Summary of the last three years under the DCMA. Is this what the future will be like?

[Martin]

link (pdf)


Scary is all I have to say.


Is there any chance of this being repealed?


edit: look at 5th post for summary

 

[ElFenix]

<< Is there any chance of this being repealed? >>

probably not. after all, then you'd be taking property away from someone, and that hasn't happened much under US history en masse. just once, from what i can recall, and much of the country at the time thought of slave ownership as barbaric.

 

[her209]

cliff notes for those of us with ADD?

 

[Martin]

<< cliff notes for those of us with ADD? >>




uhm, that was supposed to be cliff notes.


You want a summary of the summary?

 

[Jimbo]

Except in a few isolated cases, I really don't see where the DCMA has had a big impact one way or another. No law in the world will ever turn off Kazaa. It is easier now than ever to warez and MP3 trade than ever before (thank you broadband). I do miss Napster, that was just too easy. In the end they can pass all of the laws they want and it will not alter behavior much.

 

[Martin]

ok, here's the cliff notes:


1. Free Expression and Scintific research
-DMCA is used to stifle free spech and legitimite scientific research
-Prof. Felten's team barred from publishing SDMI results
-Dmitry Skylarov arrested
-many scientists withhold their research.
-Scientists refuse to attend conferences in the US
-2600 magazine barred from publishing or linking DeCSS code
-MS tries to get Slashdot to remove material from their site
-AVSforum.com stops TiVo discussion

2. Fair use under seige
-DCMA infringes on people's fair use rights
-Copy protected CDs - can't mix cds or rip mp3s, even though you've brough the music
-Fair use tools banned
-DeCSS and DVDCopy plus - can't copy DVDs you've brought
-Advanced e-books - can't read on laptop, print, can't read on linux, can't have it read aloud by software.
-time shifting and streaming media - digital equivalents of VCRs and tape decks may never arrive

3. Threat to innovation and competition
-Sony sues Bleem
-Sony threatens Aibo enthusiast who wrote his own programs for Aibo
-Sony attacks mod chips
-Blizzard sues bnetd

 

[nihil]

even though this is scary we have to fear the CBDTPA a lot more. luckily we have senators that actually understand that this bill is absolutely rediculous and would do nothing to benefit anyone but poeple that are already rich in this country.

a good read.

 

[Martin]

<< Except in a few isolated cases, I really don't see where the DCMA has had a big impact one way or another. No law in the world will ever turn off Kazaa. It is easier now than ever to warez and MP3 trade than ever before (thank you broadband). I do miss Napster, that was just too easy. In the end they can pass all of the laws they want and it will not alter behavior much. >>




The DCMA reaches far beyond downloading of music (in fact, I don't think it concerns itself with that at all)

 

[ultimatebob]

I read the PDF, and found it to be heavily biased. No lawmaker or politican would take this document seriously, as it doesn't even ATTEMPT to show both sides of the story. Sure, the DMCA sucks, but crap like THIS isn't going to change anyone's minds.

Some of the cases that they talked about were flagrant examples of piracy, which would have been convicted for various copyright violations regardless of the DMCA. Anyone with some common sense knows that many of these programs mentioned were not designed with the innocent and benevolant "fair use" explanations that were stated in this document, but were DESIGNED to allow people to make and distribute illegal copies of copyrighted materials.

Anyway, it's an excellent example on how news stories can be "rewritten" to support any viewpoint. I'd imagine that if the EFF would right about the early days of Napster, they would completely focus on the few small music artists who successfully used to to distribute their music. They probably wouldn't even mention the millions of copyrighted MP3's available, which made up the overwhelming majority of songs downloaded.