State-Level "Super DMCA" Initiatives Archive

Note: This page has not been updated since 2003

Many states are being pressured by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to adopt legislation that would have serious consequences for freedom of speech, encryption, and the public's rights. EFF is strongly opposed to this "Super DMCA" (S-DMCA) legislation.

Jump to:
EFF Resources on S-DMCA Legislation | MPAA "Model Legislation" | Affected States | Other Groups | Other Resources | Media Coverage

---

EFF Resources on S-DMCA Legislation

• EFF Analysis of MPAA Sample Legislation
• EFF line-by-line analysis of MPAA model bill
• Press release: Electronic Frontier Foundation Opposes Digital Lockdown, April 14, 2003

Read or print letters sent by EFF and a coalition of other organizations opposing S-DMCA legislation:

• Arkansas [PDF 84k] [RTF 18k]
• Colorado [PDF 73k] [RTF 9k]
• Florida [PDF 84k] [RTF 18k]
• Georgia [PDF 86k] [RTF 19k]
• Tennessee [PDF 87k] [RTF 21k]
• Texas [PDF 85k] [RTF 16k]

MPAA "Model Legislation"

The S-DMCA bills are based on, and sometimes directly copied from, model legislation being circulated by the MPAA.

• Updated MPAA Legislation (some states now considering this version) (PDF 705k)
• MPAA Recently Revised Sample Legislation (PDF 19k)
• MPAA Recently Revised Sample Legislation (RTF 28k)
• MPAA Summary of Legislation (PDF 8k)
• MPAA Summary of Legislation (RTF 13k)

Affected States

Most of this data was found on Ed Felten's weblog, Freedom to Tinker. Please send additions or corrections to ren@eff.org.

You can find your state representatives with EFF's legislative directory.

State:	Bill:	Sponsor:	Status:	External Resources
Arkansas	HB 2361	Reps. Wood, Adams, & Scroggin	Passed 2003
Colorado	HB 03-1303	Rep. Crane & Sen. Lamborn	Passed April 2003 Governor veto (PDF)
Delaware	text available	Rep. Roy & Sen. McBride	Passed 2001
Florida	H79 in House; S1078 in Senate	Rep. Mack; Sen. Atwater	Passed 2003	peoplesright.org Foreword, the Book Design Blog
Georgia	HB 867	Golick & Boggs	Hearing April 23	Electronic Frontiers Georgia
Illinois	text available		Passed 2002
Maryland	text available	Sen. Baker	Passed 2001
Massachusetts	HB 2743	Rep. Stephen Tobin	Public hearing on April 2	John Palfrey blog
Michigan	Text of new laws: 1; 2; 3.		Passed (date unknown)
New York	AO1203	Sidikman	Referred to Committee on Codes
Oregon	SB 655	Rep. Starr	Died in In Committee, 2003
Pennsylvania	text available	Sens. Wagner, Kitchen, Costa, Lavalle, Mowery, Belan, Waugh & Slocum sponsored	Passed 2000
South Carolina	H4054		Introduced and referred to House Judiciary Committee April 23
Tennessee	HB 457 in House; SB 213 in Senate; Amendment	HB: Briley SB: Person & Curtis	10/28/03: Joint committee hearing	tndigitalfreedom.org
Texas	HB2121 SB1116	HB: Rep. Ron Wilson SB: Sen. Tommy Williams	SB: there is a public hearing scheduled for 6 May, 2003 HB: in Regulated Industries Committee
Virginia	text available	Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle	Related, narrower version passed 2002

Other Groups Opposing S-DMCA Legislation

• Philips Electronics Urges Gov. Jeb Bush to veto the s-DMCA
• Coalition Letter to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush urging him to veto the s-DMCA in his state.
• American Library Association (ALA)
• The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
• Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (PDF)
• Public Knowledge

Other Resources

• ALA Super-DMCA page
• CEA Applauds Texas for Rejecting Anti-Consumer Super-DMCA Legislation
• CEA Praises Oregon for Putting Freeze on MPAA-Backed Model Communications Security Bill
• CEA's testimony (PDF) re the Texas "theft of service" legislation as submitted on Tuesday, May 6, 2003.
• Letter (PDF) from George E. Dix, Professor of Law at University of Texas At Austin, to the Texas Legislature, Senate Criminal Justice Committee
• CREC Statement on Tennessee "Theft Of Service" Bills (PDF)
• EFF-Austin Policy Wiki on Texas SB1116/HB2121 | EFF-Austin
• John Palfrey's heartening report on the April 2, 2003 hearing in Massachusetts
• Site of Tom Liston, hackbusters.net, author of LaBrea, an open-source security application which could be prohibited under the Illinois state DMCA.
• Ed Felten's archive of material related to Super DMCAs
• CEA Letter to Tennessee General Assembly Subcommittee
• CEA Remains Opposed to Overly Broad, Ambiguous "Theft of Service" Bills
• CEA 'Theft of Service' Fact Sheet
• MPAA's response to CEA Fact Sheet
• Aaron Swartz's S-DMCA page

Media Coverage

• Reeling in Downloaders by Alan Greenblatt
  Originally published on Governing.com, January 2004
• Farhad Manjoo: Your TV is watching you
  Salon.com, May 8, 2003
• Interviews with Prof. Ed Felten, Prof. J. Zittrain, and MPAA's Van Stevenson.
• Anick Jesdanun: Anti-Piracy Laws Criticized As Too Broad
  AP, May 4, 2003
• AP: Anti-piracy laws criticized as overly broad
  Mercury News, May 5, 2003
• Michael Freedman: Hollywood Goes Local
  Forbes.com, April 30, 2003
• Peter Coffee: IT Laws Defy Reality
  eWeek.com, April 14, 2003
• Mike Wendland: Outrage over piracy law may lead to clarification
  Detroit Free Press, April 25, 2003
• An open-source security app may be the first victim of so-called super-DMCA laws
  Information Week, April 23, 2003
• Activists assail antipiracy proposal
  Boston Globe, April 15, 2003
• DMCA critics decry state-level proposals
  News.com, March 28, 2003