Congressmen from California and Virginia have introduced a bill that proposes to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in order to loosen the increasingly harsh usage restrictions that are being applied to digital content.
As the Washington Post reports, Virginia Democratic Representative Rich Boucher—one of the Congressmen behind the bill—says the DMCA "dramatically tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the public's right to fair use." He adds, "Without a change in the law, individuals will be less willing to purchase digital media if their use of the media within the home is severely circumscribed and the manufacturers of equipment and software that enables circumvention for legitimate purposes will be reluctant to introduce the products into the market."
The bill, which is entitled titled Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship (or FAIR USE), is already being backed by the Consumer Electronics Association and "among others," according to the Washington Post.
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