San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) supports new legislation from Rep. Rick Boucher and Rep. Zoe Lofgren regarding copyright issues in the digital realm.
Here are specific statements from EFF related to the newly proposed legislation:
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EFF strongly supports Rep. Boucher's Digital Media
Consumers' Rights Act of 2002.
The bill's CD labeling provisions will make certain that consumers know what they are getting when they buy music CDs. If record labels choose to sell "copy protected" CDs that offer consumers less for their money than the CDs they are accustomed to, these dysfunctional CDs should, at a minimum, be prominently labeled.
The bill also amends the DMCA to make it clear that technological protections should not trump the public's traditional fair use rights under copyright law. Since the DMCA's passage in 1998, it has been used not against copyright pirates, but instead to chill the legitimate activities of scientists, journalists, and computer programmers. Rep. Boucher's bill will go a long way toward restoring in the digital world the traditional balance between the rights of the public and those of copyright owners.
EFF strongly supports the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2002 and will encourage its 7,000+ members, as well as the 27,000 supporters who receive its weekly newsletter, to support it as well.
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"EFF welcomes Rep. Lofgren's bill as an important step
toward creating a fair and balanced copyright law for the
digital age."
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For this release:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20021003_eff_pr.html
For more information on the Digital Media Consumers' Rights
Act:
http://www.house.gov/boucher/internet.htm
Press release from Rep. Lofgren on "Digital Choice and
Freedom Act of 2002" (H.R. 5522):
http://www.house.gov/lofgren/press/107press/021002_release.htm
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/