USAF Violates DMCA, Escapes Unscathed

eldavojohn recommends coverage at Ars on a Byzantine case just thrown out by an appeals court. The US Air Force cracked the code that would expire a piece of software. For this they were sued under the DMCA in Blueport v. United States. The Court of Federal Claims heard it and threw it out. "The reasoning behind the decisions focuses on the US government's sovereign immunity, which the court describes thusly: 'The United States, as [a] sovereign, "is immune from suit save as it consents to be sued... and the terms of its consent to be sued in any court define that court's jurisdiction to entertain the suit."' ... 'The DMCA itself contains no express waiver of sovereign immunity,' the judge wrote, 'Indeed, the substantive prohibitions of the DMCA refer to individual persons, not the Government.'"

Comments

Um, ... in a democracy, the people are sovereign

[Anonymous Coward]

So I guess all citizens are immune to the DMCA since we're the one's who are sovereign. Not the government.

Re:L'etat, c'est moi!

[Secret Rabbit]

You're a fairly naive person aren't you. It's always been this way. It's just that this sort of thing was handled discreetly in back rooms. All that has happened now is it's been made into law.

Land of the free, eh? Thankfully, I don't live in the US!

Double standards are new?

[lixee]

Governments tend to preach what they don't practice. The US government is no exception. They threaten military action against countries trying to acquire civil nuclear energy, while over a thousand nukes sits in their hangars. They terrorize whole populations while denouncing terrorism. I ask you. Why makes anyone think the army would give a damn about the DMCA?

Re:What's the fuss?

[Archtech]

Dude, if your in the Military or work for the military, the military owns your ass 24/7.

The obvious reaction to which would be:

Don't work for the military.

Re:It's good to be king...

[darkmeridian]

Many poor African nations would kill to get "enslaved" by the United States in the manner you describe rather than starve their asses off or fear being mutilated by their enemies. There are bigger and badder monsters out there than Coke, Corp. Stop being a sensationalist jackass.