House Subcommittee Hearing: H.R. 107, The Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2003 U.S. House of Representatives, The Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. Hearing on H.R. 107, The Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2003. May 12, 2004.

It doesn't appear that the webcast still works, but the prepared testimony is still there. Unfortunately, the actual testimony was much different (as is frequently the case). The most interesting discussion happened in the question and answer period.

The way I interpreted it, Jack Valenti's main point is that there is no software that will allow one and only one copy to be made of digital media; therefore, no copies should be allowable. He waived around a bootleg copy of a DVD he bought in DC to demonstrate the efficacy of the current law. Also, he said that it would be an economic disaster if the DMCA was weakened because then no other country would respect our copyright. Hm. Right.

Nisbet, Jaszi, and Lessig (among others) discussed in strong terms the harms done by the DMCA and the value of weakening it.  ¶ 4:02 PM| |cites (technorati) |