CSC 400 Assignment: DMCA Questions

You will be assigned to research and report on one of the following issues concerning the Digital Milennium Copyright Act, which you should have read (in its entirety) by now. Your group is to research the issue, discuss it among your group, prepare a written report (one per group) on the order of a few pages, and present the results of your investigation to the class (say about 10 minutes). Look at the other topics as well as your own so that your presentation does not overlap too much with some other . Presentations will be in the order of the topics on this page, so you may be able to anticipate what previous presentations have said in preparation of your own. I have tried to leave time for discussion of the issues, so this can run into the next class. If we finish in one day, I will have another exercise planned. Be sure your report includes references to your sources.

Research the history of the DMCA. When was it written? What sort of debate was it subject too. What corporate and other interests were involved in drafting the rules? What interests were not represented?
Chetan Bhole, Bin Bao
How does the DMCA change previously existing copyright law? What is protected that was not previously? Were enforcement or litigation mechanisms changed? Was there something in previous law that needed fixing regardless of whether DMCA is the way to do it? Be specific about particular cases, incidents, and situations where DMCA has/had a large impact on existing practice.
Stan Park, Yi Chu
What does the DMCA mandate for recording and playback hardware, both analog and digital? What is the stated intent? Are the regulations likely to be effective for the stated purpose? What are likely consequences of these regulations?
Amal Fahad, Tagyoung Chung
What regulations does the DMCA establish concerning cryptology? What is the stated intent? Are there potential unintended consequences of the relevant sections? Is there evidence of a hidden agenda? Has there been specific litigation under these rules?
Tivadar Papai, Naushad UzZaman
Various groups have raised concerns about the potential negative impact of the DMCA on freedom of expression, fair use of copyrighted material, free flow of information, and even basic scientific research. What are some of the major concerns? What groups and interests are raising them? Have these concerns been reflected in any actual incidents involving litigation or threat thereof under DMCA? What happened> Again, be specific. Name names, tell stories.
Kosatas Menychtas, Rongrong Zhong
How has the DMCA fared overall? Has it been effective in achieving its stated goals? Have any sections of the DMCA been effectively invalidated? What is likely for the future? Is there any legislation being considered for revised or expanded copyright protection for digital media?
Jonathan Gordon

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