Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act goes before Congress

June 24, 2004

An effort is under way to get a stalled piece of legislation passed that would give consumers the right to circumvent copy-protection in order to make copies of CD/DVDs for personal use. The bill faces major opposition from entertainment companies (what a suprise!).

The Personal Technology Freedom Coalition has kicked an effort to push the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act through Congress. The legislation was introduced in January 2003 by Representative Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat. It would allow consumers to break copy controls to do such things as make personal copies of compact discs or movies. Supporters say the bill is necessary to protect consumers' so-called fair-use rights to make personal copies, which the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) curtails.

The Personal Technology Freedom Coalition kicked off its campaign Tuesday with a Capitol Hill press conference and support from more than two dozen organizations and companies. Supporters range from the United States Student Association and Consumers Union to tech giants Intel, Sun Microsystems, and Gateway. Four major telecommunications carriers and ISPs, including Verizon and BellSouth, also joined the coalition.

You can read the entire article here. Time for all of us in the U.S.A. to write, phone, fax or email our representitives in support of the passage of this legislation. Finally, some semblance of sanity! 🙂

Source: PC World