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Sklyarov Case Exposes DMCA Contradictions

Posted by timothy on from the doublethink-tripletalk- dept.

aePrime writes: "This article on the New York Times describes how the case against Dmitri Sklyarov is bringing up some contridictions within the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. One is allowed to bypass security measures to backup data, but one is not allowed to write the software to bypass the security. It mentions how this first case to be prosecuted under the law may indeed cause changes to the law." A lot of bad laws have stuck around for longer than the DMCA has yet, but the more this kind of analysis is seen, the sooner sanity can be restored.

9 of 288 comments (clear)

  1. Ultimate ThinkGeek item... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The DMCA written on toilet paper!!!

  2. Re:No reg link by die_rollerblader · · Score: 4, Funny

    I hope that link isn't an illegal circumvention device!

  3. well, good by p3bf · · Score: 4, Funny

    Okay, bring it on. I can take it. More DMCA.

    Shouldn't we have a Code Red IV, The Voyage Home, where Skylarov travels back in time before the DMCA and can go home? A whale of a good tail.

    --
    Slashdot: Everything in Moderation, including Moderation itself.
  4. Re:I love this part by Decimal+Dave · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Many of the people I know can come up with a program to do it themselves, without being in the business of doing it," Ms. Peters said.

    Hmmm... Sounds like she just exposed herself as being part of some sort of hacker ring. Better watch out for the Feds, Ms. Peters; it's their job to put away people like you.

    --

    "Leave the strategizing to those of us with planet-sized brains." -Tycho
  5. Re:I love this part by hbo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe she should be heading the Patent Office instead. Her "friends" could help them get a clue.

    --

    "Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers

  6. ./configure by abe+ferlman · · Score: 4, Funny
    A lot of bad laws have stuck around for longer than the DMCA has yet, but the more this kind of analysis is seen, the sooner sanity can be restored.

    tar -xvzf dmca.tar.gz
    cd dmca
    ./configure
    creating cache ./config.cache
    checking for extra includes... no
    checking for extra libs... no
    checking for a BSD compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
    checking whether legal environment is sane... no
    *Exit with error code 1

    --
    microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
  7. I like this one.... by Flower · · Score: 3, Funny
    Allan Adler, vice president for legal and governmental affairs at the Association of American Publishers, has an explanation. "There is no device that can distinguish between a fair use and a non-fair use,"

    I beg to differ. I have the perfect device to distinguish fair use. It's called a brain. I have greater faith in its capability than in any access control scheme Big Media may come up with.

    --
    I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
  8. Don't worry by briggsb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Congress has already passed legislation to remedy the situation.

  9. The Perfect Defense by AlpineR · · Score: 2, Funny
    Try this approach, Dmitri:

    Fight fire with fire

    AlpineR