FreeCulture at NYU will soon have its voice heard and we have a few things to say to the world. For one thing, WE HATE DRM. That’s right, you heard us—we hate it. And we’re not keeping quiet about it any longer. Others may think it’s OK for Record Labels to dole out whatever amount of access they feel is “enoughâ€? for consumers of CDs, but we think we can make that decision for ourselves; we want our CDs WHOLE, FUNCTIONAL and UNTAMPERED WITH. That is why we are holding a protest on October 25th, 2005 at the Virgin Megastore on East 14th Street and Broadway, at 7:30 pm. We will be handing out informative flyers, telling people everything we know about DRM technology, and generally making sure that no one who enters or exits the Virgin Megastore that evening does so without getting an earful about how they’re getting oh-so-screwed by the record execs. And if you’re in NYC the 25th, by all means stop by, FC @ NYU would love to meet you.

To take a look at our flyer, the details of our protest, and all the information we’ve assembled about DRM, check out our wiki entry here.

Those of you familiar with free culture probably already know that the DMCA isn’t our favorite piece of legislation. But there is some hope in the act: the ability to make exemptions.

Starting November 2, the U.S. Copyright Office is taking public comments about the DMCA. Specifically, they ask whether certain copyrighted works should be exempt from the anti-circumvention provisions. This is done every three years to investigate whether the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA inhibit fair use.

The last time the Copyright Office issued a request for public comment on such a broad issue, FreeCulture.org worked with the EFF
and Public Knowledge to build orphanworks.org, a site to help people submit comments to the Copyright Office about problems of access to orphan works.

Some important exemptions to the DMCA have come out of these comment periods. For instance, the original DMCA prevented people from writing software that circumvented Internet filters. Thankfully, however, an exemption was made as a result of the last comment period and now people can actually look at what their filter is blocking.

Copyright may not be exactly where we want it to be. In fact, we have a long way to go. But this is a good place to start.

You can will be able to file a comment with the Copyright Office here, beginning on November 2nd. For more information, see the Copyright Office’s page about the Anticircumvention Rulemaking.

We at FC.o will be working on a comment to file with the Copyright Office. What of the many potential grievances should we file? Well, I can think of one:

As it stands, the DMCA prevents people from using unblocking software so they can other networks with their cell phone. The wireless coverage is there, waiting to be accessed, but a superficial notion of “competition” is preventing us from getting to it. Unblocking software is not infringing — it’s enabling. It gives people the freedom to use the things they own in the way they choose.

What else does the Copyright Office need to know about?

UPDATE: We realize that this post may be somewhat premature, since comments cannot actually be submitted through the Copyright Office’s website until November 2nd, but you may wish to start writing your comment now, so that you can submit it well before the December 1st deadline. — Nelson