TN DMCA: Calling All Nerds

Average Joe writes "Next week is shaping up to be a critical week for the defenders of digital freedom down in Tennessee. Both the Senate and House will be holding different sub-committee hearings next Tuesday and Wednesday. Opposition to SB213 & HB457(Super DMCA bills) really depends on living, breathing people coming down to attend the actual hearings and hanging around outside. Expect to see the button man handing out cheaply produced but quite to the point artifacts of the fight. Please, if you can make it do so - even if you're not quite from Tennessee. ;) Learn More at tndf.net."

Re:Hmmm

[program21]

The fact that it could possibly be used against people not doing anything illegal is the problem. These bills are too general in what they restrict, and while the provisions can (and likely will) certainly be used against those doing illegal things, it's not much of a stretch to use them against law-abided people as well.

Take the DMCA (the actual DMCA) for example. It was never intended to be used to cover security flaw disclosures, or garage door openers, or printer catridges, but it's being interpreted by some to cover exactly those things. This interpretation is based on what's written, not on what that bill was intended to cover. And it's that potential that we need to worry about.

how about...

[zogger]

.. how about trying to enlist the help of those same nashville disk jockeys who helped rouse the rabble to protest the proposed state income tax? They seemed to do a good job getting tennesseans out there to the capitol. Can't hurt,it's a phone call/email away.

An example of the impact of this legislation

[tliston]

Perhaps a concrete example would help people to understand the impact of legislation like this.

I am an Open Source developer, and in the spring of 2001, I created LaBrea, a network defense application. LaBrea puts unused IP addresses on your network to use, creating a "network tarpit" that traps and holds connection attempts from worms and scanners.

On April 15th of this year, it came to my attention that a nearly identical version of the proposed Tennessee law had been enacted in Illinois and had become law as of January 1.

As I read through the law, I discovered that LaBrea appeared to meet the criteria for what was called an "unlawful communication device" because it both disrupted and concealed the true origin and destination of communication.

If, indeed, LaBrea represents an "unlawful communication device," then my continued distribution of LaBrea from my website within Illinois placed me in violation of the law, and opened me up to incredibly punitive criminal and civil penalties.

Additionally, on January 14th I had contacted the developers of every Windows personal firewall that I could find to explain a flaw that I had discovered under WinXP and Win2K. The firewall vendors had worked out patches and rolled them into their products, and I was in the process of coordinating the publication of the vulnerability information with the various organizations when I discovered that this provision was law in Illinois.

Under this law, simply disclosing information describing a technique for "defeating or circumventing any technology, device or software used by the provider, owner or licensee of a communication service or of any data, audio or video programs or transmissions to protect any such communication, data, audio or video services, programs or transmissions from unauthorized access, acquisition, disclosure, receipt, decryption, communication, transmission or re-transmission" is treated as a felony. I will not publish this information, nor will I allow the vendors to credit me when/if they choose to publish it.

I have been contacted by the MPAA who has attempted to assure me that there is some sort of requirement for "intent to defraud" under the Illinois law, but I cannot find any such language. Lawyers from the EFF have, essentially, agreed that such language does not exist.

And so, where does this leave me? I've pulled LaBrea from distribution because I cannot justify placing myself in a position where I could be subject to criminal and civil penalties to give away software for free.

Is it illegal for me to distribute LaBrea? I honestly don't know. But I certainly can't justify hiring a lawyer to sort it all out. Quite frankly, I'm getting to the point where I really just don't care anymore. It's difficult enough to write good software-- trying to do it while walking through a legal minefield is impossible.

That is the result of this stupid legislation. If you live in Tennessee, or if you're in a position to influence what goes on there, do whatever you can to get it stopped. There is no justification for passing this law immediately. If there are legitimate questions surrounding this legislation (and I believe there are), then table the dang thing and sort them out now , before it is enacted.

Further information can be found at the HackBusters website [hackbusters.net]

-TL