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[Paul Jones <pjones AT metalab.unc.edu>]

i think that the dibona site pretty well states the concerns at stake.
since i'm home sick i point you there rather than type at you.

http://www.dibona.com/dmca/

Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian academic, has been imprisoned after presenting
a scientific paper at the DEF CON computer security conference. His talk
covered the restriction mechanisms used to prevent people from reading
electronic books. He was formally charged with distributing software that
could be used to circumvent copy protection.

                           The Digital Millennium Copyright Act attacks
freedom of speech and assembly and damages the economic health of the
United States.

                           Sklyarov was arrested by the FBI outside his
hotel as he prepared to go to the airport. The arrest was instigated by
Adobe Systems Corporation.

                           It is ironic that a Russian national is being
held without bail in the US for what is essentially a thoughtcrime.
Through the passage of the DMCA we have criminalized speech and scientific
research about the structure of computer programs as well as other simple
acts such as reading of books and other media.

                           The DMCA goes far beyond the need to protect
from illegal copies of books and other media. Since it criminalizes not
only the act of copying but even development and possession of programs
which are capable of reading these media for legitimate use. For example,
the DMCA criminalizes used book stores, in that the DMCA helps publishers
lock up books so tight that the electronic analog of a used book store
would be impossible.

                           This is not the first time that DMCA has been
used as a weapon against legitimate scientific research. The Electronic
Frontier Foundation has brought suit on behalf of USENIX and Princeton
Professor Edward Felten after the Professor and his research team were
threatened with DMCA prosecution by the RIAA (Recording Industry
Association of America). This threat was delivered after it became known
that Professor Felten was presenting a paper showing the insecurity of a
method of protecting music, just as Sklyarov was arrested after presenting
a similar paper about electronic books.

                           The DMCA, in spite of its supposed exception,
punishes reverse engineering. Bans on reverse engineering in the 70s would
have made the PC revolution (and companies like Compaq, Phoenix and Dell)
illegal.

                           The extremism of the DMCA provisions
prohibiting research, development and publication of tools for
distributing and displaying copyrighted works must be eliminated. These
provisions drop an Iron Curtain on the United States of America. It should
never be illegal to make or discuss such tools.

==========================================================================
                             Paul Jones
                    "Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!"
http://www.ibiblio.org/pjones/ at the Site Formerly Known As MetaLab.unc.edu
  pjones AT ibiblio.org   voice: (919) 962-7600     fax: (919) 962-8071
===========================================================================