SIRA deadline extended
p2p news / p2pnet: The deadline for SIRA (Section 115 Reform Act ) has been extended ’til tomorrow, so there’s still time – just – for Americans to get in touch with their political representatives to tell them to stop it. Dead.
"By smuggling this language into the Copyright Act, the copyright industries are stacking the deck for future fights against other digital technologies that depend on making incidental copies," says the EFF’s (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Fred von Lohmann in Deep Links.
"Just think of all the incidental copies that litter your computer today – do you have a license for every copy in your browser’s cache?"
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property was planning on marking up and expediting the not-yet-introduced SIRA today.,
Why the rush? "Because otherwise someone might notice that the bill represents an unholy alliance between the major music service providers (AOL, Yahoo, Apple, Real Networks, etc.) and music publishing industry," says von Lohmann.
"If the bill passes, they win, but fair use loses."
SIRA’s main aim is clearing the way for online music services by revising the current mechanical compulsory license set out in Section 115 of the Copyright Act to accommodate "full downloads, limited downloads, and interactive streams," he says, going on:
"So far so good, but the devil is in the details. This license specifically includes and treats as license-able ‘incidental reproductions…including cached, network, and RAM buffer reproductions."
When courts look at how copyright should apply to new digital technologies, "they often have few judicial precedents for guidance and thus they turn to the Copyright Act itself for clues about how Congress views similar issues. Incidental copies made in the course of otherwise lawful activities should be treated either as outside the scope of a copyright holder’s rights or as a fair use (even the Copyright Office agrees on the fair use point)," he states.
"But you can be sure that the copyright industries will use SIRA as a precedent to the contrary in future fights.
"And that’s not the only dangerous, subtle change that SIRA would effect. By treating digital transmissions as ‘distributions’ under the Copyright Act, SIRA would bolster arguments that the record industry is making in its case against XM Radio. What’s more, the act creates a second, royalty-free compulsory license that applies to incidental copies for noninteractive streaming, subject to an important condition: the music service may not take "affirmative steps to authorize, enable, cause, or induce the making of reproductions of music works by or for end-users." Like the PERFORM Act, this would erode lawful home recording."
Acting through their representatives in the Digital Media Association (DiMA), major music service providers are supporting this bill because it helps clear the licensing thicket for their current services. Says von Lohmann, urging people to contact their members of Congress before it’s too late.
Digg this story.
Also See:
stop it – Help kill SIRA, June , 2006
Deep Links – Season of Bad Laws, Part 4: Music Services Sell Out Fair Use, June 4, 2006
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