Why is there so much apathy about the DMCA?

[Ignacio Upton]

While copyright abuse may not be THE biggest issue in our country, it is certainly one of the biggest. I post this thread earlier:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=74123&mesg_id=74123

...and unfortunately, I didn't get a single reply. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is only one of the most draconian laws passed in recent history. The implications of it mean that you technically don't even own your CDs or books, as you are breaking the law if you make any digital copies of them. It also means that you can't publicly discuss flaws in certain software (like Diebold) without being sued under the DMCA. Sadly, this issue generates little discussion, despite it being part of our journey toward erosion of our personal freedoms and liberties, both as consumers, and as entrepreneurs.

[Hippo_Tron]

1. Because the DMCA isn't really enforced

It's flawed legislation put in place to please the RIAA but the Justice Department doesn't really enforce it because they can't. If they actually started enforcing it, then I'd be concerned but I think there was a general consensus when it was passed that it wasn't to really be taken seriously.

[Ignacio Upton]

2. It's already being unfairly used

Suits by the RIAA, Microsoft, and Diebold are good examples of this. Copyright, as it stands today, has become counter-productive and is effectively stifling innovation and personal use of one's property (yes, those dusty CD's in my bedroom that I bought from Sam Goody and Borders are my f'in property, the RIAA is NOT my proverbial landlord!)

[ContraBass Black]

3. To everyone who gets DMCA takedown notices, including search engines,

It's dead serious, and always has been.

[Ignacio Upton]

8. Here are some examples of DMCA brownshirt suits:

http://www.mickeynews.com/News/DisplayPressRelease.asp_Q_id_E_1084Copyright

In 2000, a multi-industry group called the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) told a team of computer researchers from Princeton and Rice universities and Xerox Corp. that they would be sued under the DMCA if they delivered a certain paper at a conference. The paper outlined how the team had taken up a challenge by SDMI and cracked its digital watermarking technology in audio files. The SDMI, stung by the team's success, threatened the suit if the winning team published the report on how they had done it.

Similarly, Microsoft invoked the DMCA against the Web-geek forum Slashdot, which had published charges from people who believed Microsoft had made changes to a user-authorization security standard known as Kerberos. Kerberos is an open-source system, meaning it is not protected by copyright. But Microsoft argued that its implementation of Kerberos wasn't covered by the General Public Licence.

# Utah-based SCO Group, owner of copyrights on the Unix operating system, has launched a series of lawsuits against operating system rival Linux, claiming some of the Unix code had found its way into Linux. The suit against IBM Corp. alone is for $5 billion (US).

[Edweird]

4. DMCA sucks ,

but I would venture that most people don't feel it's effects yet. We can't even get congress to reign in cuckoobananas.

[Ignacio Upton]

5. And half of our party is bought and paid for by the RIAA

Hillary Rosen, former RIAA head, has appeared on MSNBC as a "Democratic Strategist." I'm sorry, but on the issue of copyright, I'm in alignment with the Cato Institute (which supports the complete repeal of the DMCA.)

[Edweird]

6. Money talks

maybe the new lobbying limitations will help.

[fujiyama]

7. One of Clinton's worst mistakes

and it passed with unanimous support I believe.

When it comes to technology, congress members are fucking stupid. The DMCA is used to do little more than stifle creativity and was nothing more than a suck up for big business. It's like the bankruptcy bill that way.

[Ignacio Upton]

9. Et tu, Feingold and Wellstone?

I hope they were absent for that vote. Anyway, hopefully with control of Congress, we can finally repeal it, or at least water it down so the RIAA/Microsoft/Diebold contingent can't fuck around with consumers. and competitors.

[fujiyama]

18. Unfortunately they voted for it as well

I should say it passed ALMOST unanimously. Judd Gregg didn't vote.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=105&session=2&vote=00137

[NashVegas]

10. Why Talk About DMCA and Legislation When We Can Talk About John Edwards' New Home?

Okay, it's not all entirely that.

DMCA talk calls for a different vocabulary - and often, a different way of even thinking - than most people have.

DMCA is also a tool of huge corporations that many feel powerless against and anyway, it's only entertainment, so who cares, right?

In a way, it's really moot, IMO. The entertainment industry is nothing but industry. It's a tool of society that has less cultural relevance with every piece of crap it spews out.

[Ignacio Upton]

13. Not just entertainment

Diebold and Microsoft have used it to sue people who act as whistle-blowers against their shitty software. By that logic, should GM, Ford or Toyota be able to sue me for trademark or copyright infringement if I publicly point out how certain parts of their cars won't adequately protect me in a car accident?

[redqueen]

11. I don't know that that represents apathy.

It's one thread, on one day.

Keep spreading the word. You might find there is more concern out there than you think.

[Ignacio Upton]

12. Sadly, I rarely see a DMCA/copyright-related thread on the blogosphere

Unless it has to do with a cease and desist or some other DMCA bullshit. DMCA has emboldened the private sector in the same way that the Patriot Act emboldened the federal government. The "Don't Tread on Me" spirit of the internet is being eroded, both by the DMCA, attacks on net neutrality, and government efforts to find out every website we've every searched!

[redqueen]

14. Did a search... and I see what you mean.

Not encouraging.

[Ignacio Upton]

15. The public domain itself is dying because of the DMCA

It won't be long before Fair Use itself becomes nullified.

[redqueen]

22. Well thank you for bringing this up.

This deserves much more attention... thanks for making me aware of the dearth of activism on the issue.

[Selatius]

16. The law was written by the RIAA to benefit the RIAA.

It is another example of prepackaged pieces of legislation written by the very same special interests that politicians were originally elected to police.

[Ignacio Upton]

17. The RIAA's latest anti-consumer legislation:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/14/84553/4557

They're trying to prevent people from recording songs broadcast over online radio programs or satellite radio programs.

[Initech]

19. Because it seems to be the only law that repuke business owners want to enforce.

Honestly, CDs went for over 20 years before this crap started happening. The Xerox has been around for longer, and people copy everything without paying royalties. Why does this have to apply to music and movies?

[Ignacio Upton]

20. Because the RIAA wants mo' $

What they are doing, with the DMCA, if effectively saying that you DON'T own your dusty old collection of CDs or DVDs, that in fact you are renting them. I honestly, would like to see the SCOTUS make a ruling saying something along those lines, as it would provoke a backlash not seen since Dred Scott.

[Initech]

21. Yeah, we REALLY need to redefine our copyright laws.

Our copyright laws are so fucked up where it is this - when you buy a CD (or a DVD, etc), you don't buy the song. You buy the disc with the song on it. So the copyrighted entity belongs to whoever originally wrote it, not the person who bought the disc. We need to redefine it so that it sets the owners of the disc apart from the owners of the copyright.

Honestly if I were running for Congress, my mission would be eliminating the DMCA.