Bruce Perens Plans On-Stage DMCA Violation

cyber_rigger writes: "From this article at infoworld Bruce Perens said he plans to break the DMCA during a presentation on digital rights management (DRM) Friday afternoon at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention in San Diego. Technically, under the DMCA, Perens' explanation of the technology makes him liable for a fine of US$500,000. You have to admire his spirit."

Comments

You have to admire his spirit."

[phunhippy]

You have to admire his spirit.

Translation: I'm an armchair activist.

I think everyone should go out and opportunities post information about to break stuff like that "violates" the DMCA.. printing flyers.. posting them everywhere.. hehe even sticking batches of flyers next to dvd players in major stores would be a good start.

Why don't more people do this?

[Pooh22]

Disclaimer: I'm from the Netherlands, so the heat is still a few kms in front of me...

What I don't understand is that Bruce Perens is an exception to the rule. Whatever happened to civil disobedience as a way to make unambiguously clear that the government has gone too far and needs to rethink it's policies.

If Americans don't stand up more forcefully, the US will either infect the whole world with their orwellian shite or (I sure hope this happens) they will at some point in the near future be ignored as something that a free country cannot follow without losing essential freedoms.

Three cheers to Bruce Perens and anyone who follows his example!

Simon

Re:Why don't more people do this?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm an American. And you are why I LOVE foreigners and hate Americans. 90% of them are so caught up in their shallow existences they've forgotten they live in a world with other people. This is just my opinion, but a society raised on television has nothing left to shock it. And a society that isn't shocked won't stand up to fight :(

Is it really illegal?

[smiff]

I do not think Mr. Perens will be breaking the law. The law forbids trafficking in a circumvention device. Speech is not a device except when that 'speech' can function, such as with software (or so the court ruled in the DeCSS case). Simply telling someone how to circumvent region coding does not violate the DMCA, unless you 'tell' someone by providing software that can do it.

It is true that Felton was threatened with a law suit if he were to present non-functional speech on weaknesses in SDMI, but the RIAA would have gotten no where with a law suit, because Felton's speech would not function on its own.

Sklyarov was not arrested for speaking at DefCon. He was arrested because his company sold a copy of its DMCA violating software in the United States, and because he held the copyright on that software.

You can read section 1201 for yourselves. It says:

No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, that -

(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof;

By the same token, you can publish specs on how to circumvent macrovision. You just can't traffic in the device itself.

I am not a lawyer. If you plan on taking my advice, talk to a lawyer first.

Re:Is it really illegal?

[shaldannon]

Bruce is a lawyer so I figure if he says he's violating the DMCA, he should know. Other than that....you might pay some attention to the fact that the MPAA seems to like to haul people into court who are only linking to information about "violating" the DMCA, let alone actually doing so, so that technical consideration doesn't matter anyway.

Re:My question for Mr. Perens

[warpSpeed]

Hopefully they will arrest them....

If "they" don't arrest him, can future arresties argue selective prosecution?

Re:More then just technology

[sielwolf]

The problem here is not about a single law, but it is about a whole system that is showing signs of unrealibility, the so called Democracy.

Actually I thought civil disobedience (and this example) shows the strength of Democracy.

The problem is that, no matter how much bureaucracy you make, it is still possible to get an unjust law passed. So trying to improve the system won't work.

The key is that Democracy allows for grass-roots reevaluation of legal precedent (through intentional civil disobedience or unintentionally [Scopes Monkey Trial]).

How many important US laws have been passed due to activism? Women's sufferage, Civil Liberties Act, etc etc.

Demonstrations are the most legally protected and peaceful. Civil Disobedience comes right after it.

The problem is when you decide that the system is beyond repair and so you take to illegal action with little interest in federal procedure. If Perens was just going to hand out a thousand Region-free copies of the Matrix or if he was going to assassinate the President, then he would only be breaking the law for his own self-interest. He isn't and that's why I wish him the best of luck.

Considering the penalties...

[Inoshiro]

Wouldn't it just be better to murder someone in front of all these witnesses? Less jail time, less of a fine.

Or he could embezzle a few billion from HP, and only have to spend 5 years in a white-collar resort prison.

Re:We have a problem here...

[Bruce Perens]

I do have to leave some time for my talk, so I will probably limit the number of demos. But maybe I'll try the Celine Dion and a black marker thing. So far, I can't get either of my DVD-equipped laptops to work with DeCSS. Maybe someone else should bring one.

Bruce

Re:Civil disobedience and money

[Gleef]

Bruce Perins wrote:
I did not discuss this with anyone at HP. Most of my Free Software activism is done representing myself or SPI, and not HP.

Fair enough, and pretty much what I expected. HP is a public corporation beholden to its shareholders, and shareholders generally do not like their companies taking activist stances.

I would say chances are pretty good that no legal action will come from your demonstration, but if legal consequences happen, just wanted to make sure you and others were aware that it might become a fight on two fronts, the direct legal battle, and a battle with HP over wage garnishment, even though HP is uninvolved in the demonstration.

Since I have your ear, a small idea: If you want to make extra sure that the trafficking clause is triggered, you could sell the hacked VCR to a member of the audience.

Best of luck, and I admire your courage in this matter.