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EFF: Unintended Consequences - Twelve Years Under the DMCA
Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release For Immediate Release: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 Contact: Fred von Lohmann Senior Staff Attorney Electronic Frontier Foundation fred@eff.org +1 415 436-9333 x123 (office), +1 415 215-6087 (cell) Unintended Consequences: Twelve Years Under the DMCA EFF Documents Continuing Legacy of Harm to Fair Use, Free Speech San Francisco - Twelve years after the passage of the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the law continues to stymie fair use, free speech, scientific research, and legitimate competition. A new report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) collects reported examples of abuses of the DMCA and the ongoing harm the law continues to inflict on consumers, scientists, and small businesses. The U.S. Copyright Office is currently mulling proposed exemptions to the DMCA's ban on "circumventing" digital rights management (DRM) and "other technical protection measures" used to restrict access to copyrighted works. The Copyright Office is empowered to grant exemptions to the law every three years to mitigate the harms that DRM otherwise would impose on legitimate, non-infringing uses of copyrighted materials. The triennial Copyright Office rulemaking, however, has not been enough to prevent abuses of the DMCA. EFF's report details the numerous harms stemming from the DMCA's ban on circumventing DRM, including Apple's attempts to lock down the iPhone and force users into its App Store. Also new in this year's report is the account of hobbyists threatened by Texas Instruments for blogging about potential modifications to the company's programmable graphing calculators as well as the story behind the legal attacks on Real DVD and other products that create innovative new ways for consumers to enjoy DVD content they have legitimately purchased. "The DMCA's ban on tampering with digital locks on content is a dangerous anachronism, a holdover from a time when people thought DRM could solve all of Hollywood's problems," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "The DMCA's ban on bypassing DRM has failed to stem digital copyright infringement, but it has unfortunately been repurposed as a cudgel to threaten legitimate research and competitors." Among the DMCA exemption requests currently before the Copyright Office are three from EFF. One asks for an exemption for amateur creators who use excerpts from DVDs in order to create new, noncommercial remix videos. Another would explicitly exempt cell phone "jailbreaking," allowing iPhones and other handsets to run applications from any source. EFF's third proposal asks for a renewal of an exemption previously granted for unlocking cells phones so they can be used with any mobile carrier. A final decision on these and other requests is expected from the Copyright Office within the next few weeks. For "Unintended Consequences: Twelve Years Under the DMCA": http://www.eff.org/wp/unintended-consequences-under-dmca For more on EFF's exemption requests: http://www.eff.org/cases/2009-dmca-rulemaking For this release: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/03/03 About EFF The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/ -end- _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe or manage your email options: https://mail1.eff.org/mailman/listinfo/presslist (Log in to post comments)
EFF: Unintended Consequences - Twelve Years Under the DMCA Posted Mar 3, 2010 21:43 UTC (Wed) by smadu2 (subscriber, #54943) [Link]
Not at all supporting DMCA/DRM etc but people seem to be fine with Apple's
lockdown which is apparent from the strong sales and number of apps downloaded (10bn and counting).
EFF: Unintended Consequences - Twelve Years Under the DMCA Posted Mar 4, 2010 0:10 UTC (Thu) by RCL (guest, #63264) [Link]
People are fine with consoles, too. Not everyone has a good use for his/her freedom, so they don't value it.
EFF: Unintended Consequences - Twelve Years Under the DMCA Posted Mar 4, 2010 16:03 UTC (Thu) by dunlapg (subscriber, #57764) [Link]
The point isn't whether people are OK with the lock-in or not. The point is
that the anti-circumvention parts of the DMCA are being used for purposes completely unrelated to protecting copyrighted works.
As another example, the report also states that the "anti-circumvention"
EFF: Unintended Consequences - Twelve Years Under the DMCA Posted Mar 4, 2010 18:04 UTC (Thu) by smadu2 (subscriber, #54943) [Link]
True. But I was specifically referring to Apple's part - "EFF's report
details the numerous harms stemming from the DMCA's ban on circumventing DRM, including Apple's attempts to lock down the iPhone and force users into its App Store."
EFF: Unintended Consequences - Twelve Years Under the DMCA Posted Mar 4, 2010 18:09 UTC (Thu) by dunlapg (subscriber, #57764) [Link]
Yes, and the report isn't complaining that Apple is locking people in. I'm
sure that the EFF disapproves of that practice, but that's not the point. The point is that that Apple is USING THE DMCA to lock people in, which has absolutely nothing to do with what the law was written to do. Therefore the DMCA is a bad law and needs to be revised.
EFF: Unintended Consequences - Twelve Years Under the DMCA Posted Mar 4, 2010 19:16 UTC (Thu) by smadu2 (subscriber, #54943) [Link]
Got it thanks, Apple *abusing* DMCA to force people not circumvent lock-in (which is itself is OK legally).
EFF: Unintended Consequences - Twelve Years Under the DMCA Posted Mar 5, 2010 6:26 UTC (Fri) by njs (guest, #40338) [Link]
It's entirely possible that some people are fine with a situation in which other people experience harm. When discussing whether an injustice has occurred, arguments in terms of how many people do or don't object are very common, entirely irrelevant, and rather dangerous.
EFF: Unintended Consequences - Twelve Years Under the DMCA Posted Mar 5, 2010 14:59 UTC (Fri) by jospoortvliet (subscriber, #33164) [Link]
To reinforce your argument with a slightly more far-fetched example: Most ppl are perfectly fine witht he regime in Teheran or North Korea - THEY don't suffer the consequences. Doesn't mean these regimes are a good thing...
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