....Recommendations

Move toward restoring the "limited time"/public domain balance by returning to the copyright terms of the 1976 Act: life plus 50 years for individuals; 75 years for corporations. Alternatively, require that heirs and corporations file a notice of renewal, thereby allowing works that no longer have commercial value to enter the public domain sooner. Require corporate copyright holders to file a notice of renewal after 50 years, and every ten years thereafter, as proposed by Representative Lofgren.

Repeal the "tools" provisions of the DMCA, or at least, exempt anyone whose purpose is political commentary or scientific research. Legalize the manufacture or distribution of circumvention tools that permit "significant non-infringing use" of copyrighted works.

Create broader exemptions for fair use under the DMCA. Limit liability for circumvention to those who intentionally aid and abet copyright infringement. Alternatively, interpret the law narrowly to bar only conventional circumvention devices such as "black boxes," and not to censor computer code.196

Recognize that much copying done for personal, noncommercial purposes is fair use.

Require copyright owners to license copyright-protected music and other creative work online on reasonable, nondiscriminatory terms.

Eliminate the DMCA requirement that Internet service providers and search engines remove disputed content from their servers based simply on a demand letter from a copyright owner. Eliminate ISP liability for copyright infringement by their users unless they intentionally assist with infringement.197

Outlaw the industry practice of encrypting portions of works that are not copyright-protected - for example, the original text of public domain works.198

Encourage alternatives to lengthy copyright terms through Creative Commons and similar projects. I suport every one of these conclusions, which strike a reasonable balance between the needs of creators and the public, for whose benefit copyright was theoretically created in the first place, to foster "the progress of science and useful arts." Read the entire excellent report for background and detail supporting these recommendations.

Meanwhile on the ground, SBC Communications refuses to hand over the names of its customers alleged to be engaged in file sharing to the RIAA, the only major ISP to do so:

Since early July, major high-speed Internet providers - including BellSouth, Comcast, EarthLink, Time Warner Cable and Verizon - have complied with more than 1,000 subpoenas from the record industry's lobbying arm, the Recording Industry Association of America, to turn over the names of their customers who are otherwise known only by the murky screen names and numeric Internet Protocol addresses used in cyberspace.

SBC, the No. 2 regional phone company and a major local telecommunications service provider in the Midwest and West, has received about 300 such subpoenas and has refused to answer any of them. It has stuck to that position even though Verizon, the biggest local phone company - which has most of its customers along the East Coast - lost a major lawsuit this year against the recording industry.

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