Dave Horvath
1 Mar 2007 6:11
Released yesterday by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), the FAIR USE Act has already received a great deal of criticism from everyone's favorite digital chaperone, the RIAA. The FAIR USE Act was submitted as a bill before US Congress in hopes of limiting the amount of control granted to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). RIAA representatives have stated that Representative Boucher's bill is a blatant attempt to undermine the securities of intellectual properties granted by the DMCA.
The RIAA released a statement saying "The DMCA has enabled consumers to enjoy creative works through popular new technologies. The DVD, iPod and the iTunes Music Store can all be traced to the DMCA. Online games, on-demand movies, e-books, online libraries, and many other services are coming to market because of a secure environment rooted in the DMCA's protections."
The term secure environment is the essential core of the DMCA. The meat of what the DMCA limits is the ways in which Digital Rights Management can be circumvented by making such tools to do so a taboo practice. This, in turn, gives content providers free reign to limit exactly how consumers can digest said content. The same can be said that without DMCA, content providers would be forced to make their product that much more appealing to consumers to assure public interest.
Gary Shapiro of the Consumer Electronics Associate (CEA) wasn't about to sit back without adding his words towards his arch-nemesis, the RIAA. In a statement Shapiro welcomed FAIR USE in saying it, "will reinforce the historical fair use protections of constitutionally-mandated copyright law that are reflected in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)." Shapiro and the CEA would stand to receive significant favor from the bill, should it be passed in that electronics manufacturers would be further sheilded from liability due to the infringment of others. The bill would make certain that these manufacturers are protected from being forced to pay royalties for statutory damages in cases of infringement.
The RIAA retalitated stating the bill, "would repeal the DMCA and legalize hacking. It would reverse the Supreme Court's decision in Grokster and allow electronics companies to induce others to break the law for their own profit."
The RIAA statement contiues with saying, "Proponents of H.R. 1201 claim it legalizes hacking only for 'noninfringing' uses, but as Congress recognized when it enacted the DMCA, the difference between hacking done for noninfringing purposes and hacking done to steal is impossible to determine and enforce. That's why Congress created a review process that takes place every three years to determine whether fair uses of copyrighted works are in peril—and why Congress gave the power to the Librarian of Congress to take away DMCA protections in cases where fair use is in danger."
Source:
ARS Technica