* Anticounterfeiting Amendments of 2002 (S. 2395). This measure from Sen. Joseph Biden would have amended Federal criminal law to prohibit trafficking in an illicit authorization feature affixed to or embedded in a sound recording, software, or a motion picture. It defined an "authentication feature" to include a hologram, watermark, certification, symbol, code, sequence of numbers or letters, or any other feature used to verify that the product is not counterfeit or infringing of copyright. Injured copyright owners would also have been authorized to bring civil actions to recover damages against providers of illicit authentication features. The bill was reported from the Senate Judiciary Committee but never received full Senate consideration, in part because opponents of the Hollings bill feared it could have been a vehicle for that measure, as well as concerns that it could be interpreted as creating a new criminal charge available against consumers who duplicate certain copyrighted materials.

* P2P Piracy Prevention Act (H.R. 5211). This measure, introduced by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), would excuse a copyright owner from any criminal or civil liability for impairing the unauthorized distribution, display, performance or reproduction on a publicly accessible peer-to-peer (P2P) network, subject to giving prior notice to the Department of Justice (DOJ) of his intent to use certain impairment technologies and provided that actual out-of-pocket damages to any user of a P2P network or software does not exceed $50 per impairment. The bill also authorizes an aggrieved computer owner to bring an action for wrongful impairment against a copyright owner provided that prior notification of such intent is provided to the DOJ, which is given a limited amount of time to investigate the complaint. Both copyright owner notices to DOJ of intent to use impairment technologies, and the results of DOJ investigations of allegations of unlawful impairment actions made by aggrieved P2P users, would have been exempt from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee but no further action was taken. It was strongly critiqued by a variety of groups for undermining network and computer security by potentially providing millions of entities with an overly broad and vaguely worded loophole by which they might engage in "hacking" activities that could cause substantial economic damage. Staff for Rep. Berman has indicated that the bill is being revised to respond to certain criticisms but have not provided a target date for re-introduction. (8)

* Digital Choice and Freedom Act (H.R. 5522). Rep. Zoe Lofgren introduced this measure, which is similar to but more narrowly drawn than the Boucher bill and is supported by many of the same business and public interests; it was referred solely to the Judiciary Committee. It would, among other things, allow consumers to make back up copies of digital copyrighted works and to circumvent access control technologies in order to make "fair use" of a work; explicitly extend the "first sale doctrine" to digital works; and bar the enforcement of any terms of a "shrink-wrap license" accompanying a digital copyrighted work which reduce consumer rights under the law.