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'Battling Censorware'

Posted by jamie on from the unfair-use dept.

Lawrence Lessig has written a short and sweet essay, Battling Censorware , explaining why the DMCA allows Mattel to claim the rights to CPHack. He hits the nail on the head. I found myself reading this sentence over and over: "code that cracks a protection device is criminal under the DMCA even if the use of the copyrighted material that the code enables would be fair use."

5 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. I think there's a simple technical solution by anatoli · · Score: 4
    to the DMCA problem.

    What is needed is a programming language that closely resembles English (or other natural language). Not like COBOL, much closer. So closely that programs in that language would be (mostly) correct English texts. It is not necessary that this language will be easy to program in. OTOH it should be very easy to read what is written in it, even for non-programmers.

    Here's how it should look like:

    1. Let X be content of file "censorware.exe"
    2. Let Y be byte number 2745 of X
    3. Let Z be Y added with 73091
    4. Let T be byte number Z of X
    Publish that in an (hypothetical) Online Journal of Applied Cryptology (a refined version of sci.crypt).

    Now that's speech, isn't it?

    Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. I'm not even an American.
    --

    --
    Industrial space for lease in Flatlandia.
  2. You Own What You Buy by Effugas · · Score: 5

    [Damnit. Two really bitter Slashdot posts in a row. This doesn't bode well.]

    You know, the more I think about this, the more I'm beginning to realize this is really the argument we need to start making.

    There are lots of complicated arguments I could make, but I think I'd rather just leave it at--

    If I bought it, it's mine. If I want to sell it, it's mine to sell. If I want break it into little tiny pieces, if I want to put it in the microwave, if I want to worship it as a proclaimation that God himself is going to touch down in a UFO on Main Street at 2:48PM, damnit, I don't need whoever sold it to me's permission to believe in whatever the heck I want to in their product!

    See, that's the nice thing about capitalism. There's no central planner to say that you have to sit here, or go there, or be nice. There's no excessive transmission of executable context, to speak in geek terms. You pay the cash, you get the product.

    Without passing judgement on the rightness or wrongness of communism, there's some delicious irony in that while Open Sourcers are supposedly the biggest backers of communism, we're the ones screaming our brains out over software freedom while the biggest companies in the world lick their chops on the concept of being The Central Planner.

    After all, what are these newfangled "circumvention-resistent" devices but a yoke against which our core freedoms as consumers are jerked away? Imagine, for a moment, that Master(a fine purveyor of padlocks) was powerful enough to extract a licensing fee from any makers of lockers, safes, and doors. Imagine you needed to prove, *to the lock*, that the object it was being placed on was licensed before you'd get your key.

    Lemme tell you what'd happen, real quick: People would figure out how to bust the key--which they bought, when they bought that lock--out, so they could go about their business of doing whatever they damn well pleased with *their* *property*.

    The only reason these laws are getting passed is because people seem to think this is limited to just tech stuff.

    We're talking about *basic* *freedoms*, here. We're talking about *the right to private property*. When I buy a master lock, I buy the lock, and I buy the key.

    When I buy a DVD, I buy the lock, and I buy the key. They're right there on the disc. Sure, they're made difficult to get to, but I've got 80 head screwdrivers for the reasons of custom screw designs *BUILT* to make it difficult for me to get to things. But ya know what?

    If I wanna break my car, it's my car to break. If I wanna throw my DVDs in the Microwave, it's my aluminum to fry. If I wanna use the keys on that disc for something The Manufacturer Just Wouldn't Approve of, damnit, it's my disc, they sold it to me, they took my money, they can go away. If I steal the keys off of some DVD I haven't bought, then I'm a thief. If I use the keys on some DVD I bought...

    THOSE.
    WERE.
    MY.
    KEYS.

    I'm going to sleep. Maybe when I wake up this nightmare of idiocy will be over.

    Yours Truly,

    Dan Kaminsky
    DoxPara Research
    http://www.doxpara.com

  3. DeCSS & CPHack aren't illegal until October! by PhilHibbs · · Score: 5
    "code that cracks a protection device is criminal under the DMCA even if the use of the copyrighted material that the code enables would be fair use."

    `Sec. 1201. Circumvention of copyright protection systems

    `(a) VIOLATIONS REGARDING CIRCUMVENTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES- (1)(A) No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title. The prohibition contained in the preceding sentence shall take effect at the end of the 2-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this chapter.
    (emphasis added)
    Full text:

    http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property/DMCA/ hr2281_dmca_law_19981020_pl105-30 4.html



  4. The problem of not caring... by raygundan · · Score: 5

    The largest problem facing those of us who are aware of issues like this (Censoreware, DVDs, the DMCA in general, etc...) is that the public at large is totally unaware that their rights are being taken away. In the censoreware example, people for the most part actually think that it is beneficial for their children to have censoreware installed in public places. And like much of the everyday technology they use (toasters, cars, TVs) they expect that it will just work. It never occurs to them that it could be blocking something legitimate! In the case of the DVD issues, very few americans have any need to play a DVD from another region. After all-- our region sees *almost* all of the movies (there are quite a few Japanese imports I would love to get my hands on, but the average American isn't interested) they would want to see. And how many non-geek friends who want to play DVDs do you know that have ONLY an unusual OS and a DVD-ROM? Not many.

    I'd really like to know how we can get a clear, concise, understandable explanation out to the public that will motivate them! I've tried explaining the DVD issue to people, and mostly they don't care one way or the other. When it comes to censoreware, they are a little more concerned, but it always comes back to "I'm not affected, and it's probably good for my kids."

    Ideas are welcome! If you've had success getting these points across, let me know!

  5. Don't just complain by 348 · · Score: 5

    Now that we've done all the complaining about the law and the DCMA, next step is to get involved.Here's how, Constructive communication to the folks who can make a difference beats whining every time.

    Electronic Frontier Foundation
    US House of Representatives
    US Senate
    Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC)
    Internet Free Expression Alliance (IFEA)
    Digital Future Coalition (DFC)
    TRUSTe Privacy Policy Certification Program

    --

    More race stuff in one place,
    than any one place on the net.