[Ecommerce] Europe: All Party Parl. Internet Group public inquiry into DRM

[Manon Ress]

http://www.apig.org.uk/current-activities/inquiry-into-digital-rights-
management.html

The "All Party Parliamentary Internet Group" (APIG)announceed a
public inquiry into the issues surrounding DRM. According to APIG
Chairman Derek Wyatt MP, the inquiry =93will seek to establish how
consumers, artists and the distribution companies should be protected
in a continually evolving market place.=94

So far, according to APIG , in the discussion around DRM mostly
attention is paid to the so-called consumer versus publisher debate.
The inquiring will pay attention to a broader scope of topics.
Included topics are:

- Whether DRM distorts traditional tradeoffs in copyright law;
- Whether new types of content sharing license (such as Creative
Commons or Copyleft) need legislation changes to be effective;
- How copyright deposit libraries should deal with DRM issues;
- How consumers should be protected when DRM systems are discontinued;
- To what extent DRM systems should be forced to make exceptions for
the partially sighted and people with other disabilities;
- What legal protections DRM systems should have from those who wish
to circumvent them;
- Whether DRM systems can have unintended consequences on computer
functionality;
- The role of the UK Parliament in influencing the global agenda for
this type of technical issue.

Written evidence by interested parties has to be submitted before
21st December 2005.  Written evidence should be submitted to
admin@apig.org.uk. APIG may, at its discretion, ask for oral evidence
from witnesses in January 2006 at the Houses of Parliament.

APIG DRM Inquiry: Guidelines for Witnesses

The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group announced its inquiry into
the "Digital Rights Management" on November 15th 2005. The inquiry is
anxious to receive as wide a range of submissions as possible.


************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology
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Consumer Project on Technology
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Tel: +41 22 791 6727

Consumer Project on Technology
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