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EFFector - Volume 17, Issue 17 - DMCA Reform Gains Momentum - Stand Up for the Public's Rights in Digital Media!

EFFECTOR

EFFector - Volume 17, Issue 17 - DMCA Reform Gains Momentum - Stand Up for the Public's Rights in Digital Media!

EFFector       Vol. 17, No. 17       May 11, 2004

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation     ISSN 1062-9424

In the 289th Issue of EFFector:

DMCA Reform Gains Momentum - Stand Up for the Public's Rights in Digital Media!

DMCA reform is on the move. Almost 30,000 EFF supporters sent letters to Congress in support of legislation that would amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and require record companies to label use-restricted CDs. Now, Congress is listening. On Wednesday, May 12th, a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on H.R. 107, also known as the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA).

This is the furthest that a DMCA reform bill has ever gotten in Congress. A favorable subcommittee hearing is necessary before the DMCRA is eligible for a vote in front of the House of Representatives. Send a letter urging your representative to co-sponsor the DMCRA and stand up for the public's rights to use digital media!

Make your voice heard with EFF's Action Center:
http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2901

Join EFF today:
https://secure.eff.org/

Extra: EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann will attend the hearing. Tune in on Wednesday to EFF's Deep Links weblog for his post-hearing notes and commentary:

EFF Seeks Writing Intern

We're looking for an intern who is interested in writing and blogging for the EFF website, which receives 1.6 million hits per day. This internship will offer a crash course in EFF's key issues, with an emphasis on how to get our message out to the media by translating complicated technical and legal issues into language that the public can understand. The Writing Intern will do research, draft website text, help prepare the weekly EFF newsletter (EFFector), write news alerts, and blog important issues. This is an ideal position for a journalism student interested in technology and public policy, or for a future media professional in the nonprofit sector. To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume and three writing samples (these can be long blog entries) by June 1. This is an unpaid, 3-month long, 20 hours/week internship beginning on June 15.

Send application materials to writingintern@eff.org We request that you send these materials in non-proprietary format, such as an ASCII text file.

miniLinks


miniLinks features noteworthy news items from around the Internet.

P2P Spoofing Patent Awarded to Two Academics
Of course, the record labels have been doing this for years, and legal fights may well ensue. May those battles be long and expensive:
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63384,00.html

Ohio Passes Paper Trail Requirement
Governor Bob Taft made Ohio the seventh state in the country to require a voter-verifiable paper audit trail for electronic voting terminals:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8616084.htm

Japanese Professor Arrested for Writing P2P Application
Isamu Kaneko, an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo, has been arrested under suspicion of "conspiracy to commit copyright violation" for authoring a file-sharing program called "Winny":
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1105174.htm

Panel Hears Testimony on E-Voting
The commission charged with putting the official stamp on federal standards for electronic voting machines heard testimony last week from both sides of the paper trail debate:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8596314.htm

DRM in the Copyright War - What's It Good For?
Yale's Ernest Miller on the multiple uses that the entertainment industry has for digital rights management - even though it doesn't really work:
http://www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/003559.html

CA County to Sue Secretary of State Over Voting Machines
Sadly, Riverside County chose to sue the state rather than comply with extra security requirements for the 2004 election:
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-machines5may05,1,1569551.story
(Registration unfortunately required.)

Used Video Game Shops Collecting Fingerprints
Laws designed to regulate pawn shops are now being used to keep tabs on people who sell used DVDs and video games:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/04/30/news_6094652.html

What the Music Industry (Still) Doesn't Get
Steven Levy on lawsuits, the iTunes Music Store, and how fans *really* want their music:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4891711/

Camcorder Obscura
Jon Routson makes movies about film screenings, but it looks like copyright law may soon swallow his little corner of the art world. This beautifully written article explains why:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/arts/design/06VIDE.html
(Registration unfortunately required.)

Open Source Book-Writing
Veteran journalist JD Lasica is writing a short history of the P2P wars called "Darknet" - and he's courageously putting the working draft online for others to review and improve:
http://www.socialtext.net/darknet/index.cgi?login=user2226

Staff Calendar

For a complete listing of EFF speaking engagements (with locations and times), please visit the full calendar.

Administrivia

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation
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Editor:
Donna Wentworth, Web Writer/Activist
  donna@eff.org

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