Η Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff) formally requested by a federal appeals court to decriminalize certain provisions of the Copyright Act that uses the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The EFF says these provisions violate the First Amendment (Right to Free Speech).
In particular, the EFF refers to Section 1201 of the DMCA, which currently makes software infringement illegal, and restricts access to legally purchased materials because they are copyrighted. In essence, the EFF believes that this section places severe restrictions and the fear of prosecution on individuals who wish to speak openly or have access to details of legally purchased software.
Section 1201 of the DMCA was originally intended to protect artists and creative content, such as songa. However, the same article has been used to restrict the world's ability to access, use, or even talk about copyrighted material.
"Of course the EFF wants to deal with the growing number of threats to the movement."Right to repair".
The law, as it stands at the moment, makes it a crime to create or share tools or even videos about copyrighted products or software. Simply put, even discussing or disassembling a legally purchased material could be a criminal offense under DMCA Section 1201, said EFF Kit Walsh, Head of Legal, explaining the need to repeal the provision:
"Article 1201 makes it a federal crime for our clients, and others, to exercise their right to free expression by participating in research, creating software and publishing their work. "This creates a censorship regime under the pretext of copyright law that cannot exist with the First Amendment."
Of course, in order for the EFF to change the status quo, it will have to go through a long and costly process, which takes place every three years.
