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Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

Opposition Sings Out Against Abusive Copyright Law

Electronic Frontier Foundation Announces Online Campaign

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, May 28, 2002

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today announced an entertaining campaign to prevent passage of a seriously abusive copyright law. By distributing an Internet video parodying Disney's attempts to control the public's use of CDs, DVDs, and other digital media, EFF intends to spur widespread opposition to the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA) proposed by Senator Hollings.

"We hope people will contact their legislators once they understand how Hollywood is stifling innovation, fair use, and the right to tinker," said EFF Outreach Coordinator Cory Doctorow. "CBDTPA is an anti-consumer, anti-technology attempt to control how people can use the technology they own."

"The entertainment industry is manipulating copyright law to impose government regulation on all new digital media technologies," added Fred von Lohmann, EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney. "If they got their way in 1979, all VCRs would have been impounded as tools of piracy."

The EFF video parodies Disney's attempts to control digital media with the song "Tinsel Town Club," a remake of the theme song to the Mickey Mouse Club.

The parodied lyrics for Tinsel Town Club are the following:

"Sing Along Kids!

Chanting:
Tinsel Town Club
Tinsel Town Club.....

Verse 1:
Who believes the average Jane's
a criminal on the make?
Disney and its showbiz friends
who have a lot at stake.

Verse 2:
Who with their locks
turn back the clocks
on rights we have today?
The entertainment moguls and
CBDTPA!

Bridge:
They sell us stuff. (It's overpriced!)
Then lock it up (and that's not nice)!
So they can keep their profits
in the sky. (High! High! High!)

Verse 3:
So, join the fight!
Defend your rights
before they're whisked away.
Speak up fast!
Don't let them pass
CBDTPA!

Numbers count. (They make Congress pay attention!)
Tell all your friends about
that old
CBDTPA!"

Links:

For the Tinsel Town Club video:
http://action.eff.org/tinseltown/

For the CBDTPA action alert:
http://action.eff.org/

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/IP/SSSCA_CBDTPA/20020528_eff_cbdtpa_pr.html

For a previous alert on the CBDTPA legislation:
http://www.eff.org/IP/SSSCA_CBDTPA/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html

For more information about CBDTPA (and its older "parent", SSSCA):
http://www.eff.org/IP/SSSCA_CBDTPA/

About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to websites in the world at:
http://www.eff.org/

Contact:

Cory Doctorow
Outreach Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation
cory@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x106

Fred von Lohmann
Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
fred@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x123 (office), +1 415 215-6087 (cell)

 

Please send any questions or comments to webmaster@eff.org.