HR ___, the Digital Choice and Freedom Act of 2002.
Sponsor: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).
Date: October 2, 2002.
Source: Office of Rep. Lofgren.		  
 

H.R. ________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
UNITED STATES

AN ACT

To safeguard the rights and expectations of consumers who lawfully obtain digital entertainment.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE

This Act may be cited as the “Digital Choice and Freedom Act of 2002.”

SEC. 2. FINDINGS

(1) The law of copyright is often described as a “difficult balance between the interests of authors ... in the control and exploitation of their writings ... on the one hand, and society’s competing interest in the free flow of ideas, information, and commerce on the other hand.” Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417, 429 (1984).

(2) Copyright seeks to encourage and reward creative efforts by securing a fair return for an author’s labor.  Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken, 422 U.S. 151, 156 (1975).  At the same time, “[f]rom the infancy of copyright protection, some opportunity for fair use of copyrighted materials has been thought necessary to fulfill copyright’s very purpose, ‘[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts . . . .’”  Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 575 (1994). 

(3) “[P]rivate motivation must ultimately serve the cause of promoting broad public availability of literature, music, and the other arts. . . . When technological change has rendered its literal terms ambiguous, the Copyright Act must be construed in light of this basic purpose.”  Twentieth Century Music Corp., 422 U.S. at 156.

(4) Advances in technology have often prompted changes to the copyright laws to maintain the balance.  For example, the development of player pianos preceded the enactment of the Copyright Act of 1909. The development of cable television prompted complex reforms to section 111 of Title 17.  Sony, 464 U.S. at 430-31.

(5) The development of digital technology and the rise of the Internet have once again altered the balance.  On the one hand, digital technology threatens the rights of copyright holders.  Perfect digital copies of songs and movies can be publicly transmitted without authorization to thousands of people at little or no cost.  On the other hand, technological control measures give copyright holders the capacity to limit non-public performances and threaten society’s interests in the free flow of ideas, information and commerce.

(6) The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) was enacted as an attempt to safeguard the traditional balance in the face of these new challenges.  It gave copyright holders the ability to fight digital piracy by employing technical restrictions that prevent unlawful access and copying. In practice, however, the DMCA also endangered the rights and expectations of legitimate consumers.

(7) Contrary to the intent of Congress, Section 1201 has been interpreted to prohibit all users – even lawful ones – from circumventing technical restrictions for any reason.  As a result, the lawful consumer cannot legally circumvent technological restrictions, even if he or she is simply trying to exercise a fair use or to utilize the work on a different digital media device. See, e.g., Universal City Studios, Inc. v Reimerdes, 111 F.Supp.2d 294, 321-24 (S.D.N.Y. 2000) (DMCA failed to give consumers the technical means to make fair uses of encrypted copyrighted works).

(8) The authors of the DMCA never intended to create such a dramatic shift in the balance.  As the House Judiciary Report accompanying the DMCA stated: “[A]n individual [should] not be able to circumvent in order to gain unauthorized access to a work, but [should] be able to do so in order to make fair use of a work which he or she has acquired lawfully.” House Report 105-551, Part I, Section-by-Section Analysis of Section 1201(a)(1) (emphasis added).

(9) It is now necessary to restore the traditional balance between copyright holders and society, as intended by the 105th Congress. Copyright laws in the digital age must prevent and punish digital pirates without treating every consumer as one.

SEC. 3. PROTECTING FAIR USE AND CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

(a) The first sentence of section 107, Title 17, United States Code, is amended by inserting after “or by any other means specified in that section,” the following: “and by analog or digital transmissions,”; and

(b) Title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding after section 122 the following:

SEC. 4. DIGITAL FIRST SALE

Section 109 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

SEC. 5. PERMISSIBLE CIRCUMVENTION TO ENABLE FAIR USE AND CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS

Section 1201 of Title 17, United States Code, is amended as follows:

(a) by redesignating paragraphs (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j) and (k) as paragraphs (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k) and (l); and

(b) by adding after paragraph (b) the following: