Consumer Technology Bill of Rights?

thrilliams writes "The WSJ's Walt Mossberg has a story about DigitalConsumer.org, a new lobbying group that's pressing for a Consumer Technology Bill of Rights. It would aim to protect the right to time shift and space shift media, make backups, allow for platform independence and translation between formats. Given the current DCMA/SSSCA climate, even these basic rights seem ambitious, but check them out and do what you can to support this nascent effort." There's also an NYT article on the SSSCA debate, with an unintentionally humorous quote from the head of News Corporation (which owns 20th Century Fox): "without copyright protection we will change our business models".

Bill of Rights

[Alien54]

Don't know if this will get Slashed, so here it is:

Bill of Rights, as found at http://www.digitalconsumer.org/bill.html [digitalconsumer.org]

1. Users have the right to "time-shift" content that they have legally acquired.

This gives you the right to record video or audio for later viewing or listening. For example, you can use a VCR to record a TV show and play it back later.

2. Users have the right to "space-shift" content that they have legally acquired.

This gives you the right to use your content in different places (as long as each use is personal and non-commercial). For example, you can copy a CD to a portable music player so that you can listen to the songs while you're jogging.

3. Users have the right to make backup copies of their content.

This gives you the right to make archival copies to be used in the event that your original copies are destroyed.

4. Users have the right to use legally acquired content on the platform of their choice.

This gives you the right to listen to music on your Rio, to watch TV on your iMac, and to view DVDs on your Linux computer.

5. Users have the right to translate legally acquired content into comparable formats.

This gives you the right to modify content in order to make it more usable. For example, a blind person can modify an electronic book so that the content can be read out loud.

6. Users have the right to use technology in order to achieve the rights previously mentioned.

This last right guarantees your ability to exercise your other rights. Certain recent copyright laws have paradoxical loopholes that claim to grant certain rights but then criminalize all technologies that could allow you to exercise those rights. In contrast, this Bill of Rights states that no technological barriers can deprive you of your other fair use rights.

Good job in aiming this at the general public

[Blue23]

Reading the story and the points, they seem very much aimed at getting the general public interested, as opposed to the smaller band of people currently involved who understand the effects of the DMCA and SSSCA. The language they use and what they are lobbying for are specifically things that consumers understand and want, as opposed to the more esoteric and ideal-oriented problems most of the /. crowd can understand and has been rallying against.

=Blue(23)

Amen, Brother! (DigitalConsumer.org)

[eples]

Joe Kraus, founder of Excite and co-founder of DigitalConsumer.org, is scheduled to testify before Congress today - his testimony is online [digitalconsumer.org] and is excellent.

DigitalConsumer.org's making it easy....

[Jason Levine]

To contact your Representative and Senator. Go to http://www.digitalconsumer.org/fax.html [digitalconsumer.org] and fill out your name, e-mail address, and Zip code. Then they'll fax a pre-made letter (which you can alter if you'd like) to your two Senators and your Representative (based on your Zip code). Very important since many people are concerned about this stuff, but balk when it's time to actually write and send a letter.

Re:Bill of Rights

[Steve525]

It seems that this "Bill of Rights" doesn't include anything which isn't already covered by "fair-use" doctrine. This isn't a bad thing. Indeed, in the current climate we need to remind our lawmakers that they shouldn't be giving the media producers the ability to walk all over our fair use rights.

I'm not opposed to the media producers trying to copy protect their content. I'm not even necessarily opposed to legislation that might help them do it. (such as a modified DMCA- the SSSCA on the other hand is pure nonsense). However, I am opposed to the fact that they've been able to tie copy protection in with fair-use steeling mechanisms, effectively killing the ability to exercise fair-use.

Strangely enough, if our legal system worked the way it is supposed to, we wouldn't need to fight to keep fair use alive. Hopefully this example will explain why I say this...

If I currently wanted to sell a way to rip DVD's I could claim my product has fair use reasons for existing. (such as back-ups and platform shifting). If the media producers gave us the ability exercise as much fair use as possible while maintaining copy protection, there would go my defense. The media producers would be left with a choice. If they give consumers their rights, the law will protect their copy protection. If they stomp all over fair use, they're on their own.

However, in the current climate, copy protection trumps fair use. The media producers get to win it all. So, perhaps we do need this "Bill of Rights"