Senator to RIAA: no more carte blanche for you
Ars Technica Newsdesk
Posted 09/17/2003 @ 12:26 PM, by
Matt Woodward
Perhaps the
EFF's petition against the RIAA is having an effect already. Whether it is
or not, Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)
has apparently taken notice of the RIAA's unsavory legal tactics. (And guess
what? He does not like what he is seeing.) The Senator introduced legislation on
Tuesday that could throw a serious monkey wrench in the music industry's plans
to sue every file-sharing citizen out of existence. The bill addresses two major
issues in our digital world, the first and foremost being "Privacy".
From
Wired.com:
The legislation would require owners of digital media to file a John Doe lawsuit to obtain the identifying information of an Internet user, rather than simply requesting a subpoena.
Currently, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act permits copyright holders to subpoena an Internet service provider for the name and address of a person they believe is violating a copyright. The one-page subpoena request can be issued by a court clerk and doesn't require a judge's signature.
"There are no checks, no balances, and the alleged pirate has no opportunity to defend themselves," Brownback said when introducing the bill. "My colleagues, this issue is about privacy, not piracy.
"This will provide immediate privacy protections to Internet subscribers by forcing their accusers to appear publicly in a court of law, where those with illicit intentions will not tread, and provides the accused with due process required to properly defend themselves."
The other topic that the bill addresses is Digital Rights Management (DRM).
And surprisingly, this proposed legislation appears designed to keep the
consumer protected and informed. (Wired):
[T]he bill calls for a labeling system for all digital media protected by digital rights management, "so consumers will know what they are buying when they buy it," Brownback said.
Digital rights management, also called DRM, refers to technology measures that control how digital content is used and accessed.
The music industry has started selling copy-protected CDs without labeling the products as such, and some customers have had trouble playing these CDs on their computers. Plus,
music lovers have been unable to convert these music files to MP3s, a legal
action, Brownback said.
[editor's emphasis] It is a great thing to see that a Senator understands
that making your own MP3s for personal use is a perfectly legal action and the
ability to do so should not be unduly restricted. The Senate commerce committee
is holding a hearing today on "Consumer Privacy and Government Technology Mandates in the Digital Media Marketplace".
The panel will consist of members from the RIAA, MPAA, Verizon, SBC, Consumers
Union, and Dr. Edward Felton of
Princeton University. (The very same man who accepted the public challenge
to break the security system of the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) and
was then silenced by the
RIAA through the use of the DMCA.) Hopefully something good will come out of
this hearing.
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