[DMCA-Activists] PCWorld - Digital Copyright Law Up for Challenge

[Seth Finkelstein]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=1093&u=/pcworld/20021206/tc_pcworld/107751&printer=1

Digital Copyright Law Up for Challenge
Fri Dec 6, 6:00 PM ET

Michelle Madigan, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON--As the deadline approaches for public comment on the
controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (news - web sites),
experts are offering advice on how to persuade the feds to allow
exemptions that change access controls on digital media.

The Copyright Office is accepting comments on the law, which makes it
illegal to copy digital entertainment and imposes restrictions that
some users say violate their fair-use rights. A comment form is
available online and must be submitted by December 18.

The office received 235 comments in 2000 during the first review of
the DMCA, says Rob Kasunic, a senior attorney in the Copyright
Office. Congress mandated a review process every three years upon
approving the law in 1998. However, only two of those hundreds of
comments in 2000 resulted in new exemptions, Kasunic says.

Previous Success

Seth Finkelstein, a computer programmer from Cambridge, Massachusetts,
wrote one of those successful proposals. He targeted Internet
filtering programs that contain secret blacklists of Web sites the
software intends to block. The federal law prohibits circumventing the
encryption that hides the banned sites, and his request allowed access
to the censorware blacklists.

Finkelstein says the Copyright Office is most likely to respond to
comments that cite specific lawsuits and applications. "I had an
extremely detailed and factual case," he says.

The law says an exemption from the DMCA must be based on proof that
users are "adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing
uses due to the prohibition on circumvention of measures that protect
access."

Finkelstein plans to apply for another exemption during this review,
and says his argument this time may be even stronger because he can
cite new cases.

"Litigation has exploded," he says. The Electronic Frontier
Foundation, an online civil liberties watchdog organization, will
review his proposal.

Companies that make Internet filtering programs were caught off guard
last time, but they will be watching the challenges in this review
period, Finkelstein says. He expects companies like SurfControl and
Websense to respond to the proposals during the second round of this
comment period, in January.

Comments Urged

Finkelstein encourages individuals and businesses to take advantage of
the opportunity to voice their concerns about DMCA provisions. He
offers this advice: "You can't argue ideology.  The Copyright Office
has said over and over that they don't want theoretical arguments." Be
specific and stick to the facts, he says.

Officials in the Copyright Office also urge people to follow the
format for comments. These public comments will be posted on its Web
site after the deadline. In January and February, the office will
accept comments that reply to the initial round of public input.

Based on the comments and their evidence, the Copyright Office will
provide suggestions to the librarian of Congress, who can accept or
reject the requests. Judgments are expected in October 2003.

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