ABSTRACT
Congress’s consideration of the DMCA was the setting for many digital debates. However, passage of the law did not resolve all the issues that digital technology raised. Defining rights in an electronic world is an ongoing policy debate that will rage into the foreseeable future. Some of the battles will be in legislative arenas, as special interests press for reforms to counteract weaknesses in the legal structure at the federal and state levels. Some of the battles will be in the courts, spearheaded by those who want to enforce or challenge newly defined rights. Among the skirmishes already under way are these: database protection, rules for electronic commerce, and digital first sale. How these matters are resolved will tell us a lot about how content rights will be defined in the digital decades to come.
