Hollywood should not decide our copyright laws

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/21/hollywood-
should-not-decide-our-copyright-laws/

By Derek Khanna, Published: May 21, 2013 at 11:36 am

Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee,
has vowed to conduct a comprehensive review of our nation�s copyright laws
to determine whether they are �still working in a digital age.� That�s a
long overdue task. But there�s a danger that the process will be dominated
by a handful of special interest groups that have long been reflexively
hostile to technological progress.

Last year�s defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) caused industry
groups to intensify their lobbying efforts. And they haven�t been subtle
about it. In the wake of the SOPA defeat, Motion Picture Association of
America chairman Christopher Dodd warned legislators: �Don�t ask me to
write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don�t
pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.�

Goodlatte was one of the founders of the Internet Caucus back when
Netscape and AOL were leading the country onto the information
superhighway. With vision and backbone, he can modernize the law and end
the grip that select special interests have on this highly specialized
area of the law. If our legislators are serious about economic growth �
this is long overdue. If he does so, he will have important allies. Thanks
to the invention of the Internet and other modern technologies, copyright
law is no longer just the domain of the movie and record industry.

The last major revision to copyright law was the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA), passed in 1998. That was three years before the
iPod, six years before Google Books and nine years before the Kindle.

Thanks to heavy lobbying from established industries, the DMCA restricts
entire classes of technology and hampers innovative products and services
from being offered to the public.

For example, some cellphone owners would like to unlock their phones after
their service contracts have expired. This practice is legal in other
countries, allowing for more intense market competition, as consumers can
switch providers without buying a new phone. But under the DMCA, unlocking
�for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain� may be
punishable by five years in prison on the first offense.

The DMCA empowers the Library of Congress to grant exemptions, which must
be renewed every three years. Unfortunately, the Library�s decisions have
been all over the map. In the last six years, cellphone unlocking was
legal.

In the current cycle, which lasts until 2015, unlocking will be banned.

Last year, jail-breaking your iOS device in order to run software not
authorized by Apple was illegal. Now it�s legal � but only for iPhones,
not iPads, and only until 2015.

Why do we let the Librarian of Congress decide which uses of technology
are legal? Congress should permanently legalize cellphone unlocking,
jailbreaking, and other uses of digital devices that do not infringe
copyrights (as Lofgren�s introduced legislation would do).

Of course, the content industry will oppose these kinds of reforms. They
have a long history of opposing innovation and blocking new technologies.

In the early 1980s, they fought to ban the VCR, which they saw as a
competitive threat. Jack Valenti, the long-serving president of the MPAA,
argued that �the VCR is to the American film producer and the American
public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.� Content went
after the digital audio tape, the first iPod (the Rio), the first DVR
(ReplayTV) [this is just a small sample]. We shouldn�t expect Hollywood to
adopt a reasonable posture today.

So in its deliberations, Goodlatte�s committee should ensure that
Hollywood isn�t the only voice at the table. Both content creators and
innovators desperately want to see copyright reform.

Brad Burnham, a principal at Union Square Ventures, has said that he
avoids investing in companies related to the music industry because of the
copyright risks. Congress should consider whether copyright law is
chilling innovation in media technologies.

Hank Shocklee of Public Enemy, who makes a living producing copyrighted
music, has spoken on how copyright has stifled their artistic expression
and innovation � even changing the composition of their music from album
to album as case law has changed. Congress should examine whether
copyright law is hampering the creation of certain types of music through
a more clear and effective policy of fair use.

Edward Felten, a computer science professor at Princeton, was once blocked
from publishing his computer security research due to a legal threat based
on the DMCA. Congress should study how to reform the DMCA to make it more
hospitable to scientific research.

Pandora has argued that current copyright laws put it at a competitive
disadvantage compared to terrestrial and satellite radio. Congress should
evaluate this issue.

We can craft a system of copyright that compensates rights holders and
incentivizes innovation for start-ups and new artists. It is not an either
or proposition. But we�ll only get a balanced copyright system if Congress
hears from a broad range of voices. It can�t just be special interests
controlling the debate, writing the amendments in backrooms, and writing
big checks to members of Congress.

Derek Khanna is a Yale Law Fellow with the Information Society Project. He
was previously a House and Senate staffer.

--
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America.

Eric Holder, racist black murdering United States Attorney General, still
has his job.

Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed
felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.

Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptness.

Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases
insurance premiums 200% and leaves millions without health care.

Obama helped bankrupt Illinois. Democrat run Chicago closes 54 public
schools.

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