[Ecommerce] FYI on yesterday hearing re HR107

[Manon Ress]

Like many people I could not get in the Hearing on HR 107
yesterday...Valenti's entourage or let's say his "protection" took over
the hearing room...  the testimonies are here:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/05122004hearing1265/hearing.ht=
m
**
The Honorable Rick Boucher, The Honorable John Doolittle, the Honorable
Allan Swift, Larry Lessig, Miriam Nisbet, Peter Jaszi, Chris Murray,
Gigi Sohn, and Robert Moore did a great job for fair use users!

I hope the webcast will be available soon because some of the questions and=
 answers were interesting.  The hearing lasted the entire day.

FYI: Techdaily story:

Intellectual Property
Copyright Bill Gains Steam With Nod Of Key Chairman
by Sarah Lai Stirland

     Intellectual property experts and industry clashed Wednesday in a Hous=
e subcommittee hearing that examined whether preventing digital piracy trum=
ps "fair use" rights to copyrighted materials that American consumers tradi=
tionally have enjoyed.
     Under consideration was a bill, H.R.107, sponsored by Rick Boucher, D-=
Va., and John Doolittle, R-Calif., that would amend the anti-circumvention =
provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to allow individu=
als to bypass copy-protection mechanisms in order to make backup copies of =
their products and for other purposes.
     Texas Republican Joe Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce=
 Committee, said he supports the bill, aiding its chances for progress. Bar=
ton told the subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection that h=
e sympathizes with the piracy problems of the entertainment industry but ad=
ded in a statement: "The balance between consumers' rights and producers' r=
ights over copyright material needs to be restored to ensure our society pr=
ogresses, not regresses. This legislation accomplishes that goal, and I sup=
port it."
     Under the law, anyone who bypasses copy-protection mechanisms is subje=
ct to criminal prosecution. The bill also would require entertainment compa=
nies to label copy-protected compact discs and allow exceptions to the circ=
umvention provisions for scientific research.
     Boucher, who has fought to preserve fair-use rights since Congress ena=
cted the DMCA in 1998, has said the bill would do nothing to change the cri=
minal penalties for piracy. But during the hearing Jack Valenti, chairman o=
f the Motion Picture Association of America, demonstrated how pirates could=
 abuse the technologies that enable fair use of digital content.
     Holding aloft a pirated copy of "The Runaway Jury," Valenti read a not=
ice that appears before the beginning of the movie, which he said an associ=
ate had bought in Washington's Chinatown district. The notice was run by so=
ftware maker 321 Studios, which claimed that the movie was a backup and tha=
t viewers should respect intellectual property rights.
     "You must ask yourself: What is the public interest in this bill?" Val=
enti said. "The central flaw and central point of this bill is that it lega=
lizes hacking. It allows you to make a copy, or many copies ... as pure and=
 pristine as the original."
     But Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig repeatedly argue=
d that the pressing question is whether legislative efforts to clamp down o=
n piracy give the entertainment industry the right to eliminate consumers' =
fair-use rights. He argued that the Audio Home Recording Act also specifica=
lly allows consumers to make personal copies.
     In his testimony, Doolittle held aloft his Apple iPod, a digital music=
 device, and said copy protection could prevent him from illegally copying =
music to the device.
     Former Rep. Alan Swift, who also testified, said he recently found tha=
t he could not make a digital copy of music he had bought, adding that indu=
stry was trying to capitalize on the situation by preventing legitimate per=
sonal copying.





--
Manon Anne Ress
Consumer Project on Technology
www.cptech.org
PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176