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EFF disappointed at DMCA ruling

29 October 2003 12:26 by Jari Ketola | 3 comments

The U.S. Librarian of Congress has denied most of the major requests for exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and other organizations sought exemptions to DMCA to allow consumers, for instance, to play copy protected CDs on other devices.

The sought exceptions would have allowed consumers to legally view DVDs from other regions or skip "unskippable" commercials found on some DVDs. Four exceptions were, however, allowed: for decoding lists of Web pages or directories blocked by Internet filtering software, accessing e-books for which the publisher has disabled the read-aloud function, circumventing obsolete digital rights management devices that prevent access due to malfunction, and accessing computer programs and video games distributed in an obsolete format.

EFF Staff Attorney Gwen Hinze was disappointed by the fact that the Librarian of Congress failed to realize the impact the DMCA law has on fair use of legally purchased products.

Robert Menta published an article about digital consumer rights almost three years ago.

Menta wrote: "Now, copyright holders can add encryption's that force the user to pay for each time they take out that CD, tape, or program file, denying that open access we all presently enjoy. This new law gives copyright holders the implied right to do this by making a crime to circumvent such a feature."

We all know how the story has developed since then.

Source:
PCWorld

Permalink to this article | Topic: Lawsuits & Legislation

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GrayArea (Member) 29 October 2003 13:44
U.S. Librarian of Congress, right? Answers to the Bush administration, right? Big surprise. We mustn't lower ourselves to the level of those we loathe, lest we become loathsome ourselves. [ + quote]
Ghostdog (Senior Member) 30 October 2003 5:34
God I�m glad I don�t live in the USA. Land of freedom my ass. [ + quote]
GrayArea (Member) 30 October 2003 8:24
Quote from story above> "EFF Staff Attorney Gwen Hinze was disappointed by the fact that the Librarian of Congress failed to realize the impact the DMCA law has on fair use of legally purchased products" The Library of Congress did not "fail to realize" anything. They know EXACTLY what's going on. They just happen to live in the same plush cash lined corporate pockets that most high level US guvmnt officials live in. We mustn't lower ourselves to the level of those we loathe, lest we become loathsome ourselves. [ + quote]