What I don't understand about the whole Sklyarov thing...
Sklyarov is a Russian citizen, right? And his company is, presumably selling their product that 'violates the DMCA' in Russia . And all he did in the US was talk about it. So where the hell does the US government get off arresting someone who's not one of their citizens, over something that's happening in another country? What am I missing here?
Censorship is both a cultural and a political issue... but you are right to observe that events in the ROTW can't always be understood in a USA'n context
In any case, it's not necessarily a technical issue. Looking at the legislation, I find it's actually not all that technically illiterate. It specifically targets content providers, and exempts ISPs (just as well, otherwise it would be illegal to be an ISP in SA - sucks to be them!). So what it's basically saying is, it's illegal to set up a porn site in South Australia. Like it's illegal to set up a brothel.
Probably useless, yes, considering how many are still going to be available from the next state, not to mention across the water, but not that much more illogical than, say, the UK banning dope smoking, when it's easy to hop across the Channel to Amsterdam.
In any case, the legislation certainly sucks in various non-computer-related ways - like requiring content providers to guess whether they "would be" rated R by an independent panel, but that's politicians for you.
(and whatcha mean "Baywatch doesn't corrupt youth". Check that crappy dialogue...)
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Sklyarov is a Russian citizen, right? And his company is, presumably selling their product that 'violates the DMCA' in Russia . And all he did in the US was talk about it. So where the hell does the US government get off arresting someone who's not one of their citizens, over something that's happening in another country? What am I missing here?
In any case, it's not necessarily a technical issue. Looking at the legislation, I find it's actually not all that technically illiterate. It specifically targets content providers, and exempts ISPs (just as well, otherwise it would be illegal to be an ISP in SA - sucks to be them!). So what it's basically saying is, it's illegal to set up a porn site in South Australia. Like it's illegal to set up a brothel.
Probably useless, yes, considering how many are still going to be available from the next state, not to mention across the water, but not that much more illogical than, say, the UK banning dope smoking, when it's easy to hop across the Channel to Amsterdam.
In any case, the legislation certainly sucks in various non-computer-related ways - like requiring content providers to guess whether they "would be" rated R by an independent panel, but that's politicians for you.
(and whatcha mean "Baywatch doesn't corrupt youth". Check that crappy dialogue...)