Slashdot Mirror
Librarian of Congress Posts DMCA Exemptions
MrNerdHair writes "The Librarian of Congress has posted a list of exemptions from the DMCA (also obtainable in PDF here.) Works falling in four 'classes' may be considered exempt from Section 1201 of the DMCA's prohibition against 'circumvention of a technological measure which effectively controls access to a work.' Among the list are blacklists of sites used in programs such as NetNanny and cracks to bypass dongles on abandonware. All in all, a very interesting read ..." Not just interesting: as Robin Gross writes, "Unfortunately, the ruling leaves the vast majority of consumers unable to access their own property, such as skipping commercials on DVDs, playing CDs in their PCs, and reading eBooks on PDA's without violating the DMCA." Update: 10/29 15:19 GMT by T : Take a look at Seth Finkelstein's site for an idea of how being pushy can sometimes be helpful; Finkelstein has loudly pushed for the importance of DMCA exemptions, including in Congressional testimony.
Can I save this this list as an html file and burn it to CD and distribute it legally?
"The Librarian of Congress"?
She must be busy as hell!
The saddest thing about this whole DMCA fiasco is that there were enough people illegally distributing copyrighted works that the publishers saw fit to put these idiotic controls in.
Both sides are wrong, but it was the copyright infringers who were wrong first.
Now we are stuck with these controls and a completely braindead law that makes it a crime to exercise what was once accepted as 'inalienable rights'.
"circumvention of a technological measure which effectively controls access to a work."
If it can be circumvented, then it's not really that effective, now is it?
The ruling seems to be very clueful. It appears that the LOC has spoken, and the bottom line is that "fair use" isn't defined as "anything I want it to be".
Sorry - if a consumer wants to own a movie s/he should hire a film crew, construct the sets, pay big names outrageous fortunes, write the scripts, pay for post production, etc. After you spend at least a million (and that's LOW budget) THEN you own a movie, can make copies and give it away, rip it, edit it, whatever you want.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Really there should be a list of things that ARE covered by the DCMA so that companies can't blidning through the DCMA around everytime they feel threatended.
Beings aspergers AND pulling chicks... I enjoy the challenge!
It's a start...
Created with word or something similarly evil, but here it is:
IP Justice Media Release
Contact: Robin Gross, IP Justice Executive Director
+1 415-553-6261 robin@ipjustice.org
October 28, 2003
US Copyright Office DMCA Ruling Issued
Consumers Still Unable to Make Lawful Use of Digital Media
Today the US Librarian of Congress issued its Ruling in the triennial proceedings pursuant to the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to determine possible exemptions to the DMCA's general ban on circumvention of technological restrictions controlling copyrighted works. Unfortunately, the ruling leaves the vast majority of consumers unable to access their own property, such as skipping commercials on DVDs, playing CDs in their PCs, and reading eBooks on PDA's without violating the DMCA.
The Librarian's ruling is based upon the recommendation of the US Copyright Office after conducting its public study on the adverse impact on the ability to make fair use and other lawful uses of digital media.
The US Librarian of Congress has created the following four narrow exemptions from the DMCA's general ban on circumvention for the next three-years:
1. Compilations consisting of lists of Internet locations blocked by commercially marketed filtering software applications that are intended to prevent access to domains, websites or portions of websites, but not including lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to protect against damage to a computer or computer network or lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to prevent receipt of email.
2. Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
3. Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.
4. Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling of the ebook's read-aloud function and that prevent the enabling of screen readers to render the text into a specialized format
The first two exemptions are very similar to the original two exemptions granted by the Librarian in the first DMCA Rulemaking in 2000. While the two new exemptions will be useful to a small handful of consumers, the Librarian's ruling still leaves the vast majority of legitimate consumer uses of digital media illegal under the DMCA.
During the Rulemaking, IP Justice requested the Librarian issue exemptions to permit consumers to access their DVDs, CDs, and ebooks on the devices of their choosing and in the manner of their choosing.
"Its disappointing that the US Copyright Office and Librarian continue to relinquish their power to protect the rights of American consumers to lawfully use their own property as Congress had intended when it created this rulemaking proceeding in 1998," said IP Justice Executive Director Robin Gross, who testified in both the 2000 and 2003 US Copyright Office Hearings.
Even though the Librarian's ruling creating exemptions to the DMCA's general ban on circumvention under 1201 (a)(1), all the tools that are necessary to practically carry out that exemption are still forbidden under 1201(a)(2).
In the 2000 US Copyright Office DMCA Rulemaking, two exemptions were issued to the general ban on circumvention.
1. Compilations consisting of lists of Web sites blocked by filtering software applications.
2. Literary works, including computer programs and databases, protected by access control mechanisms that fail to permit access because of malfunction, damage or obsolescence.
US Copyright Office Ruling of Oct. 28, 2003:
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/
The Recommendation of th
meep
When we say LOCs, we don't mean libraries of congress, it's how many LIBRARIANS of congress will fit on a drive, or be passed across a network, or whatever. It all makes sense now...
The US Librarian of Congress has created the following four narrow exemptions from the DMCA's general ban on circumvention for the next three-years:
1. Compilations consisting of lists of Internet locations blocked by commercially marketed filtering software applications that are intended to prevent access to domains, websites or portions of websites, but not including lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to protect against damage to a computer or computer network or lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to prevent receipt of email.
2. Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
3. Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.
4. Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling of the ebook's read-aloud function and that prevent the enabling of screen readers to render the text into a specialized format
Windows 95 is considered obsolete and unsupported by Microsoft, right? And doesn't that end many questions on MAME?
I can't wait for the next round of exceptions.
+&x
The text of #3:
(3) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
Doesn't this make emulators like MAME and the use of ROMS legal now?
IP Justice Media Release
Contact: Robin Gross, IP Justice Executive Director
+1 415-553-6261 robin@ipjustice.org
October 28, 2003
US Copyright Office DMCA Ruling Issued
Consumers Still Unable to Make Lawful Use of Digital Media
Today the US Librarian of Congress issued its Ruling in the triennial proceedings pursuant to the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to determine possible exemptions to the DMCA's general ban on circumvention of technological restrictions controlling copyrighted works. Unfortunately, the ruling leaves the vast majority of consumers unable to access their own property, such as skipping commercials on DVDs, playing CDs in their PCs, and reading eBooks on PDA's without violating the DMCA.
The Librarian's ruling is based upon the recommendation of the US Copyright Office after conducting its public study on the adverse impact on the ability to make fair use and other lawful uses of digital media.
The US Librarian of Congress has created the following four narrow exemptions from the DMCA's general ban on circumvention for the next three-years:
1. Compilations consisting of lists of Internet locations blocked by commercially marketed filtering software applications that are intended to prevent access to domains, websites or portions of websites, but not including lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to protect against damage to a computer or computer network or lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to prevent receipt of email.
2. Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
3. Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.
4. Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling of the ebook's read-aloud function and that prevent the enabling of screen readers to render the text into a specialized format
The first two exemptions are very similar to the original two exemptions granted by the Librarian in the first DMCA Rulemaking in 2000. While the two new exemptions will be useful to a small handful of consumers, the Librarian's ruling still leaves the vast majority of legitimate consumer uses of digital media illegal under the DMCA.
During the Rulemaking, IP Justice requested the Librarian issue exemptions to permit consumers to access their DVDs, CDs, and ebooks on the devices of their choosing and in the manner of their choosing.
"Its disappointing that the US Copyright Office and Librarian continue to relinquish their power to protect the rights of American consumers to lawfully use their own property as Congress had intended when it created this rulemaking proceeding in 1998," said IP Justice Executive Director Robin Gross, who testified in both the 2000 and 2003 US Copyright Office Hearings.
Even though the Librarian's ruling creating exemptions to the DMCA's general ban on circumvention under 1201 (a)(1), all the tools that are necessary to practically carry out that exemption are still forbidden under 1201(a)(2).
In the 2000 US Copyright Office DMCA Rulemaking, two exemptions were issued to the general ban on circumvention.
1. Compilations consisting of lists of Web sites blocked by filtering software applications.
2. Literary works, including computer programs and databases, protected by access control mechanisms that fail to permit access because of malfunction, damage or obsolescence.
US Copyright Office Ruling of Oct. 28, 2003:
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/
The Recommendation of the Register of Copyrights:
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/doc
DMCA has failed!
>(2) Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
Cool, the fact that my DVD won't play is a *malfunction* and the producer of the DVD is a member of an *obsolete* cartel, so it's open slather baby!
From the website:
(1) Compilations consisting of lists of Internet locations blocked by commercially marketed filtering software applications that are intended to prevent access to domains, websites or portions of websites, but not including lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to protect against damage to a computer or computer network or lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to prevent receipt of email.
(2) Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
(3) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
(4) Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling of the ebook's read-aloud function and that prevent the enabling of screen readers to render the text into a specialized format.
Definitions. (1) ?Internet locations? are defined to include domains, uniform resource locators (URLs), numeric IP addresses or any combination thereof.
(3) ?Obsolete? shall mean ?no longer manufactured or reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.?
(3) ?Specialized format,? ?digital text? and ?authorized entities? shall have the same meaning as in 17 U.S.C. 121.
Just leave the US.
Go NOW before they figure it out.
Leave before the building of the.
Two transcontinental walls.
You will have a better chance.
with appropriate aluminum headgear.
You license the content.
could be a he... heck, as the librarian of congress, i imagined Conan The Librarian!
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
I want to skip the commercials on the DVDs that I buy. I want to watch a DVD that I purchased in Europe. I want to rip the DVD to my PC for my OWN viewing pleasure. Why shouldn't I be able to do that easily?
If I buy a DVD of a movie, I want to be able to skip there damn promos. I don't want the disc or player telling me that I HAVE TO WATCH THEIR ADVERTISEMENTS.
It's asine. It would, according to the DVD spec, be possible for them to produce a movie which would not allow you to pause, fast forward, or rewind.
What if I want to get up and take a piss?
If I transfer that DVD to something like VHS, so that I can pause it to get up and take a piss, I AM A CRIMINAL. This has nothing to do with stopping piracy.
Time to bust out the NES and SNES roms ;) yeah yeah ;)
;)
i could get worse just miss my nintendo
Supermario at 3ghz
Windows 95 is considered obsolete and unsupported by Microsoft, right? And doesn't that end many questions on MAME?
This ruling merely creates exceptions to the DMCA, i.e. cracking the protection on a work, not distributing it. Therefore, as Windows 95 is a copyrighted work and you don't need to crack its protection to get it to work on a PC (its native format), this ruling does not affect Windows 95 in any way. And the only thing it changes for MAME is that it makes it legal to crack the protection on arcade boards to decrypt and emulate them. It's still illegal to trade abandonware ROMs/ISOs.
If you haven't already read The Right to Read, do it while you still have the right to do it. From what I witness it might change in the near future. Funny that we all were laughing at Richard when he wrote his "dystopian science fiction which will never happen outside of a paranoid mind guarded with a tinfoil hat" and at the same time we all kept allowing it to slowly happen. And who looks like a fool now? Not Richard but us. It certainly doesn't make me feel proud at all.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
Unfortunately no. Section 2 & 3 specifically state (emphesis mine):
2. Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
3. Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
So this says you are allowed to bypass and DRM or other copy protection necessary to access the software if it is no longer feasable to do it legally... BUT you must own the software in the first place to do this. Otherwise it could still be considered piracy.
Blockwars: multiplayer gaming... free!
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
Being the consumer, I should be able to utilize (that is to say consume) the product in whatever manner I see fit. This includes skipping parts I don't want to see, changing the product to my tastes and prehaps even creating a backup product incase one should expire.
This doesn't mean I should be able to profit from the product directly.. however I should not be prevented from the manners in which I choose to utilize it.
The whole "ownership" thing is misleading. The concept of "owning ideas" is a purely legal one (without even the philosophy to back it up.) Owners who offer their products for consumption have *no right* to control how their products are consumed.
When the 'iron horse' was making its way across the plains the communities along the way made up all sorts of laws restricting what could and could not be done with a train. The most shrill DMCA supporters are the twenty first century equivalent of buggy whip makers from the nineteenth century.
... can't think of any, can you?
Quick! Name three buggy whip vendors! Ah
The GNU battering ram is going to level Microsoft, Sun, SCO, SGI, and it'll take a large bite out of Cisco, Nortel, Avaya, and the like as well.
The US will try to restrain it, the rest of the world will embrace it, and after a brief period of agonizing over brainstem companies like M$ that just don't realize they're mostly dead already, the tide will reverse. Its going to take a generation and I don't mean an internet time generation, but the outcome is inevitable.
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
This isn't about what you want. If you don't want to watch the advertisements, then you don't want the DVD, so DON'T BUY THE DVD, DURRR.
Also, if someone wants to make a DVD that can't be paused, fast-forwarded, or rewound, and you're afraid of what would happen if you want to get up and take a piss, then DON'T BUY THE DVD, DURRR.
Also, if you transfer that DVD to VHS, you are not a criminal. The person who made (trafficked in) the utility which you used to circumvent CSS/Macrovision is a criminal. DURRR.
Maybe you're just not cut out for this whole DVD thing.
May someone please give me a non-obscene definition of the word 'dongles?'
It is a horrible law, it should have never been passed. There are enough problems with it that it woiuld be easier to repeal it, you know, governments doing something for the people instead of big business. This is just peanuts to all the problems it presents. Just ditch it!
-Seriv
What I want to know, is if it costs so much to buy a DvD, why cant you do what you want with it..
Its time we get out those DvD burners and show the MPAA what the RIAA's truly afraid of.
It might actually work, except for those darn good geek movies. My one weakiness, worse than porn.
Reading the article, it seems to me like the third exemption makes mod chips for video game consoles legal. It specifically states that it covers current (non-obsolete media) and allows for the circumvention of copy protection when a copy can be made, but not used, without circumventing copy protection. The same exemption also specifically mentions video games.
Also, I could see possibly some help for DeCSS-specifically the section of I believe the first exemption relating to the restriction of fair use.
"circumvention of a technological measure which effectively controls access to a work."
:)
Code == art right?
Rule 4 seems to say that if you can't get a copy of an ebook that a screen reader can read (basically plain text or html) then you're allowed to make a program to get said plain text. It doesn't specify that you are blind to be able to use this exception... Doesn't this allow you to do basically anything you would want with your ebook, just phrased in a way no one can argue with it?
Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
I see this as a ploy to respond to those who have been screaming to get this horrible law overthrown for several years. To the casual person who doesn't know what a horrible piece of legislation the DMCA is, this could look like some kind of compromise possibly giving the law more credibility. If the LOC projects the impression that they want to work with opponents of the law and make it "better" while avoiding further legal action, maybe they hope that will give the law a better reputation with the public. In reality it is a realization that the DMCA's days are numbered and a pathetic attempt to appease the courts to keep it in place.
-You may license this sig for only $6.99.
leaves consumers unable to access their own property
Legally, the physical media is the property of the consumer. The consumer only owns a limited access to the information stored on the media. This law does not affect the consumers access to their own property, but it does affect thier access to other people's property.
realize that this is the first of many baby-steps towards getting this POS out of the current system of laws in the US.
... whether you agree that this is a "Good Thing(tm)" ... SOME PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE ... granted, it's not very MUCH of progress, but it's some.
I'll say it again
topreacher@signature.slashdot.org 1% rm -rf sig
that all versions of Windows other than XP are soon to be obsolete?
Why yes I am paranoid! Thanks for asking!
The whole license thing is actualy pretty murky. And really had to do with land (dealing with a permit by a governing authority to do an act which otherwise would be illegal.. the "software" license is really more of a contract.)
The fact of the mater is that you put up money for somthing with no claims or warrenties given to you. There is no contract that you sign to view it.
There is no license to view it.
There is federal law, of course, preventing you from doing certian actions (such as making a bunch of copies and selling it). But these are goverment laws, not licenses (nor dependant upon them).
Once a product is sold to you by it's owner (through an authorized seller) they lose their ablity to say how you can use that product. The only limits on you are federal regulations.
in reality you both own the product, and your ownship rights are determiend by law (copyright law, fair use, etc) you can't make some copies and sell them, but neither can they prevent you from watching the orginal as you see fit.
It is 3Q 2030.
You're arguing with your wife again. It seems she's missed her spending quota again this quarter. A proud patriot, you have no problem spending 85% and sometimes 90% of your income on consumer goods, yet she can't manage to spend even close to the 75% required by law. It's that foreign mentality, you suppose--that's what happens when you are educated overseas and without the benefit of a corporate sponsor. You have to remind her that if the Internal Consumer's Service (ICS) catches her, she'll be doing time in Philip Morris(TM) Prison like her uncle.
Oh well, hopefully a night at the town's AOL-Time-Warner-Clear-Channel-Blockbuster(TM) Authorized Media Distribution Center will smooth things over with her. That reminds you--you need to have your eye- and ear-implants inspected for this quarter again, otherwise you won't even be allowed in tonight.
You haven't attended church services for a while. Although your wife is a devout follower of God's Customers(TM) and shops in the Church Store at LEAST five tiems a quarter, you're not yet convinced that converting from Consumers For Jesus(TM) was that sound an investment.
Your son Rick has just graduated from the local McDonalds(TM) High School. You want him to go to Pepsi(TM) University like his sister, but he wants to go to Coke(TM) College. Not that it matters--the permits you get at either school are the same. Although he really wanted to attend Stanford(TM), his corporate sponsors rejected that proposal, based on what it might do to his credit rating.
Your youngest daughter just graduated Pepsi(TM) U. It was expensive, but she is all set now, having received a Creative Thought Permit and a Entrepreneurship License. On top of that she's accepted a job at Fortune 10 corporation. Of course almost everyone works for a Fortune 10 nowadays, there being only thirty-some corporations left. It's too bad she had to sign all those NDA's though--you'd really like to be allowed to know where she would be living and how to get in touch with her. Ahh well, it's the price you pay for our corporate security.
Your older daughter, after twenty quarters of employment, was finally permitted to tell you that she is working in middle-management at AT&T. Of course, every job in the United Corporations of America is middle-management. The cheaper--skilled--labor is all outsourced to Those Other Countries, whatever they are called. In ten more quarters, assuming her credit rating remains good and she has attained Shareholder status, she'll be allowed to talk face-to-face (no encrypted channel) with us again!
Apparently, her five year old daughter has been grounded again, this time for racking up a $6000 fine--singing "Happy Birthday(TM)" at a party without a Media Distribution License. She really needs to be taught a lesson--that as a patriotic Consumer of the UCA, she needs to respect the rights of Shareholders and property owners. What a dangerous thoughts she has! She thinks she should be allowed to say whatever she pleases, no matter what it does to someone else's portfolio! No one can get it through to her that terrorist ideas like that will land her in one of those "special" schools--and she'd be subjected to a lower quarterly limit on all her credit cards.
Fax from your wife--she'll be late tonight. Corporate HQ has re-instated fourteen-hour work days until the end of this quarter. It's too bad she's not allowed to quit her job--you could get her a pretty sweet management position any time in your department at Microsoft.
Orignal post by Accord MT.
Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.
I bet you're not a programmer.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
My goodness:
Why isn't there an exception for works which
have had their copyrights expire, and which
are therefore in the public domain?
Has congress actually passed a law which makes
it a felony to read a work in the public domain?
As written, this law clearly creates a right to
control copies of a work in perpetuity.
God Bless our Goverment and the DMCA ;-)
Linux is like living in a teepee. No Windows, no Gates, Apache in house.
You mean like,
So, if they make an ebook available for $5 without read-aloud, but make a special edition available for $200,000, this exemption does not apply.
In fact, the exemption says nothing of the availability of a read-aloud edition. If a publisher were to create one single edition and sell the only license to his nephew, then it will no longer be the case that "all" existing ebook editions have read-aloud disabled and you would not be able to circumvent the access controls. Even though no read-aloud version is available to you, one does exist so you are SOL.
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
So I can't watch DVD's in my Mandrake box? Or in my Xbox Media Center (should I decide to build one)
Oh my! What should I do about all these awful copies of DeCSS all over the Internet?
Um, so sorry, but no one is going to tell me what I can or can not do with property that I posess. It's mine, I paid for it, I traded CASH for property. I buy property, I don't license it. Licenses are invalid and un-enforceable anyway, just ask SCO. I'll take any and everything apart I own and study it and tell people about it as I see fit.
I always have and I always will.
When I was 5 years old a kid game me a 9 transistor pocket radio circa 1966 that was broken. I fixed it by taking other radios apart and seeing how they were put together.
This DMCA is bullshit designed to keep the elite few at the top in total control.
It stiffles innovation and creativity.
A hell of a lot of inventions were the spawn of someone trying to improve upon an existing design. You stop people from doing that and you are killing progress.
DMCA is a draconian and oppressive tool that keeps the rich, rich and the dumb, dumb.
It's all about the almighty dollar. Greed makes the world go around..
that fuck things up for the rest of us!
Think BEFORE you DO, next time KIDDIES...
There's always a few bad-apples in a crowd.
unfortunately, the effects of those few did, in this case have a very serious effect.
and now it's just a stupid game of constantly evolving cat and mouse.
Like it or lump it, these changes are here to stay!
Be good citizens and just DEAL-WITH-IT.
Because otherwise youa are just breaking the law.
Remember kids, stealing is stealing.
no matter how you bend the rules to fit your ideologoy!
(2) Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
They should have extended this to ALL programs protected by dongles -- as long as you have a valid license -- simply on the basis that dongles suck.
why is it that everyone seems to think that its legal to skip commercials.. i think you need to do a bit more research into the fair use laws and about the trials that created them.. in actuality, the fast forward button is illegal according to the goal of those cases :)
Ken Mitchner PHP/SQL Programmer Currently Seeking Employment
That's just the thing. Unlike, say, the Bill of Rights, copyright for both the public and the holder, is a very narrow grant of power implicitly to further 'science and the useful arts.' I'm completely on your side, in so far as I believe in corollary rights, such as a right to one's culture, and a 'right' in a Hohfeldian sense in that copyright is a bargain and generates rights that are not being honored, but a substantive constitutional negative liberty right it is not.
In fact, by framing it in terms of 'inalienable rights,' you're actually helping the other side, because the key point of disinformation coming out of the MPAA and RIAA lobbying groups is always phrasing their assertion of power as being morally right insofar as it's against 'theft of intellectual property.' This terminology taken from physical property is vitally important, because that you can't be deprived of physical property is an inalienable right under the constitution.
So the MPAA and RIAA are basically reframing copyright in such a way that they can reasonably demand stronger control over the things they publish, such as we've seen in the debate about (and subsequent S. Court decision in favor of, in essence,) perpetual terms, as well as the great expansion of copyright's scope (Girl Scouts singing campfire songs anyone?). Although they wouldn't publicly phrase it that way, that is the necessary and logical conclusion of their use of physical property issue-framing. By asserting that you have inalienable rights, you're supporting, however inadvertantly, a stronger constitutional test that is, right now, the strongest threat to the public's stake in copyright.
it's about controling distribution. Take Nintendo for instance. They fight tooth and nail to keep import games out of Europe so they can keep prices high there. Ditto for japan and American DVDs (although why anyone would want the crap we spew is beyond me). DRM has less to do with keeping you from sharing music files and more to do with keeping you locked in to whatever system of distribution content providers please. Soon they'll have the holy grail of distribution methods: home audio-video juke boxes and pay-per-use.
That can't happen without legally enforced DRM. Not because of illegal sharing, but because without that DRM, none of this crap would fly in the free market (divx anyone?). Americans are stupid about a lot of things (politics, environment, energy use) but not about our TVs.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
But maybe I'm just a tad touchy because I just decided to mirror the documents. And I don't want to be sued.
(3)... A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
As eBay has many Atari 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision, etc. systems listed, is anything really *not available*?
Similarly, is a program that was introduced on 5 1/4" floppies, and then taken off the market, considered a "format no longer manufactured"?
Does anyone have this in English?
damn good point
with style
*Sigh* It was a nice thought though wasn't it?
if you want "No More Hiroshimas" then I say "You First. No More Pearl Harbors."
Ok, so if you have a DVD that consists entirely of material that is in the public domain, it is legal for you to use DeCSS to access that material, yes? Am I reading this incorrectly?: "the prohibition on circumvention will not be applicable." So how can it be illegal to post DeCSS to a website, if the code can be used for legitimate purposes? The premise of the MPAA's case against 2600 was that DeCSS violated the DMCA by providing an illegal circumvention technique. But if this circumvention is only illegal when misused by the end-user, isn't DeCSS more akin to the FastTrack network -- or, for that matter, to VCRs, MP3 players, Xerox machines, etc.
In other words, if there are instances in which the prohibition on circumventing CSS is not applicable, then telling someone else how to circumvent CSS should not be illegal, yes? What am I not getting here?
Michael
"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality;..."
Must be Timmy the fag.
but not including ... lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to prevent receipt of email.
If I suspect some commercial entities blacklist software has blacklisted my domain, I can't reverse engineer the list to confirm that without running afoul of the DMCA.
I hope there's a case that allows a First Amendment challenge to that one real soon. That looks like a very dangerous exclusion.
How about Windows XP when Microsoft decides they're not going to support it, officially, ever again?
People won't be able to register with Microsoft's online registration because that will be shut down.
Obviously Microsoft won't be selling that version ever again.
That would qualify as such abandonware, right?
When that happens, we'll be able to crack it in order to install it, right?
I look forward to that day. Maybe then I'll actually buy a copy of XP.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
Like so I am going to keep breaking the law to watch my DVDs mmmmm'ok Mr Libraian persons so like bite me.
If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it.
Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
Maybe a step towards getting copyrights knocked back down to 20 years? Seems like all personal computing technologies are obsoleted in 10 years or less these days.
I write code.
Next election, remeber to vote against any legislator who voted for or favors the DMCA.
Ed Craig "Who cares what you think?" George W. Bush, 4th of July 2001
Amen, brother. "You see," they can say, "we have experts like the Librarian of Congress making sure this law is reasonable every three years." The lie was built into the law when it was written.
The average man has no idea how bad this law is. They generally have not even heard of the DMCA or know what it stands for, much less what it actually does. When they find out, they will be angry.
They are finding out. As people realize that they can't make printer cartiges and competition for common household item dissapears, they will know. When they find out it's as simple as, "This law prevents you from telling other people how things work." they will realy be angry and this law will be chucked out for the unAmerican piece of shit that it is.
It's hard to think of so unAmerican a law. The purpose, as interpreted, is to set up and protect exclusive franchises by limiting free speech. Both of these things are abhorent and go against everything this country is supposed to stand for. Even the means of administering it are unAmerican. Really, where else has the US governemt set up such sweeping restrictions on commerce through censoring speech and then had a single desk jockey issue "exceptions"? If I can't get the good librarian to say what I want to do is OK, I go to jail. That's really outrageous. Legitimate study and commerce has been criminalized, but these idiots would throw someone like Ben Franklin under the jail.
There's no limit to the application of this stupid law. We've already seen a company try to "protect" themselves from competition in publication formats, movie formats, priter tonners, and wood cutting jigs. The same kind of "protection" will be applied to all computerized gadgets to protect their coding and computerized kill switches will be stuck everywhere needed or not.. If a printer company can keep people from reprogramming their discarded printer cartidges, can't video card makers keep me from making drivers and automobile companies keep me from programming other people's cars for them? Can't they keep me from reseting the annoying little "check engine" red light?
Bill Clinton, you screwed more than your staff!
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
When I read 'Librarian', I go a mental picture of an orangutan sitting at a desk , eating bananas and going 'Ook?'
main(i){putchar(177663314>>6*(i-1)&63|!!(i<5)<<6)&&main(++i);}
Based on section (3) "(3) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace." Would I be able to legally reopen my public FTP server of Apple II software?
I used to run one of the main Apple II mirrors hosting the Asimov, Cabi, Tarnover, and Ground archives and it was a huge disappointment when some troll in comp.sys.apple2 threatened to contact my ISP if i did not remove the mirror. (At which time I smartly invoked Godwins law on his ass)
"The strong will do what they want, the weak will do what they must."
-Thucydides
is needing a 5 1/4 floppy drive considered obsolete?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The Librarian only has authority to grant exemptions to the "acts" prohibition. The "tools" prohibitions are not affected at all. As a result, the Librarian can't possibly make distributing or selling any circumvention device lawful (only, perhaps, the act of using it).
No technologies were or could be made lawful by this proceeding.
Gah!! I'll answer myself I guess. Regular copyright law would still apply. Thanks Sonny Bono!!!
"The strong will do what they want, the weak will do what they must."
-Thucydides
Um, so sorry, but no one is going to tell me what I can or can not do with property that I posess. It's mine, I paid for it, I traded CASH for property. I buy property, I don't license it. Licenses are invalid and un-enforceable anyway, just ask SCO. I'll take any and everything apart I own and study it and tell people about it as I see fit.
Just what, exactly, gives you the right to do anything you want with no regard for anyone else? Just because you bought a physical object doesn't mean you can do anything you want with it, from a moral or legal point of view.
Stop having such an egocentric view of the world. Make it a point to look at every other person you pass tomorrow and realize that they've got the same rights you do, and therefore, you've all got limited rights for the good of all.
More and more see it coming, even mainstream;
Just last weekend on Bill Moyre's, there was some religious guy was saying that he's expecting it to happen with the direction things have been going.
Taking apart & divulging what you learned != disregard for anyone else. If there was anything lame, it was your attempt at twisting things.
And yes, it means exactly that.
Taking something apart and then telling everyone about it isn't selfish, aka egocentric, you tard.
that it has nothing to do about right or wrong,
fairness, but buying off judges and laws for greed.
The older I get, the more I believe thing's have always been corrupt and unjust and democracy/america is just a facade.
Huh, no.
It specifically states that it only covers obsolete media, not the opposite.
Check this out:
:)
<p style="margin-bottom: 0pt;" ><a href="/fedreg/2002/67fr63578.html">Federal
Register Notice </a><a href="/fedreg/2002/67fr63578.html">Seeking Written
</a><a href="/fedreg/2002/67fr63578.html">Comments </a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="/fedreg/2002/67fr63578.html">(October
15, 2002)</a> </p>
I smell FrontPage
Gr@ve_Rose
!ekoj on si aixelsyD
i wonder--
what is the smallest number that is copyrighted?
what is the smallest number that can be copyrighted?
if you add one to a copyrighted number, is it still protected by copyright ?
if you take a's copyrighted number and keep adding ones to it until you get to b's copyrighted number, who is infringing on who's copyright (is it first come first serve).
for an arbitrary copyrighted number, is there a range of numbers that is covered under the same protection as that number?
This view of the future is not self-supported. It cannot just exist this way.
A whole population expending 75% of the total incoming means not only buying food or copyrighted material, but also buying durable goods like cars and eletronics.
But new cars and new eletronics depends on technology development (cars not that much. Ok, I'll let cars out of this discussion). The base of all these draconian laws is the avoidance of creative utilization of eletronic goods, that is mostly used to access copyrighted material. These laws avoid the appearence of modified equipments that is the base of the innovative production of new eletronic goods.
These laws will collapse consuming american society as it have developed from the beggining. Consuming american society are not based on copyright, but in innovation. We all know great inventors that passed to the history with their inventions and inovations, of course they were protected by copyright laws, but it was nothing but tool.
So what will happens if laws cuting the inovation capabilities of a whole society passes? All the inovations will be produced somewhere else. Humanity needs inovation, and today most of them are concentrated in USA. As consequence the money involved in producing new technologies, inventions and inovations will be taken to other countries, that can't be good.
So in the scenario propoused the whole country economics will be based on the production of copyrighted material and the maintainance of this material. This isn't self supported, there will be not enough production to support this.
US can even become leader in production of copyrighted material. But US citizens will pay for it, and the whole world will consume it for free, because this draconian laws will only be valid inside the US.
If these draconian laws pass, be careful. US won't be the most powerful economics in the world anymore.
About the scenario. It can't support itself. You can't base a whole society in copyrighted production and in laws to protect them, there must be inventions and inovation.
Learn with the past
-=-=-=-=
I know life isn't fair, but why can't it ever be un-fair in MY favor!?
(4) Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling of the ebook's read-aloud function and that prevent the enabling of screen readers to render the text into a specialized format.
Doesn't this mean that clit is now legal where the ebook isn't available in another format?
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
(3) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
IANAL, but it surely seems they have just legalized MAME and its many emulative friends.
Good, a new unit, but needs further clarification to be usable.
How many Librarians of Congress can you fit in a Volkswagen? And how many Librarians of Congress can you have dancing on the head of a pin?
Until these are resolved, I'll stick to the metric system.
I bought the Indiana Jones box set last week. Got home, popped in Raiders, and the first thing that shows up is the menu, with PLAY right there, ready to go. No legal threats, no unskippable commercials, just the available options on the disc.
Thank you, Paramount!
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
...just don't buy it. I mean seriously, can I get a witness from someone, anyone here?
If you can't handle the fact that you're not legally allowd to fiddle with a DVD to get around commericials that have been inserted in there, why are you buying DVDs? Yes, it's stupid, and it should be fought hard, but why are you people buying DVDs in the meantime?
I don't buy music on CDs because I don't care for the copy protection regime, and I'd rather not have some idiot corporate lawyer looking for a test case try to eat my life. It's easier, and they can't legally touch me for not buying stuff. I couldn't care less if anyone calls me unpatriotic. Whooptie doo. I can call them the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler, but just because it's personally insulting doesn't make it true, or worth more than the lungfull of air it took to spew it. I truly do not understand why people allow themselves to be railroaded into things, if they hate those things so much.
Just don't buy DVDs or CDs. Watch ones your simple minded sheep friends have at their house. Stops you from watching the idiot box all day, at worst. There is stuff that is released in a format that conforms to your wishes. Find it, use it, and patronize the people who produce it, and punish the big guys by, horror of horrors, NOT SPENDING YOUR MONEY ON THEIR STUFF.
Doesn't this pretty much legalize the distrobution of ROM's for use with MAME! Thats the way It reads to me.
"(3) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace."
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
There's two parts to this.
Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete
and
which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.
While Win95 does not seem to meet the requirement for original media or hardware... Windows XP does; unless you are reinstalling on the original hardware, the copy protection kicks in, and requires you to call M$ for activation... which option will doubtless cease at "End of Life" in 2007-ish. Looking ahead to the future, there will come a point where you will legally be able to forge a key for activation, assuming (a) you owned it legally in the first place [possible], (b) Microsoft doesn't run the activation indefinitely [highly likely], and (c) the LOC doesn't change these rules right around that time to preclude this.
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
and movies that feature the incumbent Governor of California from this.
There are movies starring Gray Davis? Really? I didn't know that. I mean, I can see that he's got some crew credits, and one guest appearance as "Himself", but I think you mean the Governor-elect of California: Ahnold isn't in there just yet, I believe.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
The question is with software that should be obsolete. The software was typically written for obsolete hardware environments. However, it is of interest to the emulator crowd. The problems is that some people with the rights to the old games want to hold onto them. Not that they can reuse the code, but they might be able to theoretically reimplement it on a newer platform such as a mobile phone. In most cases, the reimplementation never happens, but the company wants those rights as they are still an asset on the balance sheet.
See my journal, I write things there
I am new to slashdot, and ignorant of its history.
;)
I never knew that the introduction of the AC (Anonymous Coward) option brought great upheavals, with underhanded, illegal and unethical tactics used by big business. Cool! There ought to be a history page covering all this cool stuff for us newbies.
I have many DVDs that are region 2, though I live in region 1. My DVD player contains a hardware device that inteferes with me accessing my DVD. Replacement devices (dongles) do exist that fix the problem, but are not commercially available to me in Region 1. Thus, it seems that my DVD player contains a dongle that is not replaceable and that fails to provide me access to works I have legal right to access -- thus I am exempt and can circumvent, no?
Perhaps the format is obsolete... The region code is a format feature, and is intended to prevent me from accessing works to which I have no right. But, having purchased a license to use the work, the format feature is no longer necessary and thus obsolete. I am again exempt...
Seems to me that region-free players can be sold in the US again...
Of course normal copyright would still apply.
1.exemption that makes it not a DMCA violation to defeat copy protection and copy music, movies, TV shows and other audio-visual content from media for which players are no-longer manufactured commercially onto current formats.
2.exemption that makes it not a DMCA violation to copy public domain content or content for which you have secured the permission of the copyright holder to make copies.
3.exemption that makes it legal to figure out how a copy protection method works to enable your piece of hardware or software to sucessfully play copy-protected works on the condition that the software only allow the playing of original works and not copies.
This would allow e.g. WINE to crack copy protection so that origonal copy-protected games would run (but only if games that arent origonals are prevented from running)
4.an exemption that makes it legal to violate the DMCA if the "protected" content is part of either:
1.a consumable device featuring hardware
or 2.a device taking consumable devices that feature hardware
and is used to prevent 3rd party companies from cloning the consumable device.
The definition of "consumable device featuring hardware" as it applies above is any device that:
A.gets used up/worn out as part of the normal operation of the device and requires regular replacement
and B.consists of something other than "media" (that way, the exemption wouldnt apply to e.g. disposable DVDs)
Media is defined as anything where the sole purpose is to store information, i.e. Floppy Disks, Hard Disks, Optical Media, Casette Tapes, Rom Chips, Flash Memory and so on.
and 5.a blanket exemption that makes it legal to defeat copy protection where that protection prevents a disabled person (e.g. deaf, blind) from using that copy protected work (would apply to software, movies, music, books etc).
This only applies if a usable copy of the work is not commercially available.
The rationale behind each of these is:
1 would make it legal to defeat copy protection for audio-visual media for which players no-longer exist
2 would make it legal to defeat copy protection for content (software, books, music, movies or whatever) which is in the public domain or for which you have permission from the copyright holder to make copies.
This also means that if you have used a program to create a work that contains copy protection (e.g. the new M$ Office 2003 with DRM features), you can legally crack copy protection on this work since you own the copyright on the work.
3 would make it legal to make a piece of software or hardware that is capable of playing copy protected works as long as it can only play origonal works and doesnt provide a means to defeat the protection. (for example, XBOX emulator that can only play origonal XBOX disks wouldnt be illegal or e.g. WINE implementing support for origonal valid copy-protected games wouldnt be illegal as long as an origonal CD is required to play and it doesnt defeat the protection)
4 would make it legal for 3rd parties to clone things like printer cartridges or car parts even where copy protection is used to prevent this (e.g. in the lexmark printer cartridge chips case)
5 would make it legal to defeat copy protection to enable disabled people to access content they wouldnt otherwise be able to access
This has been discussed over and over. The word 'effectively' here does not describe the efficacy of the measure, just that the measure was put in place with the intention that it would control access. A door is an effective barrier, even if the lock is not utilized or people hand out the keys like candy on Halloween.
[
These exemptions may have more use than you know. How hard would it be to build an Internet filtering program that used CSS to encode its websites and required a DVD to run it. Think about it. You would have to be able to crack CSS to see the sites. This same principal can be applied to just about anything.
AFAIK, the emulators have always been legal; merely the ROM's used in emulators could potentially violate the DMCA if they contain materials copyrighted by an individual or corporation.
But I understand you meant the games themselves. IANALE but I would agree that even a strict interpretation of this exception would apply to arcade games that are no longer produced or otherwise "reasonably available". The reference to "video games" makes for easy application. Further, it can be argued that arcade games "require the original...hardware as a condition of access."
With that, it could also be argued that Super Nintendo (among other systems) ROM's now reside under the fair use rights established here, as that they require both "original media" and "[original] hardware" as "a condition of access".
You're arguing with your wife again. It seems she's missed her spending quota again this quarter ... she can't manage to spend even close to the 75% required by law.
What woman would FAIL to spend money?
What would happen if some smart filter company did chose to use something like CSS to protect their blocked sites, knowing good and well that this would mean that the MPAA and such would defend them? Makes for an interesting scenario. This just goes to show the stupidity of the whole DMCA. I will exempt cracking this method because it is somehow more right to know this information than it is to know this other information. STUPID STUPID STUPID It also begs the question of equal protections, if I run a company that is now exempted why is my protection method less protected than another's. Is company A better than company B under the law? Seem like another question for the courts.
So, I guess that will make MAME, et al, very happy. From the way I read this section, things like Sega Genesis or TRS-80 games are not protected?
--Malachi
http://www.google.com/profiles/malachid
Effort should be placed towards eradicating the DMCA, not de facto legitimizing it through an exceptions list.
Or even better, is an arcade cabinet considered obsolete? This could legally open arcade ROMs up for use in emulators to anyone and everyone.
Does it mean that I can now legally play my NES roms? Or does the fact that I can get tons of NES's on Ebay mean that they are still availiabe?
Xaotik Designs
Just because a counting system doesn't consist solely of the characters 0-9 doesn't mean that the expressions aren't still numeric.
(after all, I, II, III, etc. are referred to as "Roman numerals".)
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
I couldn't help but see this on it.
Michael? What the hell happened?
I'm a typical 'slashdot lawyer' :-). That is, IANAL. However, I believe #3 means, in this case, that emulator authors and end-users backing up their games may circumvent any copy protection placed on a game after the console is no longer being manufactured. As far as I know there are no copy protection mechanisms on NES roms. However, this may be useful for Gamecube owners in the future ;-). Distribution of ROM-images to those who do not legally own them is in no way affected by this.