[Ecommerce] FYI on yesterday hearing re HR107

[Jeff Williams]

Manon and all,

  Luckily one of our members was able to attend.  It is my understanding
that good ole Jack's boy's were pretty much in control of the show..

  However our members have taken a strong stance with their
congressmen and senators regarding this particular nasty piece
of proposed legislation.  It is my guess that if any of them in
in some of the 13 critical states districts will find it difficult to
be re-elected should they vote in favor of this if it comes to
the floor...

Manon Ress wrote:

> 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.=
htm
> **
> 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 a=
nd 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 Ho=
use subcommittee hearing that examined whether preventing digital piracy tr=
umps "fair use" rights to copyrighted materials that American consumers tra=
ditionally 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-circumventio=
n provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to allow indivi=
duals to bypass copy-protection mechanisms in order to make backup copies o=
f their products and for other purposes.
>      Texas Republican Joe Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commer=
ce Committee, said he supports the bill, aiding its chances for progress. B=
arton told the subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection that=
 he sympathizes with the piracy problems of the entertainment industry but =
added in a statement: "The balance between consumers' rights and producers'=
 rights over copyright material needs to be restored to ensure our society =
progresses, not regresses. This legislation accomplishes that goal, and I s=
upport it."
>      Under the law, anyone who bypasses copy-protection mechanisms is sub=
ject to criminal prosecution. The bill also would require entertainment com=
panies to label copy-protected compact discs and allow exceptions to the ci=
rcumvention provisions for scientific research.
>      Boucher, who has fought to preserve fair-use rights since Congress e=
nacted the DMCA in 1998, has said the bill would do nothing to change the c=
riminal penalties for piracy. But during the hearing Jack Valenti, chairman=
 of the Motion Picture Association of America, demonstrated how pirates cou=
ld abuse the technologies that enable fair use of digital content.
>      Holding aloft a pirated copy of "The Runaway Jury," Valenti read a n=
otice that appears before the beginning of the movie, which he said an asso=
ciate had bought in Washington's Chinatown district. The notice was run by =
software maker 321 Studios, which claimed that the movie was a backup and t=
hat viewers should respect intellectual property rights.
>      "You must ask yourself: What is the public interest in this bill?" V=
alenti said. "The central flaw and central point of this bill is that it le=
galizes hacking. It allows you to make a copy, or many copies ... as pure a=
nd pristine as the original."
>      But Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig repeatedly arg=
ued that the pressing question is whether legislative efforts to clamp down=
 on piracy give the entertainment industry the right to eliminate consumers=
' fair-use rights. He argued that the Audio Home Recording Act also specifi=
cally allows consumers to make personal copies.
>      In his testimony, Doolittle held aloft his Apple iPod, a digital mus=
ic device, and said copy protection could prevent him from illegally copyin=
g music to the device.
>      Former Rep. Alan Swift, who also testified, said he recently found t=
hat he could not make a digital copy of music he had bought, adding that in=
dustry was trying to capitalize on the situation by preventing legitimate p=
ersonal 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
>
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Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
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