We're here in Las Vegas at CES 2007, reporting on the fair use technologies that are either in danger, or nonexistent, thanks to legal threats from Hollywood and the major record labels.
So it was great to hear CEA chief Gary Shapiro say, during his morning keynote opening the convention:
We agree that content creators must be compensated. We understand and share the aversion to those that steal content without authorization and resell it. Commercial piracy is wrong. But we draw a different line on what is acceptable in the home. We believe consumers should not be in legal jeopardy if they do something with lawfully acquired content and keep it in their home. We believe that consumers have rights and that the copyright laws need to be changed to reduce potential damages for companies launching new products where the copyright law is unclear or where the inventor does not intentionally or directly infringe copyrights.
Check out the Digital Freedom Campaign, where EFF, CEA, and dozens of other consumer groups and companies are taking up this cause.
