Defend Fair Use

Defend Fair UseDefend Fair Use. Against what? Exaggerated copyright notices. Who’s behind it? The Computer & Communications Industry Association.

So what’s the CCIA? No, it’s nothing to do with the FFBI. It’s an nonprofit with members including Google, Microsoft, and Red Hat.

I found the site and logo via Duncan at TechCrunch, who in turn drew his story in part from Ars Technica. Once at the site, I chuckled at the abuse of the week feature.

A couple of limitations of Defend Fair Use merit mention. One is that it’s US-centric; perhaps its site should be in the .us domain, rather than in .org.

A more serious limitation is that the tagline “stand up for your right to use the content you pay for,” is a misleading understatement. It’s not payment, but the first amendment, that gives you the right of fair use. For example, if you borrow a book from the library or from a friend, you are free to quote from it.

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