Friday , April 26 2024

Consumer Bill of Rights

Here is the Digital Consumers Bill of Rights in the opinion of DigitalConsumer.org:

    1. Users have the right to “time-shift” content that they have legally acquired.
    This gives you the right to record video or audio for later viewing or listening. For example, you can use a VCR to record a TV show and play it back later.
    2. Users have the right to “space-shift” content that they have legally acquired.
    This gives you the right to use your content in different places (as long as each use is personal and non-commercial). For example, you can copy a CD to a portable music player so that you can listen to the songs while you’re jogging.
    3. Users have the right to make backup copies of their content.
    This gives you the right to make archival copies to be used in the event that your original copies are destroyed.
    4. Users have the right to use legally acquired content on the platform of their choice.
    This gives you the right to listen to music on your Rio, to watch TV on your iMac, and to view DVDs on your Linux computer.
    5. Users have the right to translate legally acquired content into comparable formats.
    This gives you the right to modify content in order to make it more usable. For example, a blind person can modify an electronic book so that the content can be read out loud.
    6. Users have the right to use technology in order to achieve the rights previously mentioned.
    This last right guarantees your ability to exercise your other rights. Certain recent copyright laws have paradoxical loopholes that claim to grant certain rights but then criminalize all technologies that could allow you to exercise those rights. In contrast, this Bill of Rights states that no technological barriers can deprive you of your other fair use rights.

As the Clash said: know your rights.

About Eric Olsen

Career media professional and serial entrepreneur Eric Olsen flung himself into the paranormal world in 2012, creating the America's Most Haunted brand and co-authoring the award-winning America's Most Haunted book, published by Berkley/Penguin in Sept, 2014. Olsen is co-host of the nationally syndicated broadcast and Internet radio talk show After Hours AM; his entertaining and informative America's Most Haunted website and social media outlets are must-reads: Twitter@amhaunted, Facebook.com/amhaunted, Pinterest America's Most Haunted. Olsen is also guitarist/singer for popular and wildly eclectic Cleveland cover band The Props.

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