DMCA - LEGISLATIVE HISTORY - PLAYABILITY

CONFERENCE REPORT (H. REP. NO. 105-796)

Conference Report (H. Rep. No. 105-796):

Representative W.J. ("Billy") Tauzin in the House of Representatives (Cong. Rec. E2144) (daily ed. Oct 13, 1998):
We also sought to ensure that consumers could apply their centuries-old fair use rights in the digital age. Sections 1201(a)(2) and (b)(1) make it illegal to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or to otherwise traffic in "black boxes." These provisions are not aimed at staple articles of commerce, such as video cassette recorders, telecommunications switches, and personal computers widely used today by businesses and consumers for legitimate purposes. As a result of the efforts of the Commerce Committee, legitimate concerns about how these provisions might be interpreted by a court to negatively affect consumers have been addressed to the satisfaction of consumer electronics and other product managers.

In our Committee report, we also sought to address the concerns of manufacturers and consumers about the potential for "playability" problems when new technological measures are introduced in the market. I was pleased to see that the conferees also recognized the seriousness of the problem and agreed to include explicit conference report language setting forth our shared respective on how the bill should be interpreted in this respect.