[FYI] Electronic Frontier Foundation Opposes Digital Lockdown

["Axel H Horns" <axel.h.horns@gmx.net>]

http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/states/20030414_eff_sdmca_pr.php

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For Immediate Release: Monday, April 14, 2003  

Electronic Frontier Foundation Opposes Digital Lockdown  

Some States Pass, Others Consider Copyright Legislation  

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release  

San Francisco, CA - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today 
released a detailed analysis of the dangers posed by digital 
copyright bills in individual states.  

The product of stealth lobbying efforts by the Motion Picture 
Association of America (MPAA), these new measures are aimed at 
criminalizing the possession of what the MPAA calls "unlawful 
communication and access devices," but which are so broad that they 
could ban critical security and privacy tools online as well as 
restrict what machines you can connect to the cable, satellite, and 
Internet lines in your home.  

Because the bills are more extreme versions of the nationwide Digital 
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), pundits refer to them as "super-
DMCA" legislation.  

Even before these activities crossed activists' radar, seven states 
(Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania and 
Wyoming) had already enacted them into law. Similar bills have been 
introduced and are currently pending in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, 
Massachusetts, Tennessee and Texas.  

"The 'super-DMCA' measures represent special interest legislation 
that dramatically expands the reach of the federal DMCA, which has 
already put fair use, innovation, free speech and competition in 
peril," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von 
Lohmann. "Communication service providers -- meaning ISPs, cable 
companies, and providers of digital entertainment services -- can use 
this legislation to restrict what you can connect to your Internet 
connection and cable or satellite television lines and can ban a 
variety of tools critical to protecting the anonymity and security of 
Internet users."  

EFF strongly opposes these state super-DMCA bills as unnecessary and 
overbroad. The proposed bills represent the worst kind of special 
interest legislation, sacrificing the public interest in favor of the 
self-serving interests of one industry.  

Links:

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/states/20030414_eff_sdmca_pr.php 

EFF analysis of state "super-DMCA" bills:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/states/200304_sdmca_eff_analysis.php

EFF state-level "Super DMCA" initiatives archive:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/states/

EFF white paper on unintended consequences of the DMCA:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20030102_dmca_unintended_consequences.html

Contact:

Fred von Lohmann
  Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  fred@eff.org
  +1 415 436-9333 x123 (office) 

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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