Courtney Duffy, our Robert W. Deutsch Arts & Technology Policy Fellow, co-wrote an op-ed on 1201 reform with Fractured Atlas member Gordon Quinn of Kartemquin Films.
Gordon recently joined Courtney on Capitol Hill to advocate Congress on this issue, which you can read more about here. Below is an excerpt from their article, which appeared in Vice/Motherboard.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law by President Clinton in 1998 as an attempt to update copyright law in accordance with the changing technology of the times. Part of the legislation, Section 1201, makes it illegal to break digital locks placed on copyrighted material, even if the intended use of the work is legal.
Starting to see some red flags?
As a filmmaker who regularly incorporates copyrighted material into my documentaries, I sure do. Filmmakers and authors have long held the right to make fair use of copyrighted material, transforming it for uses like criticism and commentary, making arguments, and providing historical context. But the DMCA made it illegal — and, in some cases, a crime — to access this content by breaking encryption. As a result, the DMCA inadvertently chills fair use and other lawful activities that are central to free expression in a democracy and the livelihoods of other filmmakers like me. In a democracy, we cannot keep culture locked up.
Read the Vice/Motherboard op-ed in full here: The DMCA is Broken for Filmmakers Like Me.
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