Will Congress Circumvent the DMCA?
by Richard Epstein on 01/05/2006
2 Pages
Synopsis:
One constant theme of the consumer rights movement is that firms should make full disclosure of the terms on which they sell their wares. That theme is central to understanding H.R. 1201, the “Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act of 2005.”
The problem is that H.R. 1201 itself doesn’t engage in full disclosure when it claims to address “mislabeled copy-protected music” and “other purposes.” It turns out that those unnamed purposes are no small add-on, but could eviscerate the already inadequate protection that federal law provides against copyright piracy.
In this IPI Ideas publication, Richard Epstein points out the hidden dangers in H.R. 1201, and suggests how its sponsors should fully disclose the bill’s effects if they plan to promote it in 2006.
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