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Comment by haven | Hacker News Reader

While the EFF's position on revising the DMCA is referenced by the petition, the petition itself does actually does ask to "repeal the DMCA", presumably in its entirety (which I personally support).

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Again, the title is misleading, including the title in the petition itself. The text is talking about a revision, which makes good sense. The DMCA itself is a larger piece of legislation that includes various other provisions not related to circumvention, like the safe harbor for sites that comply with the notice and takedown provisions. (Which has its own set of problems, but repealing that would not be helpful, because then there would be no statutory safe harbor since Sec. 230 of the Communications Decency Act that provides a safe harbor for most other things explicitly excludes "intellectual property.")

Okay, I see what you're saying. The petition title suggestion of repeal seems to be downplayed to only anti-circumvention notions.

On the other hand, the safe harbor provisions under the DMCA just protect you from penalties under the DMCA. I'd vote repeal the whole debacle (granted I haven't read the DMCA in a few years, but I don't recall seeing anything I liked save for the self-limiting provisions of the statute).

Edit: I'm wrong. Was thinking of just Title I. Title II and III are indeed worth saving!

>On the other hand, the safe harbor provisions under the DMCA just protect you from penalties under the DMCA.

You might want to re-read Sec. 512.

Touché. After looking at it, I realize I was thinking of just Title I of the DMCA being the whole thing. You are totally right about Title II & III (Title IV boat vessel hulls... heh)!

Now that I'm better informed... (thanks!) I change my position to repeal of Title I of the DMCA in its entirety, not the entire DMCA.

The sad part is this will most likely end up providing us with a history lesson on the DMCA instead of any actual action. Same with the petitions to legalize marijuana and most of the other ones.

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