[DMCA-Activists] DMCA & Congress

[Monica]

I am researching the controversy over the DMCA - particularly related to music file

sharing - and have read some interesting arguments by members of the DMCA

Activists. On other websites, I've seen research indicating that these

phenomena are actually the direction the music industry will be taking in the

future.   See http://www.bricklin.com/recordsales.htm. To paraphrase part of the page,

record industry executives are not interested in the truth, and that seems pretty accurate. 

 

Bricklin also cites Forrester Research, which identifies the cause for the

"slump" (actually a dip) in music sales as a result of the poor economy and that

the people who download music really do buy CDs - they don't steal them. Another

research firm speculates that the publicity surrounding the RIAA's legal efforts

seem to be scaring people away from downloading ( see NPD http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_030825.htm).

It seems that the recording industry is shooting itself in the foot if this becomes the predominant technology.

 

My question for this group: there seems to be a number of initiatives in Congress to modify the DMCA, but a lot of activity by

the movie and recording industries to block these. Do any of the bills modifying the DMCA before Congress now likely to succeed?  Which one is the "best" in the eyes of this forum?