I send a fair amount of letters to my House rep, Anna Eshoo, though the
EFF's Action Center. Eshoo represents California district 14, a.k.a. Silicon Valley.
Today, I got another one of these:
July 30, 2005
Dear Mr. Madsen,
Thank you for contacting me about H.R. 107, the Digital Media Consumer Rights Act of 2002.
H.R. 107 adds fair use protections to U.S. copyright law and the 1998
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The bill amends the DMCA to re-establish the so-called Betamax standard, allowing users to make additional copies of copyrighted material for home or personal use.
Currently, the DMCA prohibits the circumvention of technical protection measures guarding access to copyrighted work. Circumvention for the purpose of fair use would be permitted under H.R. 107.
H.R. 107 also amends provisions of the DMCA which prohibit the manufacture, distribution, or sale of technology which enable circumvention of digital protection measures. Under current law, trafficking in these devices is a crime if the technology is primarily designed to be used for copyright infringement. Finally, the bill also directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a regulation requiring that copy-protected CDs be properly labeled.
My first issue is this: I already know what the bill does. I did my homework, I decided whether or not I agreed with the EFF's stance before I sent my comments to Eshoo. Yet, here she goes, assuming that I have no idea what it was I wrote to her about.
This is not the first time she's done this. Probably half the time I get something back, it follows this pattern. I can only conclude that she either (a) does not agree with me about the issue, but is unwilling to stand up for and explain her position or (b) she has no idea what this legislation is about whatsoever.
Finally:
I look forward to working with my colleagues on a balanced approach to ensure the protection of consumers' fair use rights in the digital age.
At this point, I'm guessing it's option (a).
I've really had it with Eshoo. I cannot possibly imagine that she represents the typical view of the Silicon Valley in these matters. It's time someone challenged Eshoo in the primary and we had a better voice for district 14.
Too bad it won't happen.
Update [2005-8-9 1:12:53 by sjmadsen]: Fixed spelling of Rep. Eshoo's name in several places (thanks decafdyke)