A call to rally to protect our digital rights Legislation introduced in Congress to allow continued fair use of digital media. Other links at story site.
posted by stevefromsparks on Jan 17, 2003 - 7 comments

Zoe Lofgren figures it out. Rep. Rick Boucher is said to be next in line. Tara Sue is basing her campaign on it. Apple stands firm. How long till we see some Republicans jump on this? Is the situation hopeless?
posted by filchyboy on Oct 2, 2002 - 13 comments

U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher On Why The DMCA Sucks
News.com has a Great Editorial by Rick Boucher who says traditional "fair use" rights are at the foundation of the receipt and use of information by the American people, and those rights are now under attack.
He goes on to say Congress agreed to a fundamentally flawed bill, which created the new crime of circumvention--a crime divorced from over a century and a half of respect for the fair-use rights of consumers. The DMCA, as enacted, quite clearly tilted the balance in the Copyright Act toward complete protection and away from information availability.

"Consider the implications. A time may soon come when what is available for free on library shelves will only be available on a pay-per-use basis. It would be a simple matter for a copyright owner to impose a requirement that a small fee be paid each time a digital book or video documentary is accessed by a library patron. Even the student who wants even the most basic access to only a portion of the book to write a term paper would have to pay to avoid committing a crime."

posted by Blake on Jan 29, 2002 - 14 comments

U.S. representative questions the legality of copy-protecting CDs. A decade ago, record companies pushed through a law (the Audio Home Recording Act - summary or full text) that gave them a royalty on the sale of certain blank recording media; in return, they acknowledged the right for listeners to make some digital copies for personal use. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) is asking if new schemes blocking even legitimate copies are in violation of this law.
posted by pmurray63 on Jan 5, 2002 - 6 comments