The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Helping or Hurting

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was implemented by Congress in 1998. It was enacted in an effort to further the World Intellectual Property Organization’s goal to protect information and prevent piracy of any kind. The DMCA’s main purpose was to protect the digital property of copyright holders. This goal is extensively outlined in Section 1201. It was written specifically to ban both acts of circumvention and tools that can potentially be used to promote circumvention. It is this Section 1201 that I have a big problem with. It has stifled meaningful research, infringed on fair use, and has been manipulated by major corporations to suppress competition and innovation.

In the past, the federal government has been trying to crack down on “piracy” by catching and convicting criminals. However, this method is slow and tedious, and it often does not provide results. Realizing this, Congress implemented a new policy that takes away any and all tools that could contribute to copyright infringement; thus, hitting piracy at the source. During July 2001, Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested for designing a program that took e-books from the in

It is not my intention to say that the DMCA and its Section 1201 are a waste of paper, but I do contend that it should be revised and rewritten with the wellbeing of the scientific community in mind. There needs to be exceptions written into the fine lines. Some of these exceptions should include a fair use clause for the general public and also scientific research clause so that both American and foreign scientist alike do not feel threatened or alienated by our laws. It is the public’s right to ascertain as to which software is reliable and worth purchasing. It is our duty as educated people to question the legitimacy of other’s work. Without a change in Section 1201, this will not be possible.

The DMCA’s powers are being used inappropriately by big businesses. Notice that ninety percent of ALL lawsuits regarding DMCA are major corporations like Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and Sony. For years now, they have been suing smaller companies and organizations and even single persons. Consider the following example of the music industry: Companies like Sony and Memorex have already circulated millions of copy-protected CD’s. If it is illegal to create software that will decrypt new formats of these audio compact disks, it will be the end of MP3’s. This new software would qualify as a “circumvention device” and therefore be dubbed illegal. If people would want a backup copy of their music, they will have to go out and buy another. This will disappoint the millions of Americans that have already purchased MP3 players, as it wouldn’t be possible to mix and match music onto other forms of media. By implementing copy protected CD’s, companies like Sony force the public to purchase more copies of their music and sue to make up for damages in lost profits. One thing that I find disturbing about Sony is that they equip their car stereo decks with memory stick slots and internal hard drives. What would the use of this technology be anymore? It sounds like they encourage yet discourage the practice of piracy at the same time.

Big businesses stretch and a

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