The content industry likes to say that opposing the DMCA means opposing the free market. The libertarian Cato Institute, whose mission includes limiting government intrusion into the free market, released an excellent paper today taking aim at this faulty economic reasoning. In "Circumventing Competition: The Perverse Consequences of the DMCA," policy analyst and blogger Tim Lee writes:
"The DMCA is anti-competitive. It gives copyright holders—and the technology companies that distribute their content—the legal power to create closed technology platforms and exclude competitors from interoperating with them. Worst of all, DRM technologies are clumsy and ineffective; they inconvenience legitimate users but do little to stop pirates."
EFF has long been beating this drum, and we're always glad to see more people from all over the political spectrum push for DMCA reform. Tell your Congressmen that you support DMCA reform by visiting EFF's Action Center.