ARL has released Jonathan Band's testimony on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act film clip compilation exemption.
Here's an excerpt:
Finally, putting aside the question of quality and alternatives, we have to ask ourselves why the rightsholders are opposing the modest expansion we seek. Why are they so reflexively confrontational? They know that the uses we seek will not harm their market in any way. They know that whether the exemption is granted or rejected will have absolutely no impact on the level of infringement. They should welcome our use of their content in our classrooms. They should make our legal use as easy as possible. We shouldn’t even have to apply for the exemption. They should proactively declare that they won’t bring DMCA actions against high ed institutions for assembling film compilations. Instead, they insult us by treating us as potential infringers who can’t be trusted to use a technology any 12-year old can download from the Internet. The Librarian of Congress should disregard the frivolous arguments raised by the rightsholders and allow circumvention for film clip compilations for high ed class classes in all disciplines.
Read more about it at "Big Content's 'Theater of the Absurd' at DMCA Hearings."
