Who Owns Your Digital Media?

Ren Bucholz writes "In what was designed to be a "safety valve," the Copyright Office is holding its tri-annual search for exemptions to the DMCA's prohibitions on circumventing access controls. The Electronic Frontier Foundation submitted comments last December that outlined four "classes of works" that should be exempt, including copy-protected CDs, region-coded DVDs, DVDs with unskippable promotional material, and public domain works that are only available on DVD. They are asking people to write in support of the four exemptions that they have proposed. The Copyright Office is only accepting comments until February 19th, so get on it!"

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Err? Shouldn't there be...

[The Pi-Guy]

DVDs which cannot be played on alternative systems? (For the purposes of compatibility)

Or maybe not. Oh yes. And this comment is ROT26 encrypted so if you read it you're violating said law. kthxbye

--NonToxic

Microsoft

[ciroknight]

Of course, who did you think owned it, yourself?

Come and get me.

[Stonent1]

I've got a blank CDR here. I'll keep it blank forever! It will be my only CD that no one but me has any rights to what-so-ever! Bwahahahah!

As for the others, anyone want any War3z copies AOL 6.0, 7.0 and 8.0?

Sorry folks, DeCSS is a criminals tool.

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of you people who use it ought to be serving life sentences in prison for using it too since three felonies (3 counts of DMCA violation) is three strikes. You people are criminals and support such monsters as Sklyarov, Felten, Corely, etc. so don't except any support on this one. The DMCA is here to stay and much more restrictive legislation is on it's way so get used to it. There is nothing you can do about it. This is a socialist country which means that anything which increases the scope of the government is the norm. Quit being a criminal and learn to obey the law and report criminal monsters like copyright violators, illegal gun owners, drug users, libertarians, people who quote the constitution etc to the authorities. People who do the above are terrorists. If you don't believe that the government doesn't consider them to be terrorists then why did THIS [leesburg2day.com] happen if they don't consider it terrorism?

Re:Two problems:

[Cyno01]

Have you ever seen an episode of The Simpsons on a p2p network with the commercials intact?

Yes, yes i have. In fact some have the commercials ffwd through, you get the lines and everything plus the guy backing it up when he goes too far. The worst by far was one (CABF19 - Treehouse of Horror XII - 85,452KB) that was from a digital video camera pointed at a tv playing a tape of the episode.

Re:More copy protection isn't the answer

[SoSueMe]

Someone will write an open source program to do it for them.

Will it do something about the problem or bitch about it for them?

Re:public domain audio and e-text

[SoSueMe]

Yes [pepysdiary.com].

Re:too little too late

[arubis]

Gee, that sounds great! All we need to do is go out and vote for the politicians that favor the citizenry over corporate cash!

So, uhh...

Who are they again?

Microsoft patents ones and zeros

[Anonymous Coward +1]

With all the copying going on, in this day of digital information wanting to be free, who is to say what's right or wrong? Digital information wants to be anthropomorphized, indeed.

Re:Write in favor of the other comments too!

[Anonymous Coward]

THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE WANTS TO SEE REAL EVIDENCE THAT NEAR-TERM HARM WILL OCCUR...

I cut myself on a "do not copy" warning label from my CD. Does that count?

Also let me take the time to mention that using too many caps is like yelling.

Go figure.

[vistic]

Superbowl fans were all busy watching the game, distracted momentarily from Slashdot.

This story appears and as of yet I don't see anyone saying: "IN SOVIET RUSSIA... Digital Media owns YOU!"

Coincidence? I think not, my friends....

The answer is easy. Jack Valentini

[Billly Gates]

I only bought the right to play it. What is wrong with you people!

Just like when you buy a car you only have the right to drive it. I really feel for those people losing their cars and going to jail for lifting up the hood and repairing them without going only to the car dealership or asking the car manufactors permission in writing. Cars are copyrighted right? Then they are not yours! We all know copyright holders have godlike and patent like powers so we should not even be debating this. Ask any lawyer from Hollywood or even experts like Senator Hollings. Anything otherwise would be bad for the economy and costs jobs and the whole American way of life.

When will you slashdotters relize that you only exist in life as a right to live granted by the government and all the corporations.
You should be on your knee's and begging Jack Valentini for forgivenss for such blasphemic thoughts.

Re:Who Owns Your Digital Media?

[Pofy]

> I see the media as only being a carrier for the
>work, much as I see a bag as a carrier for its
>contents.

Yeah, but it is the content you want/buy, otherwise you would go out and buy a blank CD, not a music CD.

>I still strongly adhere to the concept that I
>have purchased a copy of the work,

Yup, and thus you own that copy (just as you own a particular "copy" of a football if you buy it). You do NOT hold the copyright to the copy though. As such, you can do anything you want with your copy as long as it is not one of the things prevented by copyright. Rather simple really.

Here is My List

[NigelJohnstone]

As well as the 4 the EFF submitted, I would like to submit:

* The Flumtreble invented in 2007
* The worselhorn invented in 2020
* The Flangtrimble invented in 2066

If we don't get these exempted then they might never be invented because they would be illegal.
Thank God the copyright office is giving us this chance to protect future ideas!

Re:The answer is easy. Jack Valentini

[haeger]

There is however a real threat.

Buissnessplan [salon.com] here.

.haeger