News.com reports that the Electronic Frontier Foundation has released an interesting new study on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). According to the study the controversial digital copyright law is quashing free speech and choking innovation:
 Hollywood studios, record labels and other intellectual property holders lobbied hard for the law, fearing that the Internet would become a forum for rampant piracy because it allows people to easily copy and distribute digital products. Unlike analog copies, which lose resolution with each replication, digital copies of products maintain their high quality. |
In its report, the EFF said aggressive applications of the law have reached beyond the intention of the measure. The EFF said the DMCA has had a threefold effect: chilling free expression and scientific research; jeopardizing fair use; and impeding competition.
"In practice, the anti-circumvention provisions have been used to stifle a wide array of legitimate activities, rather than to stop copyright piracy," the study's authors wrote.
The study lists more than a dozen cases where intellectual property holders have wielded the DMCA in ways the EFF says are overly aggressive and chilling. Read the complete article here.
Source: News.com
