House Internet Caucus Co-Chmn. Boucher, as expected, introduced b...

2 respects: (1) It no longer would be illegal to circumvent copy-protection measures if user were engaged in fair use practices. (2) It no longer would be illegal to distribute circumvention technology if end user were seeking to practice fair use. DMCA has “dramatically tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the fair use rights of the users of copyrighted material,” Boucher said at news conference. Bill also would require music companies to label copy-protected CDs and would call on Congress to study issue. “We are not proposing to outlaw the introduction of copy-protected CDs,” Doolittle said: “We, however, want to ensure that if copy-protected CDs are introduced in larger volumes, consumers will know what they are buying.” Boucher and Doolittle said they were aware their bill had no chance of passage this Congress, but they instead hoped to set agenda for debate beginning in Jan. Bill has been promised by Boucher for nearly year. Public Knowledge Pres. Gigi Sohn and Legal Dir. John Mitchell wrote Boucher Thurs. praising bill, particularly copy-protected CD and circumvention provisions. American Library Assn. sent urgent alert to its members to call Capitol Hill in support of bill, calling it “a necessary first step to recognizing the rights of copyright users.” But Business Software Alliance Pres. Robert Holleyman, who has been active in working with IT community in combating other bills deemed threatening to fair use, raised concerns with both Boucher bill and similar fair use bill introduced Wed. by Rep. Lofgren (D- Cal.). “The DMCA provides important tools in the fight against piracy,” he said: “We fear that broad exemptions to the DMCA could undermine the core purpose of the Act -- that technological measures can have an important and proper role in curbing piracy.” On Lofgren’s bill (HR-5522), Holleyman said carving out exemptions in DMCA for fair use might be positive goal, but probably was more likely instead to “make it harder for software companies to take action against pirates.” He said HR-5522 would allow pirates “in every instance [to] be able to claim that their ‘intent’ in defeating technological protection measures was upright even if it resulted in mass infringement.” His criticism of Boucher’s bill was similar on circumvention, although Holleyman did say that the provision on CD labeling for copy- protected CDs “deserves careful consideration.” He said software industry had long history of comprehensive labeling on compatibility and use and “we think this practice has served our customers well.”