DMCA 2, Freedom 0

Politech is featuring this press release from EFF stating Judge Garrett Brown of the Federal District Court in Trenton, New Jersey, threw out the EFF-Felten case challenging the DMCA after less than 25 minutes of debate. DoJ and RIAA both made motions to dismiss the case, which the court granted. We'll have a story about what occurred at the hearing tomorrow. EFF plans to appeal. In addition, 2600 is reporting that they've lost their Appeal in the 2nd Circuit court.

Comments

The real

[Vegeta99]

??AA: Too many to count.
DMCA: 2
Freedom: 0
The Rest of the World: +2 "Canada Seems Much Better Right Now" bonus.

Great. I thought those DeCSS backup freaks had problems, but I just got out a blank and copied DeCSS, SmartRipper, and FlasK to a CD. It's in a jewel case in the floorboards now.

How can our rights be violated like this? I believe it was T. Jefferson that said every 25 years a revolution is healthy. Well, guys, it's been about TWO HUNDRED and 25.
Donate to the EFF. I can't follow my own advice, as I'm in debt right now. Write to the judge that handed down the motions to dismiss these appeals. Let them know how you feel. Make sure to let them know they won't get your retainer vote.

Being a minor in this country sucks. Looks like by the time I'm an adult (2 yrs) it won't be much better.

I wonder...

[InferiorFloater]

What could make a judge so hostile to clearly valid academic concerns? Pressure from DOJ or other big-buisiness government interests? The knowledge that her decision ultimately didn't mean squat since the decision would get appealed for decades?

But seriously, what judge could turn down an appeal here? The decision was obviously one-sided.

No DMCA in Canada

[Vagary]

Tired of the laws your brain-dead politicians keep creating? Consider Canada! Sure the weather is a little colder than California, but the taxes aren't as high as you've heard. I think you'll find that business is better up here.

Ask yourself: What more does the US government have to do before you'll leave? Guess what? They'll do it!

Computer Science Major and Political Science Minor

[SuperDuG]

Well I'm a college student with a Computer Science majoy and a Political Science minor because quite frankly I'm tired of all of this. The DMCA was made for a good reason - "to protect copyrighted materials" - but for some reason has become an excuse for power hungry people to get their sobbed stories to give them permission to "push around the little guy".

The DMCA is a hassel and should definantelly be considered in the supreme court, why it's still in circut court is far beyound me, I guess EFF is just trying to go through the motions of getting it directly to the supreme court. Why the DoJ would make a motion to dismiss is beyound me though.

The United States division of powers The Legislative Branch is checked by the Judicial Branch THROUGH court rulings, but I guess someone forgot to mention this plain key fact to the DoJ, but wait ... could I be right when I make the assumption that the government is no longer for the people which it represents and more for how well their own pockets can be lined by our fellow extremely wealthy citizens.

Could corperate Kick-Backs be the main case behind why the DMCA was born and is still alive? Of course not, We are Americans in a democracy for the people and by the people with full and equal representation and rights ... *cough* bullshit *cough* ... we're a capitalistic society and I'm ashamed that anything of this nature is going on. I'm also very surprised that like the DECSS the SDMI cracks haven't hit the open source world yet ...

Oh well ... just my opinion I could be wrong.

Not willing to go to jail to prove a point?

[supabeast!]

Why didn't the scientists involved just present their research pulicly, and make it a media event? Let the corporate goon squads of the DOJ/FBI prosecute the scientists, in front of the American media, obviously violating their consitutional rights? Or are these scientists willing to go to jail to make a point? Apparently not.

So here I will make an offer: Someone get me a good presentation that violates the DMCA, along with printed handouts, and time at a conference to present it. Inform the media and the DOJ/RIAA/MPAA ahead of time of what I will be dicussing. Have a lawyer ready to represent me. At that time I will pass out printed photocopies of the presentation and give the presentation. I am willing to go to jail over this if someone else is willing to do the preparatory work. If you can get provide the backing, just drop me an email at supabeast AT supabeast DAWT oh-are-gee.

Re:Computer Science Major and Political Science Mi

[marxmarv]

could I be right when I make the assumption that the government is no longer for the people which it represents and more for how well their own pockets can be lined by our fellow extremely wealthy citizens.

Close, but perhaps a little too cynical. It is valid (and urgent) to ask why the government has been allowed to advocate its own interests distinct from and in many cases adversarial to the public interest, and whose interest the government really is serving if not the public interest. It may not be that the current regime consciously acts in service of wealth, but that wealth itself, or traits closely associated with wealth, such as photogenicity, a firm handshake, the ability to lie with a straight face and close deals, and the unshakable drive to power, is a prerequisite in the eyes of the majority of the public, and the wealthy, like any other clique, fend for their own. Keep in mind the two "major" parties would have no reason to exist were donations to the parties made illegal.

I have the sinking feeling that political means won't solve this problem when the two "major" parties fight each other only for show and become instant allies whenever a promising adversary appears. Yet any attempt to apply non-political means would only get the Communists rounded up and killed just like after the Reichstag fire. It appears the most reliable way to be free of the socialist overclass enforcing capitalism for the underclass is to pollute ourselves into infirmity as the Romans did, and wait a couple hundred years for the Visigoths to take Rome again.

I'm starting to doubt the New Agers' fawning over the Age of Aquarius. Technological feudalism is every bit as comfortable under Aquarius as the socialist collective.

-jhp

Re:Things are only getting worse.

[markmoss]

The great-grandchildren of the author don't make any money. The great-grandchildren of the executives of the publishing company who extorted the rights from the author make the money. IIRC, the rights do have to eventually revert back to the author, so if there is still any money to be made the author's great-granchildren will get their share. Unfortunately, the creator's share has generally be 10% or less, and there is no sign that this share is increasing at all as technology drives the physical cost of publication to essentially zero (for music and software).

The exception to the rule that rights revert to the creator is "work for hire". That's fair enough when the work is essentially a corporate creation. There was one underhanded attempt to change this; a Congressional staffer, at the end of a session when nobody was reading what they were voting for, snuck in an amendment that made all musical recordings work for hire. (You get one guess as to what industry that guy is now working for.) When the musicians noticed it, they went to Congress and got it overturned. At the hearing, no one at all dared show up and try to defend this change, and certainly no Congressman wants to have 100 rock stars campaigning against him. But it took time, and so the record companies own outright most of the recordings made that year...