Electronic Frontier Foundation ALERT -- Oct. 19, 2000
Please redistribute to relevant forums, no later than Feb. 1, 2001.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) encourages all Netizens to contact their Congressional representatives and urge them to support the "Music Owners' Listening Rights Act of 2000" (MOLRA, bill number H.R. 5275). The Bill begins to reform unbalanced copyright law by firmly establishing users' rights to access the music they lawfully own via the Internet at any time from any place.
Large record companies have used tortured interpretations of copyright law to stifle new Internet businesses that compete with these record companies. For example, they sued MP3.COM (Universal Music Group, et al., v. MP3.COM) to stop it from letting people play music over the Internet even though the users proved that they possessed the CD. Agreeing with the recording studios, the district court found MP3.COM guilty of an act of "intermediate copying," without ever deciding whether consumers are allowed to play audio of their own CDs. MP3.COM is appealing the case, but it has also encouraged Congress to make its intent clearer by passing this legislation.
H.R. 5275 would declare unequivocally that consumers can transmit an audio recording over the Internet so it will play wherever they are, if they've shown that they possess the CD (or otherwise lawfully own the music). The bill legalizes copies made by a service company so consumers and artists can begin to experiment with new models of distribution better suited for a digital realm.
Copyright law was designed to strike a balance between authors' and artists' rights to be compensated for their creations, and the public's right to access and use that creation. Restrictions written before the advent of digital technology should not be used to preclude new technologies from coming into existence, depriving society of the benefit of innovation. Updating the law to reflect the change in real-world circumstances begins to address the threat that the recording studios place on free expression in a digital world.
The bi-partisan MOLRA bill was introduced into Congress last month by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and co-sponsored by several Republican representatives. Contact your representative to stand up for free expression and your rights to use digital audio. Let your voice be heard!
How to contact your legislators:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
Music Owners' Licensing Right Act (H.R. 5275), full text:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Audio/hr5275_molra_2000_bill.html
The "Million Email March" organized by MP3.COM:
http://stations.mp3s.com/stations/95/the_million_email_march.html
Floor statement of Rep. Boucher introducing MOLRA:
http://www.house.gov/boucher/docs/molra.htm
EFF's Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression (CAFE):
http://www.eff.org/cafe