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Adam Bresson Demonstrates Fair Use at DefCon

Posted by timothy on from the shameful-that-this-should-be-remarkable dept.

nigelc writes: "Adam Bresson showed how to make copies of copyright-protected videos in a speech at DefCon. To quote the article, 'I hope he's got a lawyer and that they talked to somebody'" From the article, it sounds like Bresson simply used a video conversion box to defeat MacroVision -- something my notorious criminal father has been doing for years.

2 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Is this really fair use? (ie. Devils Advocate) by Temsi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since the copyright laws specify you're paying for the CONTENT not the MEDIUM it is stored on, it makes perfect sense to ensure the content you've paid for will remain in your posession even if the storage medium fails for some reason.

    You get another bag at the grocery store if the first bag rips on the way out, right? Or would you leave the groceries on the sidewalk? Of course not. You've already paid for them.
    Now imagine if the store told you you'd have to pay for the groceries again in order to get a new bag.
    Same thing as when a record store asks you to pay full price for a replacement cd.

    --
    -- This sig for rent.
  2. Re:I'm shocked by RollingThunder · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Purchasing DVD's is not out of the question, but buying more than a few a year stresses my budget. I did buy Oceans 11 and Lock Stock...Since I wore out my HD watching them on divx.
    Problem 1: Students' incomes are quite low, and not continuous all year long.
    Problem 2: I need to buy books. Textbooks are expensive.
    Problem 3: 10 DVDs * $20 each = $200. 200 bucks is a large percentage (don't laugh) of my annual income.
    Meta-Problem: you have no intrinsic right to these products. It doesn't matter that you can't afford to buy them or can afford to buy them. If you can't, you don't get them. Simple as that - or it should be.

    You have a choice. Pay for the movies, or pay for the books - but don't pretend that being short on cash makes it OK to watch rips off the net. It's still wrong.