Happy Fair Use Day!
I'm still recovering from a hectic Fourth of July holiday, but it seems another
important holiday is upon us: Fair Use Day. The holiday was founded three years
ago by Eric Clifford as a way to draw attention to the ongoing battle between
software, media and other companies and the consumers and businesses that make
use of their products. The concern: That increasingly aggressive and restrictive
efforts to protect and lock down content was robbing consumers of the basic
right to use the material they owned.
It's a thorny issue and one that eludes a simple solution. Over the past year,
for instance, Apple earned applause for shedding digital rights management (DRM)
in parts of its music service. Yet, just months earlier, Kevin Rose and his
popular Digg.com site faced legal threats as Digg members continued to publish
the hex key that lets users crack the AACS protection on HD-DVD content.
From copy protection on software to the ongoing issue of Net neutrality, it
seems we'll all have cause to observe Fair Use Day for a long time to come.
You can visit the Fair Use Day Web site here.
Are you celebrating Fair Use Day? Write me at [email protected]
and tell me why.
Posted by Michael Desmond on 07/11/2007