Copyright reformers launch attack on DMCA’s “digital locks” rule

Supporters of copyright reform are hoping that 2013 is the year they get some real momentum going.

In the wake of the news that the White House and Federal Communications Commission now support consumers' rights to unlock their cell phones, a new coalition called has launched an effort to repeal the section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that forbids breaking "digital locks." The group has a website called FixTheDMCA.org, which lays out the problem in a simple, graphical way, and provides tools for people to contact their Congressional representatives. The group's goal is to build support for a repeal of section 1201 of the DMCA, the so-called "anti-circumvention" clause. That won't be an easy task, since the entertainment industry has fought hard to make digital lock-breaking illegal. When creating DVD copy-protection, for instance, the industry was keen to make sure that getting around such technology would be illegal.