You can already buy DVD players (legal, above board units) that will play DVD from ANY region. There's a place in the UK that sells Denon units for around $1500 US (yes, $1500. I didn't say it was cheap). These units include decoders for all six regions. No hacking or cracking involved.
I assume that you can buy them in Asia for a fraction of the cost, since I picked up a multifunction Philips VCR in Singapore for $250 last year (compared to US price for same model : $1200+).
Also, if you're a masocist and you have one of the earlier DVD-ROM drives (or are just a discerning shopper) you can swap your region as often as you like by re-installing your OS every 5 changes. Perfectly legal, but a hassle. Or you could download a little piece of software that'll tweak your registry for you. Arguably not-so-legal, but wouldn't stand up in court.
Apologies for the sloppy formatting on the original post. Didn't preview, forgot tags. Look at this: (lifted from someone else's post...) From the Connecticut suit 23. The Copyright Act, Title 17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(2), provides that:
[n]o 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 a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; (B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; or (C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person's knowledge for use in circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.
Read the bolded preamble carefully. You can OWN the software, but you can't ACQUIRE it. You can't provide it for download domestically, nor can you download it yourself from abroad. That, my friends, is the crux of the matter. If that Washington suit is upheld, and CODE is held to be a valid form of expression covered by free speech / 1st Amendment, then this clause is flagrantly unconstitutional.
Now, if we can just make this point in court, we're saved.:-)
Look at this: (lifted from someone else's post...) From the Connecticut suit 23. The Copyright Act, Title 17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(2), provides that: [n]o 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 a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; (B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; or (C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person's knowledge for use in circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title. Read the preamble carefully. You can OWN the software, but you can't ACQUIRE it. You can't provide it for download domestically, nor can you download it yourself from abroad. That, my friends, is the crux of the matter. If that Washington suit is upheld, and CODE is held to be a valid form of expression covered by free speech / 1st Amendment, then this clause is flagrantly unconstitutional. Now, if we can just make this point in court, we're saved.:-) ISHBAL (I Should Have Been A Lawyer)
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You can already buy DVD players (legal, above board units) that will play DVD from ANY region. There's a place in the UK that sells Denon units for around $1500 US (yes, $1500. I didn't say it was cheap). These units include decoders for all six regions. No hacking or cracking involved.
I assume that you can buy them in Asia for a fraction of the cost, since I picked up a multifunction Philips VCR in Singapore for $250 last year (compared to US price for same model : $1200+).
Also, if you're a masocist and you have one of the earlier DVD-ROM drives (or are just a discerning shopper) you can swap your region as often as you like by re-installing your OS every 5 changes. Perfectly legal, but a hassle. Or you could download a little piece of software that'll tweak your registry for you. Arguably not-so-legal, but wouldn't stand up in court.
So there.
Apologies for the sloppy formatting on the original post. Didn't preview, forgot tags.
Look at this: (lifted from someone else's post...)
From the Connecticut suit 23. The Copyright Act, Title 17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(2), provides that:
Read the bolded preamble carefully. You can OWN the software, but you can't ACQUIRE it. You can't provide it for download domestically, nor can you download it yourself from abroad. That, my friends, is the crux of the matter. If that Washington suit is upheld, and CODE is held to be a valid form of expression covered by free speech / 1st Amendment, then this clause is flagrantly unconstitutional.
Now, if we can just make this point in court, we're saved. :-)
ISHBAL (I Should Have Been A Lawyer)
Look at this: (lifted from someone else's post...) From the Connecticut suit 23. The Copyright Act, Title 17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(2), provides that: [n]o 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 a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; (B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; or (C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person's knowledge for use in circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title. Read the preamble carefully. You can OWN the software, but you can't ACQUIRE it. You can't provide it for download domestically, nor can you download it yourself from abroad. That, my friends, is the crux of the matter. If that Washington suit is upheld, and CODE is held to be a valid form of expression covered by free speech / 1st Amendment, then this clause is flagrantly unconstitutional. Now, if we can just make this point in court, we're saved. :-) ISHBAL (I Should Have Been A Lawyer)