Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) is introducing the Digital Choice and Freedom Act. The Act seeks to protect consumers by re-stating fair use in terms of purchased transmissions of intellectual property, and amending the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to allow lawful consumers to bypass copy protection technology that impedes their rights. It also prohibits non-negotiable shrink-wrap licenses (the "I Agree" button you have to click on to install software that you've already purchased). News.com on the DCFA.

Meanwhile, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) is introducing the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act, with the IT industry's support. The bill [PDF], Boucher's statement and summary. The bill appears to care a great deal about copy-protected CDs not providing adequate notice to consumers before sale that its copy-protection methods make the disc unplayable in certain devices. The bill also seeks to rectify threats to fair use introduced by the DMCA, including the allowance of copy protection circumvention if such circumvention is not used to infringe the copyright, and the manufacture, distribution and sale of devices that enable "significant non-infringing use of a copyrighted work".

I don't know if either of these are passable legislation, at least in these forms, but it will be important to make a big deal about them at some point so that any congresscritter that hasn't been bought outright by media and software industries might understand defense of fair use as a legitimate position that's upheld by lots of intelligent people. Seriously, though, it's interesting to see what form this kind of legislation takes when it is introduced, especially compared to opposing bills.