Serial Cables Illegal Due to DMCA?

Colin McMillen writes "I've recently had an interesting run-in with the DMCA... apparently, US Customs has rejected entry of a PC<->Sega Dreamcast serial cable into the US, supposedly due to copyright violations. This cable was to be used for Dreamcast programming for the Real-Time Systems class offered at my university. This seems to be a clear case of the DMCA abridging a perfectly valid educational use of a perfectly legal piece of hardware."

Comments

No ...

[pb]

This is a case of customs intercepting what they perceive to be illegal (mod-chips and whatnot); however, it's disturbing that they don't know or check what the merchandise is, and that they do this under the DMCA, the most far-reaching and untried piece of crappy legislation since the CDA.

However, it might work to everyone's advantage if you pursue this; I would love to see the DMCA overturned, and I'm sure the EFF would too. Therefore, I'm sure many people would be happy to contribute time, effort, or money if you have a case and can pursue it. (it's hard to sue the gov't; I wonder why ...)

This was a violation of procedure

[Fair Use Guy]

I recently conferred with an undergrad who was importing some obviously bootlegged software CDs from the Orient onto campus for resale. Customs intercepted a particularly large order at one point and held it on DMCA grounds. Here was the sequence of events:

• Order was seized and the recipient was notified
• The recipient was requested to either send the items back, or to sign an affadavit that the items were legal in this country
• The recipient signed the affadavit and the "affected parties", the publishers who had put the CDs on their Customs block list, had three (3) business days to contest the affadavit
• The publishers did nothing, and the shipment went through

The USPS tends to act more in accordance with the proper procedures, and the private shippers tend to discourage them to avoid the trouble and added costs. So if you're going to order something illegal from overseas, the Postal Service is usually the way to go.

/fug

Cable vs. knife

[BlowCat]

Being neighter addict of games nor user of proprietory software, I would normally vote against articles involving so called "piracy" and game machines, but this article raises a very important issue. Should the customs decide which cables are allowed to be imported based on the probability that they will be used illegally? I strongly believe that the notion of "software piracy" is wrong, because the so called "pirates" don't kill or rob anyone - the worst thing they do is depriving artists of some artificial monopoly that the society grants them to stimulate their creativity.

Banning cables is even worse - it creates a notion of "pirates' tool", something tangible that can be used as a "weapon" by "bad guys" and should be kept out of the country.

Isn't it strange that I can import a knife but I cannot import a cable?

Re:Customs Official or UPS?

[MrResistor]

As much as I hate them, that's exactly what Lawyers are for. Most of the time you don't even have to have one, just the threat of talking to one is usually enough to get their attention and try to work things out with you.

Also, filing a complaint with your states Better Business Bureu is surprisingly effective, and can usually be done online.

If you really want to be a dick, sue them in small claims court naming the President, CEO, and local sysadmin as defendents. In CA lawyers aren't allowed in small claims court, and if you don't show up you automatically lose.

It's probably a little late now to do any of these, but worth filing away for future consideration.

The DMCA specifically allows R.E.ing

[yerricde]

Reverse engineering is supposedly covered under Fair Use, right?

In fact, the letter of the DMCA (17 USC 1201(f)) makes an exception to its anti-circumvention provisions for acts of reverse engineering "necessary to achieve interoperability." (The reasoning in the 2600 case was flawed, and it's in appeals right now.)