Congress Preps Tech Agenda

[Aaron73153]

This story from Foxnews.com discusses the upcoming war in congress looming over P2P networks. Here are some highlights of that article:

High priorities for industry groups include......making sure Congress doesn't try to alter the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was passed in 1998 to protect copyright holders from piracy. This bill is part of a larger digital-rights management debate.

Among them is the Digital Media Consumers Rights Act, introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., that gives consumers more fair-use rights for digital products and calls for copy-protected CDs to be clearly labeled if they include copy-proof technologies.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., offered a similar bill last year to revise the DMCA. It would protect fair-use rights of consumers and allow them to legally copy digital materials.

Cresanti (RIAA cronie) said the concern is that lawmakers are putting in too much effort altering the DMCA -- which the industry says is in pretty good shape -- rather than enforcing the existing rules.

On the other hand, the entertainment industry has long argued that additional legislation is needed for anti-copying technologies on CDs and movies. The tech industry says that's very costly and too much of an imposition on consumers.

Backing the entertainment industry, Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., may reintroduce a bill to prohibit the making and distribution of "digital media devices" unless they include government-approved copy restriction technology.

AeA -- a group of electronics and tech companies -- the Information Technology Association of America and the Association for Competitive Technology also will oppose any digital-rights management legislation.


So it looks like we got a long year ahead of us, but if we keep on fighting, we can keep our rights to fair use of materials that we buy.

[Monyak]

I sorta lost interest half way through the post. I'm not saying its not interesting or something, I just couldnt follow you. You gotta make it read interesting for people to comment back to your post!

PeAcE