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2600 Appeal Rejected
blankmange writes "Wired is reporting that 2600's appeal has been rejected by a federal appeals court. "The Second Circuit Court of Appeals said in a one-line ruling that it was not going to revisit an earlier decision in which 2600 was found to be unlawfully distributing a DVD-descrambling utility. In January 2000, eight movie studios sued the legendary hacker quarterly for posting the DeCSS.exe utility, which decodes DVDs and allows them to be viewed on a Linux computer." The magazine now has 90 days to file a Supreme Court appeal." The Appeals court did not have to take the case, and they didn't. 2600 can appeal to the Supreme Court, but they don't have to take the case either - it's looking more and more as though Kaplan's ruling will stand.
I think a large part of the reason it wasn't allowed for appeal was the great number of protests and courtroom hijinx 2600 brought with them. Its like being the class clown, teachers aren't going to give many favors and would rather send you to the principals office than deal with you directly.
While I believe there are a few more cases pending that seek to gut it, I think we may have to get used to living with the DMCA. It's unfortunate, but this is what happens when you live in a society that is ruled by the media industry. With only a few companies controlling 90% of the TV stations and two or three firms taking control of the radio, it's going to take some serious lobbying to stop these types of bills passing. The Internet is the only thing standing between the media giants and their utter control of free speech. If something isn't done to curb this, we may find ourselves in a society not run by a single 'big-brother' State, but instead run by a few giant media groups. Not that they couldn't - at that point - purchase the State, with all of the media at there disposal, they could do anything. And most people would go along with it, because they saw it on TV. I can just here my parents and grandparents now - "Well, so-and-so on channel 2 said it was a good idea. And then I heard the same on channel 7 - and then the newspaper endorsed the idea. So, it must be the way to go..."
My car is capable of going over a hundred miles an hour. I can also use it to run over hapless pedestrians. Yet I do neither (at least not on purpose)
I own guns. I'm capable of all sorts of mischief. I choose not to.
I own a baseball bat. I don't attack people with it. Sometimes I even hit baseballs with it.
Decss is a nice tool that I can use to store my favorite DVD on my laptop and watch it when I'm on travel without dragging a bunch of extra stuff around. I don't steal movies on DVD... I certainly could, I chose not to.
Just because you can use a tool that has a legitmate purpose to break the law doesn't mean you will do so.
Plus, who has time to download some sucky dvd rip anyway? Life's too short, I'd rather plunk down the $20 or so and have a nice library. It's retarded to spend all that time stealing a movie then pay big bucks for a writable DVD.
Don't anthropomorphize computers, they don't like it.
He correctly pointed out that disputes over the limits of fair use and copyright lie in Congress's jurisdiction, no the courts. The courts job is to enforce the law and interpret it to a given set of facts. The whole First Amendment argument was incredibly weak anyway. Arguing that DeCSS actually made some sort of statement that was political rather then being a tool used by others too make a political statement was akin to the anarchist arguing that bomb making was protected because his political opinions were. If DMCA tromps on your fair use rights then get your butts out on the campaign circuit, contribute time, money, and sweat to political candidates who will promise to change it. Support those that back your view and fight those that don't. This is an election year kiddies, remember? Every single House member and a third of the senate. Don't give me that blatther about Hollywood ownes them, yada, yada, yada. Individuals vote, in election places, on election day, not dollar, not companies, individuals. So start cranking ou broadsides explaining this issue to the voters, start going door to door, start working campaigns and making contributions and get involved. I've been a political activist for eight years, making connections and getting to know folks, and I tell you that most politicians are desperate for grass roots activists, Go to your local political club, introduce yourself, let the local politician know your computer aware and he may come to you for an opinion on these matters. But don't be percieved as an anarchist. Wash your hair and face, dress nice, dump the rightious indignation and be polite considerate and non dictitorial and give of your own time and money to help them and they will listen. In the end it's the Congress that created this mess and it's in Congress it will need to get fixed. So rant here, but get active in the real world. Or prepare to keep getting run over!
So far as I can tell... the foundation for the MPAA's case is that DeCSS was a 'tool' for people who stole their copyrighted works - that was why posting, and then linking to, DeCSS was interpreted as a crime in the first place. The defence was based on at least three central points. First, that DeCSS was legitimate to be in possession of, as it was useful as a tool to use content already paid for; moreso, as it was the only way to access such content on particular players (Linux DVD drives). Second, that computer source code is protected speech (I'm not sure if they only argued for symbolic code (C, C++, Java; assembler for your chip of choice) or bianary code (1100, etc.)) as it was a form of written communication, albeit encoded. Thirdly, linking to other websites from your own site does not just imply that you condone or encourage what the linked-to site has in terms of content.
The prosecution would somehow have to argue that the comprimising picture was illegal. Seeing as tabloids flourish (with many a unwanted photo) and there is nothing inherently useful about having a photograph in computer code except for the ease of distribution, the example may be a bit pessimistic. I may be wrong; some places have privacy laws that might cover such distribution. Either way, the disputed data must be illegal in some way. Or so I read it.
On the other hand, IANAL either.
P.S.DeCSS. The US may be the land of the brave, but Canada is the home of the free :)
Some people see the fight against the DMCA as a fight to let us copy video and audio in ways that we want. In some respects that's true, but for some it's a lot more.
The DMCA is offensive because of the submersed way it was passed. Recall the stories about the method applied. The voting was held in a dubious way at a dubious time if I recall correctly. This is law that never had due process. While there was a little bit of mention about it prior to it being passed into law, the DMCA was passed very quickly and very quietly. There are enough people pissed off about that to disallow that tactic from being used again for a while. We should be fighting against that tactic but you have to get legislators prepared to fight that for you... there is no other way.
The DMCA was law written in the interest of one group only. The public's interest wasn't even a little-bit considered. It was already illegal to copy copyrighted works. We didn't need new law to make it 'more' illegal. It was written so that it could be a weapon against due process against the people who are less capable of affording good legal defense. In effect, it gave the entertainment interests "first strike nuclear capability" against anyone they want without good due process involved. The DMCA isn't about making anything 'more' illegal, it's a weapon. Since when should law be a weapon?
Finally, since this is a weapon in the interests of the entertainment media, getting the public's attention will be pretty much impossible without major events. Most people still don't know what Macrovision is and just think there's something wrong with their VCR. (Admittedly, I didn't know what it was either until I bought my first DVD player. Since I have an inexpensive TV and an inexpensive VCR, the only obvious way to hook my DVD player up was through my VCR's inputs... but for some mysterious reason it was all scrambled... most people usually stop there, but I'm a geek -- it's still a rare breed -- which is where my story kinda begins.)
The DMCA and future 'technology law' seek to restrict knowledge and the ability to tweak, tinker and research. This takes such knowledge out of the hands of the hobbyist almost entirely. The ability for me to hack on things on my kitchen table... to learn about the world on any level of my choosing is a very fundamental restriction. The restriction of information and knowledge... just the thought of it frightens me. Speech is just the way knowledge is conveyed. There are things that 'they don't want you to know or even know about!' That's a big problem.
I find it disturbing when there is software installed on my machine doing something I don't want it to do and didn't know was there. That's usually called a virus or a trojan. Now it's also called "spyware" and "ad engines." I'm not alone in that. I find it disturbing when law is passed without public notice, attention or heed... our legislators just looked the other way allowing the first of many up-an-coming measures to begin. Again, disturbing.
And finally, again as the DMCA and similar laws being attemptd are in the interest of the parties controlling the media, it's not likely that any small events will get public attention. If you need a visual, imagine a cute little cartoon boa contrictor surrounding us. It's cute, funny, interesting, colorful... but that's always the approach of this predator. And when we can't get out, they constrict until we can't breathe.
Changes in the way our government runs is no accident. It was predicted and it is happening now. Public opinion is that we do not own our country -- our government does -- and anything happening that we don't like; there's nothing we can do about it.
I resent being called a 'troll.' The point I'm making is that the public's attention isn't being raised and that's no accident. The 9-11 event was not just a 'terrorist act.' It was a very significant "PR" move to get attention. There is a problem with what's going on over there in those distant lands. People never really knew about it before then. Sometimes, that's just what it takes to get their attention. People still don't know why it happened but more people know now than did before. Likewise, people still don't know the value of what's going on here. Right now, the DMCA is only bothering a 'few' individuals and we have 'Larry Flynt' [2600] fighting our battles for us. In the same way people had a difficult time getting behind 'porn' people are having some problem getting behind 'hackers.'
Our Reality is our perception and since the media is our perception, they control our reality.
Civil Disobedience.
You have a moral obligation to ignore any laws that you do not agree with-- especially laws that are designed to protect the interests of a select few at the expense of society proper.
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/