Formally titled the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act, the new bill represents the boldest counterattack yet on recent expansions of copyright law that have been driven by entertainment industry firms worried about Internet piracy.

The bill, introduced by Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and John Doolittle, R-Calif., would repeal key sections of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). It would also require anyone selling copy-protected CDs to include a "prominent and plainly legible" notice that the discs include anti-piracy technology that could render them unreadable on some players.

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The Boucher-Doolittle bill would make three changes to the DMCA, all designed to permit people to bypass copy-protection schemes for legitimate purposes:

\ufffd An exemption would be created saying anyone who "is acting solely in furtherance of scientific research into technological protection measures" would be able to distribute his or her code. That would permit Felten and other researchers--such as a programmer being represented by the ACLU in a current lawsuit--to publish their work without the threat of lawsuits.

\ufffd Bypassing technological protections would be permissible if done for legitimate, "fair use" purposes. The bill says it would not be a violation of federal law to "circumvent a technological measure"--as long as it does not lead to "an infringement of the copyright in the work."

\ufffd Creating a utility like DeCSS.exe might become legal. The bill says it would be legal to "manufacture, distribute, or make noninfringing use of a hardware or software product capable of enabling significant noninfringing use of a copyrighted work."

Jessica Litman, a professor at Wayne State University who specializes in copyright law, says the bill echoes a landmark 1984 Supreme Court case, Sony v. University City Studios, that permitted the sale of VCRs. "It seems to restore the Sony test that if you're making legitimate technology that also has a circumvention application, it's only illegitimate to distribute it if the legitimate application is not significant," Litman said.

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