DMCRA Gets Another Consumer Endorsement

From the INDUCE Act Blog comes the belated news that the Homer Recording Rights Coalition has endorsed the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA) [press release]. I'm a bit skeptical about the (extra) impact this endorsement will have on getting the DMCRA signed into law. Both the entertainment industry and consumer (electronics) side were already heavily represented and fiercely opposing each other during the DMCRA's Congressional hearings. If it does one thing the HRRC's endorsement shines some extra (media) light on the reintroduction of the DMCRA last month.

In a recent post I noted that MGM's concession at the Supreme Court hearing on MGM v. Grokster that ripping a CD would be a fair use weakens the argumentation of the entertainment industry against the DMCRA in the aforementioned Congressional hearings. This kind of concessions, or procedural slips, might do more good for the DMCRA than any more endorsement. Unless it's by the MPAA/RIAA. That would be right after they hail file-sharing and curse DRM.

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For some background info on the DMCRA you might want to check out a short article I wrote: Restriking the Balance: From DMCA to DMCRA.

BTW, the HRRC site also provides a nice reverse chronological legislative history of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act with lots of links to documents