Of course, none of this addresses Lochard’s key concerns that streaming piracy would increase due to a “devasting new trade in online piracy tools.” Diagnosis, Maintenance and Repair It’s extremely hard to detect this type of infringement and even harder to reach into people’s homes to prevent it. More than two decades of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions have been unable to stop that, at least as far as personal or ‘household’ piracy is concerned.Ī complex and diverse piracy ecosystem means that simple explanations can be restrictive but a key issue is obvious – pirates tend not to care too much about the law and if a circumvention device or piracy service is available, they will use it whether the DMCA outlaws it or not. In one way or another, all of these devices can already be programmed, reprogrammed, hacked or otherwise modified to receive or display infringing content. As Lochard rightly points out, this would include devices used extensively for digital entertainment such as smart TVs, tablets, streaming boxes, and game consoles. Cited ‘Threat Devices’ Are Already ThrivingĪs things stand the Freedom to Repair proposal relates to digital electronic equipment, dependent in whole (or in part) on attached or embedded digital electronics. The reasons for this are numerous but mostly center around the control of legal streaming content and the ease at which that control can be taken away by much easier solutions. The Copyright Alliance framing the proposed legislation as the legalization of piracy tools isn’t much of a surprise either.ĭespite the concern, it seems unlikely that these exceptions would deliver a nightmare piracy scenario, at least one that is more of a nightmare than the one currently underway, taking place under even tighter legislation. Precisely who the agenda smugglers are isn’t made clear but it’s not really unusual to see a filmmaker raising the alarm over perceived threats to legal streaming. He also suggests that the proposed solution is being used to “smuggle in other agendas”. Lochard says that the proposed Act would legalize a “vast new market” for digital piracy tools and as such the bill amounts to “pro-piracy legislation”. I would have thought Jones would have the back of artists and filmmakers like myself.” “But I’m also pretty disappointed he is sponsoring legislation that would undermine the legal and technological protections that make streaming films and entertainment possible. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) is a fresh, diverse voice in Congress and I am excited he is running for a new seat in the city,” actor, writer and producer Reggie Lochard wrote in The Hill this week. Of course, alarm bells are already being sounded by those who believe such changes will only herald a new wave of piracy, one that will prove even worse than the last, and the five or ten that preceded them, and those that predate the DMCA itself. If passed, the legislation would also permit the importation, manufacture and sale of technology to facilitate those three specific uses. To address the obvious anti-consumer issues caused by the latter, the proposed ‘ Freedom to Repair Act 2002‘ seeks to amend section 1201 of title 17 by allowing circumvention of technical protection systems when the goals are for diagnosis, maintenance and repair.

Some devices even carry these protection systems for the purpose of restricting the ability to repair. More importantly, these anti-circumvention provisions ( exceptions aside) not only prohibit circumvention of measures when piracy is the goal but also when citizens want to repair electronic devices they own.

However, these provisions actually prohibit the very first step toward potential piracy, since copying content behind a protection measure is not required for a finding of illegal circumvention under the DMCA.

When enacting these provisions, Congress understood that technological protection measures would support new ways of distributing copyrighted materials. Section 1201 also prohibits trafficking in technology or services that facilitate the circumvention of such systems. When technological systems are deployed by copyright holders (or on their behalf) to protect access to their copyrighted works, in most cases these systems cannot be circumvented without violating the DMCA. When Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998, section 1201 outlawed circumvention of technological protection measures controlling access to copyright works.

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