Washington, DC – Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) today introduced legislation designed to protect consumer’s ability to enjoy digital copyrighted material.  Lofgren’s bill, the “Digital Choice and Freedom Act of 2002,” gives lawful consumers the ability to make personal uses of digital entertainment such as music, movies, and books.  In addition, the bill recognizes that digital piracy will never be truly solved until consumers are given an affordable, reliable, legitimate and secure alternative.

Specifically, the proposed legislation will:

• Allow lawful consumers to make backup copies and display digital works on preferred digital media devices.
• Protect lawful consumers by prohibiting shrink-wrap licenses that limit their rights and expectations.
• Clarify that lawful consumers can sell or give away their copies of digital works, just like they can with traditional hard media.
• Protect lawful consumers by permitting them to bypass technical measures that impede their rights and expectations.
• Provide flexibility for content owners to develop new and innovative ways to protect their content and enable lawful uses.

A lot of complaints have been made about the CBDTPA, in particular that the Act may be too broad and place too much restriction on the rights of consumers. A new bill has been proposed to Congress as an alternative. While I have not seen the text of the entire bill (nor, I suspect, could I read the legalese all that well), if it truly offers the kind of protections listed above, it may well be worth looking into
11:19:13 PM  pluck a string []