DMCA hearings: let the shenanigans begin!

[tishaturk]

I'm sitting in on this morning's DMCA hearings (along with Rebecca Tushnet, Francesca Coppa, and Corynne McSherry); we'll be testifying this afternoon. If you're interested in the proceedings, I strongly recommend reading Professor Tushnet's (terrifyingly comprehensive) notes on the hearings.

In the meantime, I note without comment that earlier this morning David Taylor, the attorney for the DVDCCA, referred to codecs as "codexes."

Comments

[jetpack_monkey]

I read the notes by Rebecca Tushnet at her site. I find reading these things very distressing for some reason. I can't put my finger on it, but I came away very nervous and agitated. Probably because lawyers.

[tishaturk]

Oh, I'm sorry the notes were nervous-making! I think the hearing went very well, actually. The notes are a very bare-bones transcript of what was said; they don't convey much about the tone of the room, which was actually quite cordial. The #dmca hashtag on Twitter has some tweets from a young lawyer who were there, who seemed quite amused by the Copyright Office grilling the opponents (industry lawyers) about whether they have any actual evidence that the existing exemption has harmed the market for DVD and download sales. Their answer: "...no."