation. Specifically, the Act: * Clarifies that America�s historic principles of fair use � protected under Section 107 of the Copyright Act � apply to analog and digital transmissions. * Allows lawful consumers to make backup copies and display digital works on the devices of their choice. * Protects lawful consumers by prohibiting non-negotiable shrink-wrap licenses that limit their rights and expectations. * Clarifies that lawful consumers can sell or give away their copies of digital works, just like they can with traditional hard media. * Protects lawful consumers by permitting them to bypass technical measures that impede their rights and expectations. * Provides flexibility for content owners to develop new and innovative ways to protect their content and enable lawful uses. Current proposals to combat digital piracy focus primarily on �locking-down� content in ways that threaten the traditional balance. In addition to fighting piracy, technical protection measures can give copyright holders the power to control how consumers use the movies, music and books they lawfully purchase. The DCFA seeks to restore the balance while recognizing that the problem of digital piracy will never be truly solved until consumers are given a legitimate alternative that is affordable, reliable, secure, and respectful of their reasonable rights and expectations. -- You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org/lists for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety.
