[NTLUG:Discuss] MI2 boycott

[Christopher Browne]

> Jeremy Blosser wrote:
> > Third, it's not a fine line.  There is a large difference between dubbing
> > something so you can sell it, and just wanting to view what you yourself
> > legally bought.
> 
> Please, spare me the rhetoric.  You and I both know the purpose of DeCSS
> is to make illegal copies of DVD's, just like the intent of Napster is
> to illegally trade in MP3's.  Don't try to insult the public's
> intelligence (or mine) by telling them something that isn't.
> 
> The public may not all be programmers, but they aren't stupid.  
> 
> With that said, I can support the argument that DeCSS *can* be used to
> make legal copies of stuff you've paid for.  Same for Napster, Gnutella,
> etc.  But yes, Jeremy, there is a fine line that's being toed by those
> who claim the issue behind DeCSS et. al. is simply a "software freedom"
> issue, while completely ignoring the ramifications and history of the
> software in question.  
> 
> Supporting software freedom with a foundation of legally-questionable
> apps is a fruitless endeavor.

DeCSS was created so that someone could construct a DVD player on Linux.

If someone wants to make illegal copies of DVDs, the appropriate tool is _NOT_ 
DeCSS, but rather a simple image copier so that the "gentle pirate" may take 
bundles of bits from one DVD (the "original") and duplicate it onto another 
DVD (the "Jolly Rogered Copy").

The existence of DeCSS _does_ provide an exploit insofar as it might allow 
transforming movies into other forms than the original.

But the _primary_ reason for its creation was specifically to allow 
transforming movies into bits on peoples' _video screens._  To create "KDVD" 
or "gdvd", if you will.

I find it quite outrageous that the MPAA want to so increase their regulatory 
control as to deny this possibility.

This is the conceptual equivalent to the MPAA saying that you can only use 
movie projectors that _they_ have approved to show movies.  Or that you can 
only use CD-players that the RIAA (sp?) has approved to play _any_ music, and 
that the use of unapproved devices to listen to music is outright illegal.  
Which is, overall, pretty consistent with the direction of the "Millennium" 
legislation.

It _does_ go to suggest that the much-criticized folk at Microsoft are, as 
always, merely derivative in their actions.

If Microsoft went bankrupt tomorrow, Windows 2000 CDs were burned in the 
streets by angry mobs of Linux protesters, and MCSEs headed out to burn their 
certificates under the questionable glare of 20 foot tall penguins, all would 
_not_ be well with the world, as there would still be dangerously rapacious 
lobbyists pushing their agendas through the political realms.
--
Real Programmers use: "compress -d > a.out"
cbbrowne at ntlug.org - <http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>