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Brazil's proposed copyright law changes could be a model that combines fair use with protection for rightsholders via DRM.
The new laws propose that any DRM scheme must be time limited so that when the copyrighted work fall into public domain, the DRM will automatically expire as well, allowing the works to be freely distributed. And when the copyright expires and the DRM doesn't, then users will have the right to hack, remove, disable the DRM scheme as they see fit, a contrast to the US copyright laws which makes any circumvention of DRM illegal, without taking into consideration just what is being protected.
More and more, DRM is being used to offer protection to rightsholder that they otherwise wouldn't have had under any other previous copyright regime. That content owners can not only prevent unauthorised distribution of their works, that they can now use DRM to control just exactly how consumers can use the works, is something that's not been possible, technologically, before the rise of DRM. And that DRM schemes often makes fair use impossible just means more collateral damage and provides content owners with far greater power then they've had before, at the cost of innovation, commerce and the free exchange of information and ideas.
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The new laws propose that any DRM scheme must be time limited so that when the copyrighted work fall into public domain, the DRM will automatically expire as well, allowing the works to be freely distributed. And when the copyright expires and the DRM doesn't, then users will have the right to hack, remove, disable the DRM scheme as they see fit, a contrast to the US copyright laws which makes any circumvention of DRM illegal, without taking into consideration just what is being protected.
More and more, DRM is being used to offer protection to rightsholder that they otherwise wouldn't have had under any other previous copyright regime. That content owners can not only prevent unauthorised distribution of their works, that they can now use DRM to control just exactly how consumers can use the works, is something that's not been possible, technologically, before the rise of DRM. And that DRM schemes often makes fair use impossible just means more collateral damage and provides content owners with far greater power then they've had before, at the cost of innovation, commerce and the free exchange of information and ideas.
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