Don Marti

Thu 16 Jun 2005 06:32:29 PM PDT

Digital things last forever?

When I was a kid, I only knew the Beatles song, "With a Little Help From my Friends" up to the part that went, "What will I do when my love is awoo, when my love is awoo, when my love is awoo, when my love is awoo, when my love is awoo, when"

After a bit of this, somebody got up, raised the needle, and moved it past the scratch to the next track ("Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds").

The scratch my 14-month-old son made in a DVD is no bigger, but the whole DVD is useless now.

Former MPAA CEO Jack Valenti misrepresents the robustness of DVDs when he says that "a digital thing lasts forever". Maybe at his house. Not at my house.

One scratch can ruin a whole DVD. Digital formats are vulnerable to small errors, media decay over time, and technological obsolescence. Individuals and libraries need the right to make personal use or fair use copies of digital works, as they had under pre-DMCA copyright law.

I appreciate your ongoing support for innovation and for customers' rights in digital media. Please support Rep. Rick Boucher's HR 1201, the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act.