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There's been a big chill in the United States when it comes to technological progress that skirts the boundaries of copyright law. P2P and file-sharing developers know this all too well, as such development, with the exception of BitTorrent, has come to a virtual standstill. Thanks to the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), the right of consumers to make backups of rightfully owned entertainment has become stifled.There are also a few pioneers in the United States House of Representatives attempting to amend the DMCA in favor of the consumer. The Bill, named Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act of 2007 (H.R. 1201), or Fair Use Act for short, was introduced today by U.S. Representatives Rick Boucher (D-VA) and John Doolittle (R-CA.)"The fair use doctrine is threatened today as never before. Historically, the nation's copyright laws have reflected a carefully calibrated balance between the rights of copyright owners and the rights of the users of copyrighted material. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act dramatically tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the public's right to fair use," Boucher said. "The FAIR USE Act will assure that consumers who purchase digital media can enjoy a broad range of uses of the media for their own convenience in a way which does not infringe the copyright in the work," Boucher explained. The Bill details several rights it hopes to give back to consumers, educators, and software/hardware designers. In an effort to pacify concerns of the entertainment industry (and to give the Bill a snowball's chance), the Bill does not contain "fair use defense to the act of circumvention." In other words, it doesn't establish a blanket safe harbor provision to all acts of circumvention.
A new bill in the U.S. Congress aimed at protecting the fair use rights for consumers of copyright material would "legalize hacking," the Recording Industry Association of America said.The RIAA said the bill would effectively repeal the DMCA. The bill would "allow electronics companies to induce others to break the law for their own profit," it said in a statement. Advances such digital music sales, online games, on-demand movies and e-books can be traced to DMCA protects, the RIAA said.The difference between hacking done for non-infringing purposes and hacking done to steal is impossible to determine and enforce," the RIAA said in its statement.The Boucher bill would limit the availability of statutory damages against individuals and firms who may be found to have engaged in contributory infringement, inducement The Consumer Electronics Association applauded the bill, saying it would give protections to consumers, educators and libraries. Without fair use protections, consumers couldn't use devices such as VCRs and digital TV recorders, the trade group said.
