US Copyright Office wants to hear from you about the DMCA
- Thread starter LuvataciousSkull
- Start date
dailyvault
35 and counting...
I know this only really affects those of us living in the States, but I think this is a great opportunity to hopefully get the DMCA killed.
Back in the '80s, the music industry took out ads that said "home taping is killing music", yet the industry continued to thrive despite those of us who, say, would get a record from the public library and record a cassette version of it.
It's my understanding of the law - and admittedly I'm not a lawyer - that we, as a consumer, are allowed to make one backup copy of a CD, movie or piece of software to allow for the possibility of the original media becoming damaged. Yet big labels are instituting copy-protection to prevent people from legally making their one back-up copy of a CD, and you have to have to almost go back-alley in order to duplicate a DVD, though up until a few months ago, you could buy software like DVD X-Copy legally. (I have twin 3-year-olds, and I trust them with my DVDs as far as I can throw them.)
Look, I'm all for those who make the creative works getting paid properly for their efforts, but big business has gotten so used to fucking over both the creative talent and the consumer that they are trying to exercise total control. Damaged your DVD? Too fucking bad - you have to shell out another $20 and buy another one. Ridiculous! Have a TiVo? Pretty soon, TV stations will be able to select what shows are on your hard drive and delete them so you'll be forced to buy them on DVD.
I'm passionate about this as much as I was (and still am) passionate about how MP3s could be the salvation of the music industry. I hope everyone takes a few minutes when the comment site goes live to let the US government know how big of a sham the DMCA really is, and how the only ones who benefit from it are big businesses.
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.
Back in the '80s, the music industry took out ads that said "home taping is killing music", yet the industry continued to thrive despite those of us who, say, would get a record from the public library and record a cassette version of it.
It's my understanding of the law - and admittedly I'm not a lawyer - that we, as a consumer, are allowed to make one backup copy of a CD, movie or piece of software to allow for the possibility of the original media becoming damaged. Yet big labels are instituting copy-protection to prevent people from legally making their one back-up copy of a CD, and you have to have to almost go back-alley in order to duplicate a DVD, though up until a few months ago, you could buy software like DVD X-Copy legally. (I have twin 3-year-olds, and I trust them with my DVDs as far as I can throw them.)
Look, I'm all for those who make the creative works getting paid properly for their efforts, but big business has gotten so used to fucking over both the creative talent and the consumer that they are trying to exercise total control. Damaged your DVD? Too fucking bad - you have to shell out another $20 and buy another one. Ridiculous! Have a TiVo? Pretty soon, TV stations will be able to select what shows are on your hard drive and delete them so you'll be forced to buy them on DVD.
I'm passionate about this as much as I was (and still am) passionate about how MP3s could be the salvation of the music industry. I hope everyone takes a few minutes when the comment site goes live to let the US government know how big of a sham the DMCA really is, and how the only ones who benefit from it are big businesses.
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.
