Has Copyright Law (DMCA) Met Its Match?

Access by the disabled provides challenge to controversial DMCA.

Electronic books should be the easiest books for the blind to “read.” Software can instantly translate the digital files into sound or Braille.

So why can’t the 10 million Americans who are blind “read” the latest Michael Crichton thriller or George Pelecanos mystery?

A copyright law glitch, thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is the culprit. But fixing it could also be the key to changing the law’s restrictions on using digital material.

A battle has been joined, pitting consumers like the blind and their advocates against the publishing and entertainment industries. On the one side, people with disabilities and digital rights advocates say the law is too broad, by limiting access to content and not accommodating advances in technology. On the other side are book publishers who argue the DMCA actually promoted the growth of e-books by protecting copyright.

And some say the controversy illustrates why the DMCA should never have become law in the first place.

Limited Access
The DMCA punishes people with disabilities, say some experts in law and technology. They contend it clashes with existing copyright laws and even the Constitution.

“This law has to be reformed,” says Robin Gross, an attorney and executive director of IP Justice, an international civil liberties organization.

“Freedom of speech guarantees of the Constitution explicitly require that copyright holders do not have total control over” how someone experiences their work, Gross says. But she contends the DMCA reverses that right by allowing copyright-holders to lock a PC from giving voice to e-books.

Read more about the efforts Here