DMCA Draft Bill: Erratum and Dissent
Eric Bangeman claims that Cnet was in error when claiming that Rep. Lamar Smith was sponsoring a tougher new DMCA law. Instead, Bangeman claims that Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Jr. is behind the draft bill.
While this draft bill is certain to raise some eyebrows, Bangeman in particular sees it as a direct attack on electronic fair use activities:
[This] new bill is aimed at you and me. Industry hand-wringing to the contrary, casual file-sharing is not the problem the RIAA and MPAA make it out to be. Their claims of severe economic harm allegedly suffered at the hands of pirates don't stand up to close scrutiny. Yes, music and movie revenues have been down over the past few years, but there are simple explanations for that. In short, people don't want to pay ten bucks to see bad movies and spend US$15 on a CD full of lousy music. Curiously, the record labels are starting to emerge from their financial dry spell, as Big Four label EMI reported its first sales increase in several years last week. All it took was a change in strategy (e.g., digital music sales) to line up with consumer expectations. The television and movie industries look like they are finally starting to catch on as well.(Click Here For More)Piracy isn't the issue here. With the federal government's help, the labels and studios are aiming at is complete content lockdown.