The Washington, DC-based public interest group Public Knowledge has launched an initiative urging social media users to lobby for the adoption of reforms to copyright on the Internet.

Via the online lobbying platform Internet Blueprint, support is sought for six pending legislative bills:

• “Strengthening Fair Use Act” – which seeks to eliminate forced repayment of copyright owners’ legal fees in fair use cases and the expansion of examples of uses in fair use.
• “Shortening the Term of Copyright Act” – which would shorten US copyright protection terms to the life of the author plus 50 years from present 70 years.
• “Reducing Copyright Abuse and Overreach Act” – which is designed to prevent copyright owners from claiming powers that the law does not grant them, according to the accompanying explanation of the proposal.
• “Eliminating Barriers to Lawful Use Act” – which seeks to amend the anti-circumvention provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by allowing the breaking of digital rights management (DRM) for lawful uses and enable the sale of tools for lawfully breaking DRM.
• “Transparency and Accountability in IP Trade Negotiations Act” – which calls for transparency in forging trade agreements on intellectual property and for any US Trade Representative (USTR) advisory group to include representatives from public interest groups.
• “Strengthening and Improving DMCA Safe Harbors Act” – which seeks to improve the notice-and-take down process in which an intermediary is obliged to pull down content upon receipt of a complaint and asks for higher penalties for the harmed party.

According to IP Watch, the two most-voted proposals so far are extending first-sale rights to users and for network providers who offer services that violate the internet neutrality standard to be prohibited from labelling their services as “internet services.”