I spent some time during the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with people from the Digital Freedom Campaign, a group of innovators, artists, students and consumers who know that they also have rights in the copyright debate and who want to make themselves heard.
Sponsors and partners of the DFC include the Consumer Electronics Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Home Recording Rights Coalition, Educause, and the American Library Association.
I spoke recently with Jake Ward, a spokesperson for the Digital Freedom Campaign. Our wide-ranging conversation addressed fair use, CD ripping, network neutrality, the MPAA and RIAA, and legislation pending in Congress.
The podcast can be accessed here.
A time index to our conversation follows:
Index and topics:
00:00 Introductions
00:15 Overview of DFC, sponsors, participants
01:23 Focus on grass roots, legislation?
02:10 How do the grass roots, musicians, artists, etc. support DFC activities?
03:13 How does the DFC distinguish between personal use and piracy?
04:14 DFC perception of MPAA, RIAA, P2P filesharing
05:12 Copyright law, ripping CDs, fair use
06:10 DFC concern with video, other media types
07:12 Current DFC legislative agenda
08:28 Working against possible extensions to copyright law that would be unfair to consumers
09:13 DFC on Comcast, ATT's interruptions of P2P traffic
10:54 MPAA revised its estimate of losses attributed to students
11:51 Declining record industry revenue from CDs, increasing digital music sales
12:32 Thank yous and goodbys
