Legislation
Reid Amendment
Similar to the College Access & Opportunity Act. See below.
Digital Millenium Copyright Act
The DMCA is composed of many parts, but the most relevant to this topic has to do with anti-circumvention legislation. Basically, the rules in the DMCA can be depicted pictorially as below, using two factors: purpose and act vs. tool.
| Purpose | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Act | Circumvention for unauthorized access | Circumvention for unauthorized copying | |
| Tool | Use/creation of tools that aid in circumvention for unauthorized access | Use/creation of tools that aid in circumvention for unauthorized copying | |
On the table above, the only square that is not declared illegal under the DMCA is the upper left hand corner, circumvention for unauthorized copying. This is because copyright law in general forbids this and making it illegal under the DMCA as well may have led to double penalties. What is truly striking in this case is that these laws, intended to supplement copyright laws, do not provide any provisions for fair use in the ways that copyright statues do. Tools for circumvention whether intended to produce a thousand copies and sell them or whether intended to allow a Linux user the ability to play a legally purchased DVD on their computer are equally illegal. This may be perceived as a narrowing of the rights of the user relative to the rights of the producer and is one of the major objections to and criticisms of this act.
INDUCE Act
The INDUCE Act was introduced into the Senate by Senator Orrin Hatch on June 22, 2004. The full text of the bill may be read here. The bill effectively reverses the Sony v. Betamax case, and could be used to prosecute peer to peer software makers or even manufacturers of home recording equipment such as VCRs and CD burners.
The problems with the new act are many, but the most alarming would be the impact it could have on innovators. This act would mean that innovators now must worry about all the possible misuses of any technology they sell, since they can be held accountable for these acts in the future. Liability for this sort of infringement would join the already existing standards of contributory and vicarious liability in the court system. This act would also have the direct effect of negating the arguments used to defend innovators in the Sony Betamax case. Many are concerned that technologies already in existence, such as CD-rippers and burners, could be found to be inducing infringement through the INDUCE Act. Fortunately, this act was blocked by the EFF and seems unlikely to make it to a vote.
College Access & Opportunity Act
embers of the House Committee on Education and Labor have just introduced legislation to control illegal file sharing in higher education that uses essentially the same language as the recent Reid amendment in the Senate. This bill, called the College Access and Opportunity Act of 2007, includes language that:
- Makes the Secretary of Education an agent of the entertainment industry.
- Gives schools no right to contest or appeal industry provided-statistics on copyright violations that can result in severe penalties.
- Requires use of unproven and very expensive technological controls.
- Could result in the loss of financial aid to all students of schools that do not comply.
- Singles out institutions of higher education and ignores commercial ISPs.
BALANCE Act
The Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2003 is a bill that would amend Title 17 of the United States Code, "to safeguard the rights and expectations of consumers who lawfully obtain digital entertainment." The bill was proposed in the 108th Congress as H.R. 1066 by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). In the 109th Congress, the bill was reintroduced and is numbered H.R. 4536. It has not been introduced into the current 110th Congress. (From Wikipedia)
