DMCA exemption hearings “theater of the absurd”
Ars Technica has a great piece on the wrap-up of the DMCA exemption hearings, which occur every three years to allow interest groups to argue for cases in which it should be legal to circumvent encryption. Apparently the hearings were especially entertaining this year.
For example, this year the EFF is trying to get an exemption for all university professors to circumvent DVD DRM to use film clips in their classrooms. The MPAA’s response? Professors should point a camcorder at the screen to record the film clips they want. (Hey, it works for movie theater pirates.)
This led [one EFF attorney] to say, "If camcording can produce high-quality copies, why does the motion picture industry bother using CSS? Why does the industry support the DMCA, and why are we in this hearing? We should all go across the street together and ask Congress to repeal the DMCA because it is completely irrelevant."
Another exemption the EFF was looking for was cell phone unlocking (which was granted at the last hearing, but exemptions must be renewed at each hearing to remain in force). The wireless industry is still opposed, of course.
Copyright attorney Wendy Seltzer described the meetings as “a perfect theater of the absurd,” pointing out that even if exemptions were authorized, the tools needed to exercise those rights are still prohibited. “Likewise, we all ignore the ready availability of DeCSS and the near-instant posting of DRM-free versions of anything issued in ‘protected’ format."
The exemption process will go on for another few months, and any exemptions the Librarian of Congress grants will take effect on October 28th and last for three years.
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