Bruce Perens Plans On-Stage DMCA Violation 736
cyber_rigger writes: "From this
article at infoworld Bruce Perens said he plans to break the DMCA
during a presentation on digital rights management (DRM) Friday afternoon
at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention in San Diego. Technically, under the DMCA, Perens' explanation
of the technology makes him liable for a fine of US$500,000. You have to
admire his spirit."
You have to admire his spirit." (Score:5, Interesting)
Translation: I'm an armchair activist.
I think everyone should go out and opportunities post information about to break stuff like that "violates" the DMCA.. printing flyers.. posting them everywhere.. hehe even sticking batches of flyers next to dvd players in major stores would be a good start.
Re:You have to admire his spirit." (Score:4, Insightful)
Except that if most people started doing this and got arrested, their families would go hungry. It's perfect for someone like Bruce, who has a bit of recognition surrounding him to go out and do this. Most people don't care about computer people getting arrested for doing things that they couldn't figure out how to do. The average person thinks it "serves them computer hackers right trying to be above the law." They think the law is morally right and is to be followed without question, otherwise "why would it be the law?"
(The answer: Because the members of our lawmaking bodies are being bought left and right, with the notable exception of Rep. Boucher from Virginia)
Boucher supported the DMCA (Score:4, Informative)
Before you support Rep. Boucher, you should know he supported the DMCA in 1998.
"...I am pleased to rise today in support of the passage of H.R. 2281, which will extend new protections against the theft of their works to copyright owners."
Full text of his DMCA speech: To see the full text:
Re:Boucher supported the DMCA (Score:4, Informative)
Re:You have to admire his spirit." (Score:3, Interesting)
That aside, I wish he would make a stronger point than the right to see foreign DVDs. The DMCA also has security implications that potentially can have a much greated impact on our lives than if the DVDs were five bucks cheaper.
Picking their battles... (Score:3, Interesting)
Everyone remember Edward Felton? The Princeton professor that was being threatened by RIAA/SDMI? They threatened to prosecute him for a DMCA violation, but backed down because they knew it wasn't a strong enough case for them. They'd be suing a professor for giving a lecture in an academic setting. That wouldn't go over well, and could end up weakening their position significantly. These organizations know which battles they should be fighting. They've done a good job so far of picking only the ones they are likely to win. I doubt they will go after Perens. It's just too risky. Of course it will probably become obvious at some point that your social standing has a lot to do with what you can get away with. When some dirty hacker does the same thing Bruce does and gets arrested, we'll see that quite clearly.
Re:You have to admire his spirit." (Score:3, Insightful)
Cop:"Sir, can I see your license and registration?"
Driver:"Errr, why officer?"
Cop:""Step out of the car please, sir."
*car searched*
Cop:""A-ha. What's this? A CD-R of Metallica tunes? And just where did you get this from?"
Driver:""Er, I own the original... really."
Cop:""Oh? I just bet you do. Damn Napster pansy."
*insert cruel beating now*
Viva la Revolution!
Re:You have to admire his spirit." (Score:4, Interesting)
Wish I could afford it. I am already "blackened" because I insulted the sensibilities of some moronic, idiotic, deluded Scientologists in a newsgroup. That got me looked at by a PI and then the FBI...for a mere patently ridiculous, inflammatory newsgroup posting (like millions posted every day in volatile newsgroups). I am also a reservist who needs a security clearance to work as a reservist. Having any form of history legal-wise is bad news for security clearances. I expect I will make it past the Scientology (looney, brainwashed, WRONG, ridiculous, and criminal Scientologists!) incident but something like getting nailed for angering a $$prized$$ payola-generating, lobbying, registered corporation (Scientology is a business not a "religion" but I digress) in the United Corporate States of America would be the kiss of death.
Why am I doing this? (Score:5, Informative)
Friday's program at OSCON is
Title: Digital Rights Management - How will it effect Linux and Free Software?
Date: 07/26/2002
Time: 2:30pm to 3:15pm
Location: Sea Breeze I
Demonstrations will be short as I want to put the majority of that 45 minutes into talking about the implications for Linux and Free Software.
Is this a publicity stunt? Of course it is. Without publicity, without informing people through publicity, how can we fight bad laws?
Am I personally getting publicity from it? Yes. I use my notoriety to get other people to write and think about issues like misuse of DMCA. If you feel as I do about those issues, I'd hope you appreciate that someone takes the trouble to do this work.
Am I getting arrested? The people who would arrest me are probably smart enough to pick someone with worse P.R., like 2600 Magazine, to take the fall. They will probably not pick me to do so because there's too much chance that I'd win, and set a precedent against the law. Thus, publicity about bad law and informing the public are the main goal of my talk.
Thanks
Bruce
Re:You have to admire his spirit." (Score:4, Insightful)
2. I am not a U.S. citizen, but am legally on U.S. soil
3. Announcing this publicly places me at significant risk for indefinite incarceration, if the DMCA and Patriot Act were interpreted in the extreme (I may be a technical terrorist, bent on creating economic mayhem in the U.S., by encouraging the use of technology to defeat DRM for purposes of traditional fair use).
Some of us do engage in civil disobedience, at some risk, though perhaps not as dramatically as Mr. Perens. But, laws like this can not ber permitted to go unchallenged.
Re:You have to admire his spirit." (Score:5, Insightful)
I favor marijuana legalization, but when I used to pass the pipe around in high school I was hardly engaging in civil disobedience. Nor is it civil disobedience to share mp3s on an anonymous P2P network.
Civil disobedience is a statement -- the action is secondary, a way of showing that you're serious. Unless you're prepared to notify all relevant authorities of just exactly which laws you're breaking and why, don't pretend to be doing it for the sake of freedom.
Re:You have to admire his spirit." (Score:2)
This is why, even though watching DVDs on my GNU/Linux box is a rather private affair, I am open about how I do it. Perhaps not as open as Perens and others, and thus not as dramatic, but open, and running the risk of arrest commensurate with the act, nevertheless.
Re:You have to admire his spirit." (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You have to admire his spirit." (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why is it illegal? (Score:2)
Re:Why is it illegal? (Score:2)
Of course, you don't "own" the software in the player. Look in the manual someplace and you'll find a "license agreement" that tries to tell you that you don't own the program that runs the DVD player. That's the idea, anyhow.
Re:Why is it illegal? (Score:4, Informative)
I think others have touched on this, but I don't think I saw a reply that said simply: "you don't own commercial software".
You have a license agreement that allows you to use the software (with some restrictions). You don't own the software in the DVD player any more than you own your copy of Mac OS or Windows.
The hardware has patents to protect it. You can own it and do what you want with it in your own home, just don't try to use their ideas in your device. If you kill or blind yourself making your microwave into a DVD player, you agree not to sue them.
The software, however, is another thing. On a microwave, it's embedded enough to be considered "hardware". Sanyo isn't going to care (much) if an individual hacks their timer/power interface. However, a DVD player is a specialized computer system that reads and decodes information off supplied media so it can be muxed/demuxed off to a variety of data streams.
Re:Why is it illegal? (Score:2)
Re:Bruce Peren's ideas (Score:3, Informative)
Bruce
Definition of Spirit in this case (Score:4, Funny)
The coming together of balls and stupidity.
Re:Definition of Spirit in this case (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Definition of Spirit in this case (Score:2)
My question for Mr. Perens (Score:4, Funny)
Damn, Bruce, how do you walk with balls that big?
Re:My question for Mr. Perens (Score:4, Funny)
Re:My question for Mr. Perens (Score:5, Insightful)
Hopefully they will arrest them....I know these days constitutional rights are not in style, but you would have to think a court would rule that an academic presentation is speech. How could they not?
Re:My question for Mr. Perens (Score:5, Interesting)
If "they" don't arrest him, can future arresties argue selective prosecution?
Re:My question for Mr. Perens (Score:3, Informative)
This comes from a case in the early 1900s in San Francisco where there was a law against laundromats, but only Chinese laundromats were being shut down. The white-owned ones were allowed to operate.
I agree that this wouldn't apply in Mr. Peren's situation. Still, he's totally safe. There's not a prosecutor in the US who would try him unless they wanted the DCMA at least partially invalidated. Academic speech merits the highest form of protection.
American's do mind (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm an American. It bothered me.
If you mean that the media didn't give it the coverage it deserved, I'd agree with that. It's likely, however, that the stories they were allowed to cover did not include ones that weren't in the interests of the parent companies (AOL Time Warner for example).
--
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not necessarily those of my employer.
Re:My question for Mr. Perens (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:My question for Mr. Perens (Score:3, Funny)
If this is how he goes about his secret plans, God help us if he ever decides to do anything overt!
It won't be some major cracking effort. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It won't be some major cracking effort. (Score:2, Informative)
Atta Boy.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Thats a spirit... or is it? If he gets arrested and then jailed nothing would have been accomplished. Only if Lawyers can get him off the hook after he's done this, then it will be a victory.
But something tells me thats is being too optimist...such things happen in fairy tales.. or maybe i am too paranoid.. given the situation.
But every law has a loophole... and the day somebody finds it in here... we can all go home
Re:Atta Boy.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh... I think you miss the point.
He intends to be arrested. And jailed. And to fight the law in court, which is the only place it's ever going to be overturned.
If he doesn't get charged with a violation of the DMCA then nothing will have been accomplished -- failure to enforce a law does not invalidate the law (there are caveats, but a singlular failure does not do so).
I don't think he's looking for a loophole. I suspect he's planning to violate it in the most flagerant manner possible to ensure that he's charged with violation.
The tricky bit is to violate the DMCA and only the DMCA. You really don't want to violate the DMCA and half a dozen other laws -- even if you get the DMCA ruled unconstitutional you'll probably be celebrating in jail.
We have a problem here... (Score:3, Interesting)
Now if he plays a DVD using one of the Linux DVD players - THAT is a different story, as all of them are illegal and based on DeCSS in some form. It should be clear that he is using the DVD EXACTLY as intended (Playing a Region 1 disc in Region 1), yet still breaking the law. Since it's based on DeCSS, it'll attract more attention from the MPAA since that's their pet peeve. Also, since he is using the disc exactly as intended, it makes his case that much stronger.
An interesting story: A friend of mine found a lawyer willing to help him with defense against an ITAR violation. (Read: Exporting strong encryption before the government eased up on regulations.) He then implemented RSA on his HP48 calculator. Calculator is now a munition. Justin lived in San Diego, so drove down to Tijuana. In the process of crossing the border, he carefully explained to the border guard/customs officer the exact manner in which he was breaking the law and should be arrested. Customs officer basically told him to fuck off, leave him alone, and go do his business in Tijuana.
Re:We have a problem here... (Score:5, Interesting)
Bruce
Re:Atta Boy.... (Score:5, Insightful)
It is called civil disobedience, and it is often the only way to get injustice corrected (and the DMCA is extremely unjust).
If enough people are arrested for outrageously stupid reasons, public awareness of what is happening will be raised. I remember telling a non-technical friend of mine, who is a pilot for a major airline and served in the airforce (and saw combat in Yugoslavia), about the arrest of Dmitry and he was outraged. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen him as angry as he was that day. He took that injustice very personally, as do most people who believe in the ideals of democracy and not the rule of corporate oligarchs, cartels, and monopolists.
The more lay people that are made aware of these injustices the better, and Perens is going a long way toward accomplishing this, whether or not he gets arrested. The excesses of copyright have only succeeded these last decades because the awareness of what has happened (chronic copyright extentions, and now fundamental changes in its nature from a civil to a criminal law, and from a largely commercial regulation to a profoundly invasive personal one) has been absent. Copyright law, in its current form, will likely not withstand public scruitiny very well, which is something that would be good for every one of us (returning it back to its pre-1970 duration, if not repealing the notion altogether and replacing it with a gentler, non-monopolistic regime for compensating authors and artists, but that is a discussion for another day).
Raising public awareness of these issues is probably one of the most important things we can be doing, and if we as technically knowledgable people do not do so, no one will. Bruce Perens should be applauded for stepping up to the plate and putting his personal liberty on the line for the greater public good.
If we had more people willing to do this sort of thing when the despots seize personal liberty after personal liberty we would live in a much better world. He is a man who clearly feels strongly enough about software freedom to risk jail time, up to 5 years, which is a hell of a lot more grave than the $500,000 fine mentioned in the article (I wonder why they played that down. That makes his actions even more impressive).
Re:Atta Boy.... (Score:2, Funny)
"American Man Arrested For Playing a DVD."
Sounds like something from the Onion...
Spirit? (Score:5, Funny)
Never mind the spirit. You have to admire his bank balance...
Cheers,
Ian
Trial? (Score:2, Interesting)
Though he didn't really have to be so open about it.
"If you can get away with DMCA violations, why not?"
Why don't more people do this? (Score:5, Interesting)
What I don't understand is that Bruce Perens is an exception to the rule. Whatever happened to civil disobedience as a way to make unambiguously clear that the government has gone too far and needs to rethink it's policies.
If Americans don't stand up more forcefully, the US will either infect the whole world with their orwellian shite or (I sure hope this happens) they will at some point in the near future be ignored as something that a free country cannot follow without losing essential freedoms.
Three cheers to Bruce Perens and anyone who follows his example!
Simon
Re:Why don't more people do this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why don't more people do this? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why don't more people do this? (Score:3, Insightful)
Until you have the balls to stand up and do something yourself, like Tom7, Bruce Perens, Felten, etc, you should shut the hell up.
umm... that's quite simple (Score:2)
So, civil disobedience simply will not work, because Joe will only hear that a bunch of hackers were arrested for stealing stuff.
And with nearly 1% of the U.S. population being prison inmates, a couple thousand computer geeks won't make a goddam bit of difference.
Re:umm... that's quite simple (Score:2)
Re:Why don't more people do this? (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree with you. Americans are cowards. We fear going to prison, losing years, and facing the fact that for every job afterwards we'll have to explain why we committed a felony.
I think I'll stick to presuring my congressman. I'm sure that $500k fine could buy a ton of them.
Well, I did it... (Score:3, Interesting)
And after the presentation... (Score:5, Funny)
Good luck. I hope he gets further than Sklyarov.
Its absurd that this is a demonstration. (Score:2, Insightful)
Where do I send the money? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Where do I send the money? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd rather my dollars go towards his legal defense rather than paying unjust fines.
about civil disobedience (Score:2)
I think an individual has the right to disobey to a law that he thinks it's not only useless, but also damaging to the community. If you think this is never true, think about that: 30 years ago black people could not sit in the front part of a bus. Was it right? No. It was a law that didn't affect anyone individually if it was not obeyed.
I know the issue is big, those are only my thoughts. I hope mr. Perens will take a stand against DMCA, and I hope that the media will farily cover this situation.
I also hope for my personal pig to start flying, but that's anoter story.
Re:about civil disobedience (Score:2)
Hmm.... i think the laws regarding killing my obnoxious neighbours is totally useless and certainly damaging our community. So does this mean i can go out and shoot them?
Off course you should have the right to challenge laws but you do not have the right to disregard them just because you feel like it's too restricting or useless. You still have to obey the law in general. Civil disobedience does have it's limits. Certainly where it comes to crimes against humanity. So, in this case it has it's use but do not proclaim it for using it in general..
Re:about civil disobedience (Score:2, Insightful)
of course you do. you can do what you like. hack dvd players, reverse engineer software, kill people. you can do anything you like. you must just be prepared to face the consequences. bruce here is breaking the law and it appears that he is expecting to face the consequences. thats fair enough and it's his method of trying to get a stupid law overturned.
perhaps you think murder is a stupid law and should be overturned. go out, kill people, go wild, whatever. then you'll probably get arrested and if you like, you can make your case. perhaps the general public will believe you and that law will get overturned. it's the same principle.
as a matter of interest, everyone in the europe at least has the right and indeed duty to disregard any law that they consider unjust. this was determined by the nazi war crimes courts when faced with excuses of "I was ordered" and "it was the law"
"yes" they said, "you were ordered but that does not mean you should have done it. you should have refused and taken the consequences, even if it was death" (or wrds to that effect, and don't ask me for references, look em up yourself (for that read "I don't have any")).
dave
In the Netherlands this is normal (Score:5, Interesting)
The standard procedure is as follows:
A member of a group that is against the new law invites several police officers, a district attorny and breaks the law in a trivial as possible way.
Then a big trial ensues in which each party hires the best lawyers he can afford to settle this case once and for all.
The only thing I don't understand is why this is such a novel idea for Americans.
Re:In the Netherlands this is normal (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem, of course, is that in the U.S., the money is just about the only thing that matters. The outcome of a trial is almost completely determined by the relative amounts of money each side has. O.J. Simpson proved that.
But the end result is that civil disobedience would not work for the vast majority of people, since most people would be on the losing end of the money equation.
Worse, the expenses used to fight such laws in that way are unrecoverable. A government like ours will win because it will continue to pass bad laws and eventually win through attrition.
Re:In the Netherlands this is normal (Score:5, Interesting)
Civil disobedience has a pretty good record in this country, but it's not generally used for issues that many people would consider trivial. Most Americans would see the DMCA as an issue of interest only to nerdy music pirates and child pornographers (because any time computers come into the issue, the Internet and kiddie porn are inevitably dragged in) and not worthy of jail time. Maybe Bruce can make it sexy, like chaining oneself to the South African Embassy used to be, and get actors and politicians to join in. We know Bruce Perens, but they know Bruce Willis.
Re:In the Netherlands this is normal (Score:4, Informative)
The only thing I don't understand is why this is such a novel idea for Americans."
Even I as a foreigner know at least some such cases in the USA. One very famous is the "Monkey Trial" (State vs John Scopes) in 1920s, where a school teacher was charged with illegally teaching the theory of evolution, a new law to be enacted in about 15 states.
At that time, ACLU was looking, through newspaper ads, for a candidate who was willing to break the law. A group of people found Scopes and a legendary legal battle begun. It was one of the most famous ever.
They lost. The issue was finally resolved much later.
Is it really illegal? (Score:4, Interesting)
It is true that Felton was threatened with a law suit if he were to present non-functional speech on weaknesses in SDMI, but the RIAA would have gotten no where with a law suit, because Felton's speech would not function on its own.
Sklyarov was not arrested for speaking at DefCon. He was arrested because his company sold a copy of its DMCA violating software in the United States, and because he held the copyright on that software.
You can read section 1201 [harvard.edu] for yourselves. It says:
By the same token, you can publish specs on how to circumvent macrovision. You just can't traffic in the device itself.
I am not a lawyer. If you plan on taking my advice, talk to a lawyer first.
Re:Is it really illegal? (Score:2)
Hmm...You might say he's offering to the public a technology or service... need I continue? The law is interpreted by the courts.
Re:Is it really illegal? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Is it really illegal? (Score:5, Informative)
Bruce
Re:Is it really illegal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Let me get this straight? (Score:2)
Just a small question, are your senators pissing the world off intentionally or is it really just by accident?
Would this cross the line enough? (Score:2, Interesting)
Wouldnt that fall under trafficing?
Re:Is it really illegal? (Score:4, Informative)
Gandhian resistance (Score:3, Insightful)
Taken to a larger scale, this is a classic tactic : flooding the oppressor with so many cases that enforcement of the law becomes impossible, provoking the oppressor into stupid actions. Trivial technical violations are to be favored over full scale confrontation because gradual erosion of the oppression in a non-violent way minimizes the likely damage to the parties. In the case of the DMCA, the battlefield is in the livingroom of the average consumer : the banalization of DMCA violations by consumers defending their right will be the turning point of the struggle. Until that point, open daylight is where everyone should stand to fight : a few activists are easy to control, tens of thousands of normal postings from perfectly legitimate sites all over the network are not. Keep posting comrades !
Favourite quote (Score:2)
For great justice !
DVD Region Absurdity (Score:2)
Civil disobedience and money (Score:4, Insightful)
But in this case, they're talking about a $500,000 fine. I'm not sure how something like that works out if you can't pay it -- whether they substitute jail time or what. But supposing this guy was fined, and paid it, is that really civil disobedience? Somehow writing the bad guys a check and saying "in your face, man!" lacks the punch of imprisonment.
Re:Civil disobedience and money (Score:5, Informative)
Bruce
Re:Civil disobedience and money (Score:4, Interesting)
I did not discuss this with anyone at HP. Most of my Free Software activism is done representing myself or SPI, and not HP.
Fair enough, and pretty much what I expected. HP is a public corporation beholden to its shareholders, and shareholders generally do not like their companies taking activist stances.
I would say chances are pretty good that no legal action will come from your demonstration, but if legal consequences happen, just wanted to make sure you and others were aware that it might become a fight on two fronts, the direct legal battle, and a battle with HP over wage garnishment, even though HP is uninvolved in the demonstration.
Since I have your ear, a small idea: If you want to make extra sure that the trafficking clause is triggered, you could sell the hacked VCR to a member of the audience.
Best of luck, and I admire your courage in this matter.
Nice stunt (Score:2, Interesting)
But what exactly does it accomplish?
I don't see Perens' stunt accomplishing anything except for boosting Perens' own notoriaty. All this does is create an image that "open source advocate == pirate." This is the political equivalent of a bunch of kids driving past the principal's house with their asses out the car window, honking the horn. It is entertaining in a juevenile sort of way, but it doesn't lower the price of pudding in the cafeteria.
If the Open Source community wants to gain respect from the powers that be, we need to stop acting like children. Check your "H4X0RS RULE!" t-shirt at the door.
far from it.... (Score:2)
The cost of freedom is high and this is what this will show. People who do not appreciate freedom dont really deserve it. Bruce wants to be free... and he dosent mind going to jail for it.
If somebody makes a law in your hometown that forbids you to reheat a particular brand of pizza wont you be up in arms.
This is not really out of context...The DVD is a particular brand of DATA you bought, you wanted to see it so you bought it...If DMCA wants to tell you how to eat your pizza..... thats pretty questionable
PPl may argue that it is tu curb Piracy... but does it. Only the avg chap who bought his fab movie for 20$$ cant see it, the pirater sits in his basement and makes a million VCD's out of it.
The lawmakers know that changing the law to make it sensible will increase the effort for lawkeepers... but if they dont want the extra effort in catching the thief why do you pay your bills and taxes... if they want to assume all citizens are thiefs until proven innocent they will get honest citizens actually acting like theifs.
To boil it down it all comes down to the ideology. Bruce has chosen freedom and he is willing to go to jail. If you are willing to sit and let them take away your freedom atleast dont insult someone who is putting up a fight atleast
Re:Nice stunt (Score:2, Interesting)
Perens has a point. He is not showing that OSS advocates are pirates. There is no reason why someone who buys a DVD from overseas should not be able to play it in their DVD player at home. The media attempted to exert control on buyers by limiting what area of the world they could buy their DVDs from, but of course there are many ways to circumvent this, and region-free players are widely available in the UK. This is how it should be.
To my knowledge, a number of DVD players can be made region-free by entering codes with the remote control - although this is never publicised by the manufacturers, because it'd land them in trouble: they'd be the ones breaking the law, not the end users.
Ultimately, what is being pointed out here is that the DMCA achieves nothing of any positive purpose. Manufacturers, it has been shown, are not in favour of such limitations (DVD player manufacturers; Philips in the case of protected CDs) - and rightly so.
Time for the American media industry to stop feeling all self-important, and realise that, if it wants to remain successful, it should stop behaving in such a childish manner, and start facing up to the fact that if it makes its products inaccessible to the world, the world won't be buying much of it.
USA! USA! USA! (Score:2, Insightful)
More then just technology (Score:5, Insightful)
DMCA is not a specific case, it's just a case that is very visible to us (nerds, geeks, techies, whatever).
The problem here is not about a single law, but it is about a whole system that is showing signs of unrealibility, the so called Democracy.
"From the people, by the people, to the people". DMCA is the proof that the organization that we call Democratic Government and the Representative System is not representing the people, but interests to big corporations.
We need to stop right now this kind of attitude! Our elected representatives are not representing our interests, lobbyists are convincing them to represent their interests. What about the people?
Of course that a healthy economy and low interest rates keeps people satisfied, but this is bread and circus, they keep people working and consuming and keep us happy.
Maybe we should review our concept of freedom, and mainly our concept of democratic government.
Interests Re:More then just technology (Score:2)
While it's true that large corporations tend to own the majority of eachother's stock and the "old boy's club" keeps the board of directors seats filled with folks that trade favors, the rest of the stock is owned by you and me for things like college funds for our children and our retirement.
There is a real conflict of interest between wanting to have freedom and personal liberty and not get gouged as a consumer and wanting to triple the value of your stock investment in 5 years.
The trick, as always, is to accept a healthy balance - to check one's greed, but also to expect to pay prices for things that allow healthy profits. Few people sit only on one side of the equation.
I am not disagreeing with you. The DMCA is horrible legislation and it stifles democracy. Any system in which the people can so easily be bought out is not a healthy democracy. I'm just trying to remind everyone that the interests of large corporations are not necessarily at odds with your own interests by default. It does seem the the pendulum has swung to the side of the large corporations operating as profiteering tyrants. Hopefully common sense will prevail and the pendulum will swing back toward center.
I have seen the enemy, and the enemy is me.
Vortran out
Re:More then just technology (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem is that, no matter how much bureaucracy you make, it is still possible to get an unjust law passed. So trying to improve the system won't work.
The key is that Democracy allows for grass-roots reevaluation of legal precedent (through intentional civil disobedience or unintentionally [Scopes Monkey Trial]).
How many important US laws have been passed due to activism? Women's sufferage, Civil Liberties Act, etc etc.
Demonstrations are the most legally protected and peaceful. Civil Disobedience comes right after it.
The problem is when you decide that the system is beyond repair and so you take to illegal action with little interest in federal procedure. If Perens was just going to hand out a thousand Region-free copies of the Matrix or if he was going to assassinate the President, then he would only be breaking the law for his own self-interest. He isn't and that's why I wish him the best of luck.
Bruce Perens!!! (Score:2)
Will the Real Bruce Perens Please Stand up? [brown.edu]
Last Year (Score:2)
I'll contribute... (Score:2)
Seriously. You've got to admire someone willing to stand up to stupidity on a grand scale (which the DMCA surely qualifies as).
Good luck Bruce!
Better Civil Disobedience (Score:2)
Even better would be to violate the DMCA, and then invite hundreds of people from the crowd to come up on stage and violate it as well.
Picture that on the world news : hundreds of computer users arrested for talking about DVD Region Coding.
One person thrown in jail = terrible shame.
Hundreds of people thrown in jail = message gets across.
My prediction (Score:2)
Perens will not be arrested and other than Slashdot, little or no media coverage will take place. When asked, the official spokesman for the RIAA and the MPAA, will simply state, it is not their intention to use the DMCA to stifle free speech. It will be very anticlimatic.
The advantage to this is, it could be used as leverage in the future to get people off by proving the DMCA is being applied selectivly. Maybe the DMCA hasn't been proven unconstitutional at this point, but maybe the application of the law is unconstitutional.
This won't work... (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember that the prosecution has a huge incentive to keep the law on the books so it can be used to bludgeon people into submission. In a civil case, the plaintiff will of course be the content control people, while in a criminal case the prosecution will be the government. Since the government is basically the big corporations' bitch, it will do whatever the big corporations tell it to do. For brevity's sake, we'll roll the plaintiff and the prosecution into one, and call them the "bad guys".
So what does this mean in practice? It means that the bad guys will take the litigation as far as they can until they reach a point where a court ruling would set a precedent against their pet law.
Now, lower courts seem to be very reluctant to rule on Constitutional issues, so the only way you're going to get a lower court to rule against the DMCA is through more traditional means, like proof that the defendant didn't actually violate the DMCA. But that kind of argument is obviously counterproductive for the purposes of striking down the DMCA, so we'll have to assume that Perens' defense won't use it. So the lower courts will almost certainly rule against Perens.
So now it's on to the higher courts, at least at the district level. What I think will happen here is that the case will be litigated heavily, with the bad guys doing everything they can to extend the litigation. If it appears that there's a reasonable chance the judge will rule against the bad guys, then the bad guys will drop the charges right before the ruling. End result? No precedent set against use of the DMCA in that district, and maximal financial damage to the defendant.
I think this is exactly how it will play out in every case. It'll turn into a war of attrition, and the bad guys have many times the resources of the good guys, so the bad guys will win.
Most importantly, it will result in justice only for those with the cash to fight long enough to wind up in a court that would rule against the "bad guys". In other words, justice proportional to the amount of money one has, which seems to be the American Way.
Magic Marker Time (Score:5, Funny)
revolution! (Score:3, Funny)
1. He will be arrested in a massive arrest were he will be beat by the police for breaking the DMCA
2. We will become a political prisonor and the geeks of the worlds will unit in a rage.
3. In protest the IT workers of the world will stop doing thier jobs and start hacking the systems they work for crippling the systems of the world.
4. The world now in chaos from geek rage will fold to any and all of the silly geek deamdns including the head of Bill gates.
5. World Peace.
What will happen....
1. People will point at him and giggle.
Considering the penalties... (Score:4, Interesting)
Or he could embezzle a few billion from HP, and only have to spend 5 years in a white-collar resort prison.
Mind the Sex Offense (Score:3, Interesting)
Imagine having to go door to door and explain that you're a registered sex offender and how you really just took a leak behind a tree and it's no big deal... how many people would believe that coming from a known sex offender?
Of course, public breast-feeding is an upheld right for mothers in many areas... it's a "natural bodily function".
Turn the lecture into 'performance art' (Score:3, Interesting)
(Of course, if you can get {insert favorite attractive celebrity} to perform it, it would be an added bonus.)
Follow-through action (Score:3, Troll)
And like any good boycott, you can help promote substitutes as well:
- off-air television (get yourself a Terk TV-55 or similar)
- local bands / unsigned online artists
- independent films
- trade existing movies with friends but don't buy into anything new
my email to hotline@mpaa.org (Score:3, Interesting)
- - - -
Dear Sirs:
I work for Slashdot (http://slashdot.org), a Web site concerned
primarily with free software, electronic freedoms, computer hardware and
other things of interest to computer enthusiasts, as well as to those
generally interested in online freedom. The DMCA (and the MPAA's
involvement in that and similar laws) are frequent subjects of the
postings and discussion at Slashdot.
I guess that someone at the MPAA is aware of Bruce Perens' demonstration
Friday afternoon of (mostly trivial) circumvention techniques which allow
consumers to view DVDs in contravention of the Digital Milenium Copyright
Act. If not, here is a URL which links to both a discussion of this
planned demonstration and an Infoworld article on it; several of the
comments made in this discussion come from Mr. Perens himself. (The text
of this note will be posted to the discussion as well, and you are invited
to respond to it there, if you woud like.)
URL: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/07/24/04152
Will the MPAA be pursuing action (filing a complaint) against Mr. Perens
for this public demonstration? If not, does this mean that other people
may also use similar techniques to enjoy their own DVDs without fear of
prosecution? I would also like to show people how to defeat annoying
region locks and encryption standards which make it dofficult to watch the
DVDs I have purchased.
I look forward to hearing from you; if the @hotline address is not the
right place to address this inquiry, I would appreciate hearing from you about where I should direct it instead.
Sincerely,
[signed, etc.]
Re:Supreme Court (Score:2)
Wasn't Code Ruled Free Speech? (Score:2)
What if someone makes something, can they explain it then? What about if they paint the code? Or sing it? Is that ok? Could he sing his whole presentation? Rappers can sing about shooting people and dealing drugs, which are illegal, but a person can't explain a technology?
Sometimes I hate this country and just want to live on a small island in the middle of nowhere....
Re:Wasn't Code Ruled Free Speech? (Score:3, Insightful)
So unfortunately, the DMCA limits free speech. You can't give a presentation on how to make a DVD player zone free, or how to make truetype fonts embedded, or how to turn ebooks into PDF. Because the lawyers prosecuting you can label whatever you do as a "service".
OK, so what if you do it for free? Free services are services also. Mainly you need to watch what you discuss, not how you do it.
This is the real problem of the DMCA - it isn't enough that killing another human is illegal; we also prohibit knife sharpeners. What did we just accomplish? Killing a human is just as illegal as it was without this new law, but now nearly every household is also engaging in criminal activities when they use their knife sharpeners. And what is the point? Is it easier to catch the killers with this new law? What? What? What?!
--
Tarmo
Re:Region Codes (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Is this the fastest way to change a law in the (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:If they don't shut him up first. (Score:4, Funny)
"Man arrested, jailed, charged for Posession of 6lbs of illegal DVD Player, street value $500,000 or more, as well as assorted paraphernalia"
sounds a bit dodgy to me
It is every moral persons duty... (Score:4, Insightful)