24h to stop new copyright law: call now!

In 24 hours, the music industry may succeed at getting the obscure SIRA bill changed in committee in Congress. At issue is their plan to change copyright so that you're going to need separate licenses for "incidental" copies of digital music: copies in RAM, copies in browser caches, and so on. Changing the act this way paves the way for a ban on digital radio recording devices, and what's worse, the companies that presently sell digital music are supporting this!

Companies like Apple and Real AOL and Yahoo have signed onto these changes as a way of clearing the licenses on the music they presently sell -- even though this proposal will hurt the ability of new companies to enter the digital music market in the future.

You can stop it by contacting your Congresscritter. EFF's Action Center has information on which lawmakers are on the relevant committee, as well as some suggested things to say to your representative's office when you speak to them.

The entertainment industry has sneaked language into an obscure copyright bill that could smash Internet fair use. The law implies that licenses from copyright holders are needed for every digital copy made in the transmission of digital media -- including cached copies on servers or on your hard drive, and even temporary copies in RAM. The wording is being debated in a House Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday. Don't let the music industry turn your cache into their cash. Check below to see if your representative is on the right committee, and call them now!

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The House is going into recess for the summer at the end of this week, so you have a unique opportunity to kill this legislation. If we can stall SIRA now it would effectively kill it for the reminder of the year, giving us more time to prepare an offensive.

Please call the Members of the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property and voice your opposition to this legislation.

Republicans:

Honorable Lamar S. Smith, 2184 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-4236

Honorable Henry J. Hyde, 2110 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-4561

Honorable Elton Gallegly, 2427 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515-0523, (202) 225-5811

Honorable Bob Goodlatte, 2240 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-5431

Honorable William L. Jenkins, 1207 Longworth Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-6356

Honorable Spencer Bachus, 442 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515, 202 225-4921

Hon. Robert Inglis, 330 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-6030

Honorable Ric Keller, 419 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-2176

Hon. Darrell Issa, 211 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515

Honorable Chris Cannon, 2436 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-7751

Honorable Mike Pence, 426 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-3021

Honorable J. Randy Forbes, 307 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-6365

Democrats:

Honorable Howard L. Berman, 2221 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515, (202) 225-4695

Honorable John Conyers, Jr., 2426 Rayburn Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-5126

Honorable Rick Boucher, 2187 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-3861

Honorable Zoe Lofgren, 102 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-3072

Honorable Maxine Waters, 2344 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-2201

Honorable Martin T. Meehan, 2229 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-3411

Honorable Robert Wexler, 213 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-3001

Honorable Anthony Weiner, 1122 Longworth House Office Building, Washington DC 20515, (202) 225-6616

Honorable Adam Schiff, 326 Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, (202) 225-4176

Honorable Linda T. Sanchez, 1007 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-6676"