The century long tradition of being able to read, borrow, and share books is now over according to the US Government - at least where digital books are concerned.
A new law, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (or DMCA), passed by congress and signed into law by president Clinton in 1998, threatens to take away all of these traditional rights.
The publisher, when selling a copyrighted work, can now surround that work with technology of their own design. The technology can prevent you from using the copyrighted work any way that they would prefer you not to. This technology layer basically becomes your judge, your jury, and your sentence, and there is no chance for appeal. If the technology is treating you unfairly, you have no recourse - technological devices do not obey Supreme Court rulings. This is a radical departure from previous interpretations of copyright law that allowed the courts to determine whether or not a use of a copyrighted work was infringing or not. This case-by-case analysis is important because full copies of copyrighted works are permissible in copyright law, for the purpose of keeping a backup, for example. Now, due to the DMCA, you will never see your day in court. If the device doesn't let you copy, then you're out of luck.
Using this law, publishers even claim that they can stop you completely from using a copyrighted work that you've purchased - if your "use" is blocked by their technology. (see http://www.opendvd.org - where movie studios claim that users of the Linux OS, despite having purchased DVD drives and movies in DVD format do not have the right to decode DVDs, since they are scrambled by the studio's technology)
It is as though the publishers surrounded your public library with a fence, then passed a law against climbing fences. Your library may be open to the public, but there is no way for you to lawfully use it. The publishers are claiming that the law doesn't remove your rights, it just lets them prohibit you from exercising them.
And what if you (or your son or daughter) figure out how to gain access to a work which you have purchased? What if you figure out how to play that DVD on an "unapproved" player? You might want to share this information with others so that they can play their DVD collection too! If you do, you could be fined $500,000 fine and imprisoned for 5 years.
In America, the instructions for building an Atomic Bomb are protected by the First Amendment. You can publish these without fear. But if you help your neighbor to play a DVD on an "unapproved" player, you lose your life savings and go to jail.
Using the DMCA, publishers can take away any freedoms you currently have with copyrighted works, without the inconvenience of having to answer to a federal judge.
This is not the first time the publishing industry has tried this. For example, the publishing industry has also tried to stop the sale of used books, and the borrowing of books at public libraries. But in America, our courts recognized these rights as fundamental parts of "ownership" and "freedom."
When the United States was formed, publishers lobbied for complete, total and absolute control of their published works. But our founding fathers were wiser than that. They chose a balance. They granted some rights to publishers - but they also limited these rights, limited how long they would last and left many more rights to the purchaser of the copyrighted work.
Specifically, the government gives "authors" a copyright. A copyright is government protection for selling copies of their work for a "limited time". But, after that time, a book becomes free for the public to use. (we call this "Public Domain") The DMCA lets publishers lock up content forever. Even after copyright has expired, technology can continue to deny the public access to the content. Also, copyright law only only allows the publishers to control their works until they are first sold. After sale, the publisher retains the right to prosecute copyright infringement, but not to impede other use or sale or lending.
Thanks to the deep pockets and heavy lobbying of the publishing industry,
this orignal concept has been expanded too far. It now includes not just
the authors, but also their publishers. The term of copyright has expanded
from its original 14 years to 70 years after the death of the author. For
most copyrighted works, this ensures that the work will be locked up long
after our deaths, and ensures that only the most obsolete information will
ever fall into the public domain. This is exactly the kind of situation
that the copyright system was created to avoid! The balance struck by the
founders in copyright law has been tampered with, and the public has not
been on the winning end of the bargain.
.
Let's restore some sanity to our copyright law:
Demand reasonable copyright terms from your representitives
Demand that the DMCA be repealed, or ammended so that it only applies to users who are actually infringing copyrights Concerned citizens in your area are working to accomplish these goals. For information about this action in Minnesota, see http://www.underwhelm.org/freedima/
You can also join our email mailing list by sending an email to DMCA-minnesota-subscribe@yahoogroups.com