U.S. Senator Wayne Allard (R) is a former Colorado veterinarian, from a neighboring town, near where I live. It's his belief that elected officials should be citizen legislators. Allard spends a majority of his time in Colorado, which is good. Since 1991, Allard has held more than 600 town meetings across Colorado. During his time in the Senate, Allard has held a town meeting annually in each of Colorado's sixty-four counties, while maintaining a 99% voting record.
Along with many other government officials, I sent Sen. Allard a note describing my disdain for the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, or DMCA and it's chilling effect on technology.
|  Dear Mr. Bell:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns with me on this important issue.
In 1998 Congress passed the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), which, with few exceptions, made circumventing technological copyright-control measures illegal. Under this law, copyright owners have the sole authority to authorize a user to manipulate, deactivate, remove, decrypt or impair a technological measure. While courts have, to date, upheld these anti-circumvention provisions, I understand the growing concern among consumers that they may limit access to copyrighted material for lawful, personal use. It is important to note that while certain personal uses, such as making personal back-up copies of DVDs, are not expressly protected by statute, they are widely accepted and judicially sanctioned.
Since the enactment of DMCA, Congress has considered a variety of proposals that aim at increasing access to digitally-protected media, regulating disclosure of anti-piracy protections that would restrict consumer use of digital content and stiffening civil and criminal penalties for digital piracy. H.R. 107, the "Digital Media Consumers' Right to Know Act of 2003", would grant the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to define rules for audio CD labeling, thus giving consumers a clear understanding of CD playability (especially on computer hard drives) and recordability. H.R. 1066, the "Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2003", would amend the DCMA to allow circumvention of copyright encryption
technology to transmit a digital work in cases of non-infringing activities, such as personal archiving.
Technology is enabling access to greater content with greater flexibility. I am excited by the notion that fans of music, news, movies and other media will soon have access to virtually any material they want at any time. Likewise, the producers of movies and music are eager to find new
ways to deliver content to the consumer. It is essential that these technologies continue to develop. In numerous meetings with consumer advocates, entertainment companies and telecommunications executives it has been made abundantly clear to me that we are still in the very
formative stages of fully developing, integrating and utilizing the delivery of digital content to consumers. The protection of intellectual property rights and the sanctity of copyright protection is essential to the continued development of these new technologies.
I will continue to keep an open mind as these issues develop. My focus will continue to be on the protection of intellectual property and the long term benefits to consumers. Thank you for taking the time to write,
I look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Sincerely,
Wayne Allard
United States Senator
WA dm
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The other day, a member here said it best, he wanted for artists and the industries to get paid, but he has four computers and he doesn't think he needs to buy four licenses to use his product on them in his own house. Of course not, that's ridiculous, but like Allard says, that's the way it is right now!
Now, I didn't just fall off a turnip wagon and I know the Senator doesn't look forward to hearing from me again, this is a typical form letter. The key thing is, he says he is keeping an open mind and wishes to strike a balance.
Please, take a few minutes and visit this Electronic Frontier Foundation page. It's called the EFF Action Center. Learn about what is going on with the lobbies up in Washington. You can help sink the Pirate Act, force change with the DMCA Consumers Rights Act and more. Because each link has a letter you can send quickly to inform your representatives about how you feel.
Source: Crabby's Mail Bag
