EFF Marks 10th Anniversary of DMCA with Report on Law's Unintended Consequences

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: EFF Press <press () eff org>
Date: October 27, 2008 5:40:00 PM EDT
To: presslist () eff org
Subject: [E-B] EFF Marks 10th Anniversary of DMCA with Report on Law's  
Unintended	Consequences
Reply-To: press () eff org

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Monday, October 27, 2008

Contact:

Fred von Lohmann
  Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  fred () eff org
  +1 415 436-9333 x123 (office), +1 415 215-6087 (cell)

EFF Marks 10th Anniversary of DMCA with Report on Law's
Unintended Consequences

Ten-Year Legacy of Harm to Fair Use, Free Speech

San Francisco - Ten years ago Tuesday, the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law.  In a
report released to mark the anniversary, the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) documents the ways in which this
controversial law has harmed fair use, free speech,
scientific research, and legitimate competition.

"Unintended Consequences: Ten Years Under the DMCA" focuses
on the most notorious aspect of the law: its ban on
"circumventing" digital rights management (DRM) and "other
technical protection measures."  Instead of protecting
against copyright infringement, this ban has routinely been
used to stymie consumers, scientists, and small businesses.
"Unintended Consequences" collects reports of the law's
most egregious abuses over the last decade.  In 2003, for
example, Lexmark used the DMCA to block distribution of
chips that allow the refilling of laser toner cartridges.
In 2006, computer security researchers at Princeton delayed
disclosure of a dangerous hidden program in some Sony CDs
based on fears of DMCA liability.  Meanwhile, the DMCA has
not prevented digital piracy.  DRM systems are consistently
and routinely broken almost immediately upon their
introduction.

"Over the last ten years, the DMCA has done far more harm
to fair use, free speech, scientific research, and
competition than it has to digital piracy.  Measured from
the perspective of the public, it's been a decade of costs,
with no benefits," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property
Attorney Fred von Lohmann.  "The music industry has given
up on DRM, and Hollywood now relies on DRM principally to
stop innovation that it doesn't like.  It's time for
Congress to consider giving up on this failed experiment to
back up DRM systems with misguided laws."

For "Unintended Consequences: Ten Years Under the DMCA":
http://www.eff.org/wp/unintended-consequences-ten-years-under-dmca

For more on the DMCA:
http://www.eff.org/issues/dmca

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/10/27

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


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