Fair Use Advocates Can't Get a Word in at Commerce Department Meeting
On Wednesday, Newsforge reported on the difficulties Fair Use and Open Source advocates had in getting an opportunity to speak at a U.S. Commerce Department public hearing on Digital Rights Management.
The workshop did have its moments of controversy within the invited ranks, with representatives from Phillips Electronics and IBM saying the average consumer was under-represented in the discussion. When Bond was asking panelists what government can do at this point, digitalconsumer.com's Spencer said: "The role of government is to make sure there's consumer representation. I think we need to have more consumer groups at the table."
It wasn't that they didn't try. According to the article, "Fair use advocate Seth Johnson... stood in the back of the 100-seat room with his hand up for two hours, but Bond never acknowledged him."